The UK has briefly become a gentler, better-tempered place as people observe Queen’s death
When two worlds collide. Pageantry and queueing are two of the country’s favourite rituals. Traditions, almost. Though like many traditions they are not always entirely as they seem. No monarch had lain in state at Westminster Hall before King Edward VII in 1910. Yet to see the Queen there now, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a medieval ceremony. One dating back many centuries.
Same for waiting. Other countries have been doing it for as long as we have with no mass riots. During the cold war, eastern bloc countries often did little else. The UK has no monopoly, no sense of primacy, in making a virtue of standing in lines and – preferably – getting wet. Yet our psyche would have it otherwise. If we have a tradition it’s in our ability to talk about queueing and claiming it for ourselves.
