Death of a Queen: Tradition and the Sacred

Commentary
As the Queen lay dying in Scotland, I was moved by the sight of ordinary people, who had heard news of her serious condition, gathering and holding vigil outside Buckingham Palace in London. There were many smartphones and much clicking and flashing. But all fell silent as people watched the Union flag slowly lowered to half-mast before the official announcement of the Queen’s death.
I recalled my first sight of Elizabeth—still a princess—as she drove past our school as we young English boys lined the sidewalk and waved our small union jacks. Just a couple of years later, my parents bought a small black-and-white TV set so we could all watch the Queen’s coronation, televised live for the first time, in June 1953. I was 10 at the time and was enthralled with the pageantry and the endless parade of troops from all over the world, especially the Royal Canadian Mounties whom I aspired to join….