Queen Elizabeth II funeral .....

[slimjim]

So here in the UK one news story has naturally been dominating the news cycles for the last few days, and will be for the next couple of days of course.

They say we Brits are famous for our queuing, and how well we do all that pomp and ceremonial stuff. Well this one combines pomp; ceremony and queuing:

Fair play to David Beckham, who queued with members of the public for 13+ hours to pay his respects rather then use any "fast track" alternative

If you got lucky and your timing was good you would have seen the new King; 2 Princes and 1 Princess

If you thing this is all very ceremonious just wait until Monday......

 

[slimjim]

I heard on the radio this morning that people are heading into central London .... to look at the queue!! and that it now has it's own Instagram account.

 

[gorgik9]

I heard on the radio this morning that people are heading into central London .... to look at the queue!! and that it now has it's own Instagram account.

I guess there are all sorts of "fun" Looking at others queuing is pretty strange sort of fun in my opinion...

 

[Shelter]

Thank you for these emotional clips!

 

[dargelos]

Becks could have blagged a discreet VIP entry but what would be the point of that? Joining the public queue helps to revive the value of his flagging brand so it was a cost-effective use of his time.
What a delight to see you posting again Shelter, it's been a long time and I can't be the only one who has missed you.

 

[gorgik9]

Becks could have blagged a discreet VIP entry but what would be the point of that? Joining the public queue helps to revive the value of his flagging brand so it was a cost-effective use of his time.
What a delight to see you posting again Shelter, it's been a long time and I can't be the only one who has missed you.

I totally agree to what you say about Shelter - it's always nice to see good friends on GH again!!!

 

[slimjim]

So how do you move the casket from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey for the first of the funeral services....

..... in a discreet way. keeping a low profile? Or someting with a bit more pomp

btw there are 142 sailors in the gun carriage detail, approx. 100 at the front pulling with those at the back acting as a brake

 

[haiducii]

I was watching BBC on Friday and they were speculating whether the queue itself was causing more people to queue up.

 

[slimjim]

I was watching BBC on Friday and they were speculating whether the queue itself was causing more people to queue up.

At one stage the whole of Southwark Park (the end of the queue where people were joining it) was full so they stopped people from joining it.... so those who missed out formed a queue to join The Queue

 

[slimjim]

Well today has been an emotional day. I wasn't expecting to be so affected by it all but I guess I got swept up in all the spectacle; pageantry & ceremony . One thing that has struck me these recent days is they way that lives can be changed beyond imagination. For instance, you are are in the Grenadier Guards doing your usual day-to-day stuff, polishing your boots etc. then suddenly your senior officers say "Right lads, the following 8 named guards have been chosen to be the Pall Bearers at the funeral of our Colonel In Chief, a.k.a. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II". I mean how the fuck do you deal with that?

Well the answer is - with incredible composer and professionism. They may have served in Iraq or Afghanistan but I suspect that they were more stressed today than then. These boys were pretty damn awesome and from what I can see they were the only ones assigned to the task. They carried her casket into Westminster Hall for the lying in state

and then out and on to the gun carriage and on to ( and into) Westminster Abbey for the State Funeral - and it's a long way down that central nave to the altar... f/fwd to about 13:45mins

then out and onward for the proccession to Wellington Arch where again they transfered the casket from gun carriage to hearse and at Windsor Castle where they took the casket from the hearse into the church - via some steep sets of steps.

 

[slimjim]

The BBC is saying today that it is estimated that over 250,000 people were in The Queue in total. It is also reported that over 4 billion people world-wide watched the broadcast of the funeral & processions. The 1.5 mile long procession from the Abbey through Whitehall; The Mall and past Buckingham Palace had over 3000 men and women and each of the 7 sections had their own marching band.

 

[slimjim]

There has been much said of the Queens sense of humour and wit. My favourite is of a conversation about an iPod/mp3 player. Not sure if it totally true but apparently whoever she was talking to had one and the Queen asked "What is that?" and it was explained to her what it was and that with it you could listen to any of your favourite songs or tunes whenever you wanted to any time of day or night....

..... Her Majesty said "How facinating, but I already have something similar. I have the Band Of The Grenadier Guards for that!!"

And they not only played for the Queen but also play Queen

 

[Shelter]

There has been much said of the Queens sense of humour and wit. My favourite is of a conversation about an iPod/mp3 player. Not sure if it totally true but apparently whoever she was talking to had one and the Queen asked "What is that?" and it was explained to her what it was and that with it you could listen to any of your favourite songs or tunes whenever you wanted to any time of day or night....

..... Her Majesty said "How facinating, but I already have something similar. I have the Band Of The Grenadier Guards for that!!"

And they not only played for the Queen but also play Queen

A great and honourful end of this post and story! Thank you!

 

[gorgik9]

There has been much said of the Queens sense of humour and wit. My favourite is of a conversation about an iPod/mp3 player. Not sure if it totally true but apparently whoever she was talking to had one and the Queen asked "What is that?" and it was explained to her what it was and that with it you could listen to any of your favourite songs or tunes whenever you wanted to any time of day or night....

..... Her Majesty said "How facinating, but I already have something similar. I have the Band Of The Grenadier Guards for that!!"

And they not only played for the Queen but also play Queen

I guess that Queen Elizabeth II liked the king of Queen in particular - Freddie Mercury!!!

 

[slimjim]

I guess that Queen Elizabeth II liked the king of Queen in particular - Freddie Mercury!!!

And it was mutual....

and without the chat..

 

[haiducii]

The BBC is saying today that it is estimated that over 250,000 people were in The Queue in total. It is also reported that over 4 billion people world-wide watched the broadcast of the funeral & processions. The 1.5 mile long procession from the Abbey through Whitehall; The Mall and past Buckingham Palace had over 3000 men and women and each of the 7 sections had their own marching band.

Interesting fact: She was born in 1926. The next year the population of the world reached 2 billion.