What a strange day... I went to work at 10am, as usual, but the shop closed at 10.30. We all went upstairs into the staffroom and watched the Queen Mother's funeral there. It was all very moving. And I don't really consider myself a vehement Royalist. (Although if I had to choose between having a Royal Family and not, I'd like to have one. Don't ask me why! I studied the Civil War for my A-Level and I definitely ended against ol' Oliver Cromwell. His plans didn't exactly work. Not that Charles II was a nice guy when he got to the throne. William and Mary were nice, but they never had kids, so... I digress.)

I can't imagine what it'd be like to be part of a family that has to grieve in public like that. Prince Charles looked like he would have burst into tears if he could. Maybe it's wrong for our future King to cry in public. But should it be? I don't know. And Prince Phillip looked like he wanted to hug the Queen. :-(

The funeral service was perfect. The Archbishop of Canterbury did a great sermon. I've never found traditional Anglican services to be my sort of thing, but I don't think anyone could have improved on what he said. He used Proverbs 21 v25: "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." That's from the bit about "the wife of noble character". Which she was. When she married George VI no-one thought she'd end up being Queen. No-one thought he'd end up being King. But they did. And they had a difficult patch to rule through. Apparently Hitler called her the most dangerous woman in Europe. And she did like to laugh. People probably liked her the most because she seemed more like a real person. Perhaps that's how all the Royal Family should be.

The procession was... amazing, I suppose. Much nicer than Diana's funeral, in some ways. The emotion shown seemed more genuine. With Diana you got the feeling half of the people (at least) were caught up in something almost without meaning to be. It was befitting of a Queen, which is what the Queen Mother was. It's weird because I'm part of a generation that never really thought of her as a Queen. But she was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. That's who she was. From, what, 1936 until 1952, she ruled Great Britain and the Commonwealth.

I think I've rambled on about this enough. I'm glad we shut for those few hours. The people working for Customs and Excise only had two minutes silence. Two minutes silence shouldn't be enough for someone who was our Queen. Should it?