ABOUT FUNERALS

 Funerals obey to categories, status and moods.

There are the usual ones that create an opportunity for grief. There is the catharsis- mode (Princess Diana). The shameful one was reserved for i.a. President Gorbatchev, and Princess Margaret.  And one can go on...

Queen Elisabeth II is genuinely mourned and universally respected. The emotions are real. 

Something else is going on. The pomp and grandeur which are staged to the perfection start to look more about a British mythology than just about the passing of a beloved monarch. It looks as if Queen Victoria, the Raj or Winston Churchill might rise from their graves and join the mourners next Monday.

The splendid performance works as a quick anesthetic but the awakening might be unpleasant. The new hazardous P.M. will have to come to terms with a country in downfall and with a winter wherein there will be more frostbites than fun. King Charles III will need to temper his occasionally surprising (generally smart) assessments. The Queen Consort might be the guarantor of damage control.

Monday will see kings and presidents in Westminster Abbey, paying homage to a sovereign many approached but few knew. The impressive funeral procession will be as much about the person who deserves it than about an institution which, in its current form, has perhaps outlived its time.