“No person is an island; the death of anyone affects me; because I am united to all humanity; so never ask for whom the bell tolls; they double for you,” John Donne wrote in a poem that gave the title to Ernest Hemingway’s novel. But he was wrong. Yesterday, the bells of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and churches throughout London and across the country tolled only and exclusively for Queen Elizabeth, in a way the global monarch, the gold standard of royalty after seventy years on the throne during which the world has changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable.
They were also for her, and nothing more than her, the ninety-six cannon shots that at noon resounded in Hyde Park, the Tower of London, the castles of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Hillsborough in Belfast, in York, Portsmouth, Gibraltar, and even in places as remote as Canberra, the Australian capital. And the same goes for the thousands of bouquets of flowers (roses, peonies, tulips…) deposited at the entrance to Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle (where his mortal remains still remain), the notes of affection and thanks, and the tears from natives and tourists alike, in an atmosphere of mourning reminiscent of that after Diana’s death a quarter of a century ago, but in a different way, without the hysteria, anger, conspiracy theories and the need to blame someone (Carlos, the paparazzi, the intelligence services, Dodi Al Fayed…).
But it is already known that when a king is dead, a king is placed. Charles III returned to London from Scotland, accompanied by the queen consort Camilla. He arrived at the palace in a Bentley, the car of the aristocracy, and had the time and patience to shake hands with around a hundred people, of all races and ages, people, elderly and parents with babies, a microcosm of the multiracial society that is Great Britain, with the addition of visitors from the United States and from the Commonwealth territories who also consider the monarchy of the United Kingdom as somehow theirs. global monarchy. A man greeted him with the typical Hindu gesture of clasping his hands and bowing his head, and he responded the same way. He allowed himself to be hugged and kissed by a lady, something that would never have happened with his mother, while the bodyguards wondered how long that walk typical of a rock star would last. In the background, a rumor that said God save the king, God save the king… God save the king.
Mourning and sorrow aside, it was obvious that King Charles III was enjoying the moment, a moment he has been waiting for all his life, for as long as he knows the cause (he has been Prince of Wales for fifty-three years, and heir to of the crown for seventy), and that many times he must have thought (or feared) that he would never arrive. A lot of time to rehearse, to calibrate what he wanted to say and do, the gestures he wanted to convey, like the Hollywood actor who dreams of winning an Oscar, or the writer who aspires to the Nobel Prize, and prepares his speech before the mirror.
When he finally got rid of the affection of the crowd, he put his arm around the shoulder of his beloved Camilla to cross the gates of Buckingham Palace for the first time as king, and receive in audience Prime Minister Liz Truss, almost as new to the position as he did (he was sworn in on Tuesday), talk about the events of the next few days, the preparations for the funeral and, even if it was over the top, about the challenges facing the nation with the war in Ukraine, the crisis of energy and the cost of living, the threat of a recession, inequalities and social fracture. In a gesture of homage to Elizabeth II, the transport strikes scheduled for the coming days and the demonstrations by environmental groups that were scheduled for the weekend in Hyde Park have been suspended. There will be no football day (a very questionable decision), although there will be rugby and cricket. The theaters continue with their performances, but Netflix announced that it has suspended the shooting of the fifth season of The Crown .
In the center of London yesterday was one of those days in which it seems that history can be touched with the fingers, or be part of it. The face of the deceased queen illustrated the big screen in Piccadilly Circus normally dedicated to advertising, and hundreds of people with bouquets of flowers in their hands advanced from the Green Park, Victoria or Westminster tube stations. But in streets like Finchley Road or neighborhoods like Swiss Cottage or West Hampstead, someone fresh from the moon would hardly have realized that the country was in mourning, or something extraordinary had just happened. The urban landscape was people going to and from work, going in and out of stores without anyone commenting on Isabel’s death. That visitor would have had to be very observant to wonder why the photo of the monarch adorned bus stops, or in the garden of some house a Union Jack flew at half-staff.
Late in the afternoon, Carlos III addressed the nation for the first time as king with a recorded message, which was broadcast at the same time over the loudspeakers of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, where two thousand people – including Prime Minister Truss, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and members of his Cabinet – attended a religious service “of prayer and remembrance” to Elizabeth II. It was an inclusive speech in which she expressed her determination to “serve all the world with loyalty, love and the utmost respect for our history, and for the traditions, freedoms and responsibilities of our parliamentary system of government.” “I solemnly commit myself -she said- to respect the constitutional principles that are the pillar of the nation”. And she insisted that, beyond being head of the Anglican Church, she wants to represent “all faiths and cultures of a changing society.”
The speech was brief, but the incoming king hit all the bases. He referred to Camila as his “great pillar in the seventeen years we have been married”, expressed his “love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives abroad”, and transferred the titles of Duke of Cornwall and Prince of Wales to William , with whom he has long formed the tandem that is at the helm of the Windsor house. And to his “dear mother, “inspiration and example”, he said goodbye with the wish that “flights of angels sing to her wherever she rests”, a quote from Hamlet.
Throughout the day messages of condolences arrived from all over the world. From US President Joe Biden (“Queen Elizabeth has been a source of comfort and pride for generations”) and even Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who expressed “respect for her wisdom and authority on the world stage.” The French leader Macron signed the book of condolences at the United Kingdom embassy in Paris, and the head of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, referred to the deceased as “witness and author of British and European history.”
The second Elizabethan era has come to an end, and that of Charles III begins, for whom not inconsiderable problems await him with open arms, such as the publication of Enrique’s explosive memoirs, the opaque finances of his foundation, the growing republicanism in Australia , Jamaica and other countries of which he is still head of state, Andrés’s sexual scandals, his discreet level of popularity, the desire of half of the Scots to become independent… It was his day. But the bells, for the last time, tolled for Isabel II and only for her.
