I have to tell you that I’m a little bleary eyed from watching the BBC. I’ve been on it the entire weekend.
I’m still watching it now. We decided to do our regular newscast while cutting away to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral throughout the morning. I’m not a great multitasker, but I’m trying to read the news on TV and watch the funeral on my iPad. Oh, and write this.
It really is something to see. This entire thing has been something. For days now, we have watched as thousands of people have waited for hours just for a few seconds to pay their respects to their Queen.
Honestly, if I had been in the U.K. I would have been in that line. I would just have to be there. That’s the reporter in me, I guess.
Now, this final goodbye. Millions watching in the U.K. Billions watching around the world.
We will never see anything like this again. No world leader held in this kind of esteem.
I found it interesting hearing from those that waited in line to see the Queen. The jovial, fun and friendly atmosphere as they walked. Then, the closer they got, the reverence. Finally, the moment of seeing her casket. The sadness. The respect. The final goodbye.
This long goodbye has to be trying on the Royal Family. Days of mourning. Days of trying to keep that very British “stiff upper lip.”
The family will have their chance to say their final goodbye with a private service at Windsor Castle. The Queen will be buried alongside her husband, Prince Philip, her parents and the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret.
As I write this, the Queen’s coffin is being carried out of Westminster Abbey. Her family walking behind her. My heart aches for Princess Anne. She has been a loyal daughter to Queen Elizabeth.
Saying goodbye is never easy. Saying goodbye to your leader of seventy years must be devastating. You have to admire how they have done this.