The Last Farewell

I set my alarm for 5:45 so I could watch the Queen’s funeral. We lived in London during Diana’s funeral. As we were on the north side of Hyde Park we could smell the flowers, most in plastic sleeves that were left in huge mounds at the Palace. Thankfully the Palace learned it’s lessons from that and asked people not to leave plastic or paddington Bears for the queen.

No one does pageantry as well as the Brits, especially when they plan for it. This was a very well planned for celebration of life and you can bet the queen would have been pleased. The things that amaze me are how well they had the timing down. They knew exactly how long everything should take and exactly how fast everyone would have to walk and how many navel men it would take to pull the gun carriage.

As we watch it on TV it makes it all seem so simple, but it is anything but. Just consider how hard it is for people to move around in their uniforms. When we took Carter to London in 2014 we were lucky enough to stumble upon the Queen’s household regiment having their annual picture taken. Just watch this video of how difficult it was for them to get off the bleachers in those boots.

I watched almost six hours of the funeral and as far as I could see there was not a hair out of place. I did get a little nervous when those men were carrying her casket up the steps of St.George’s chapel. It would have been very bad if the crown fell off. I hope the queen was very secure inside that box.

The crowds were amazing, all along the fourteen mile route from Westminster to Windsor. I can’t think of any other human in my lifetime who could garner such an outpouring of love. Seventy years of service deserved every bit of love her country and the world showed the queen today.