After a day of pomp and pageantry, the Queen's Windsor homecoming reminded us of her humanity
20.09.2022 - 01:41
/ msn.com
Queen’s corgis waiting at Windsor Castle for their mistress to return. Bright-eyed and expectant they scanned every face, puzzled by her absence, certain that she would come. Her dogs Sandy and Muick had no reason to think she would not.
Her Majesty’s fell pony, Emma was there too. Waiting. Steadfast and constant as her rider.
After days of ceremony and circumstance, spine-tingling choral music in Westminster Abbey and the stirring sounds of massed pipes and drums, it was the bittersweet sight of the animals she loved most that reminded us of the Queen’s humanity and moved many an onlooker to tears. No one doubts the dogs will be cared for by Prince Andrew, who, along with his daughters originally gifted them to his mother in 2021. After years of service, Emma will enjoy retirement.
Nevertheless it was a lump-in-the-throat moment on a day when the Queen’s coffin came to rest at Windsor Castle. “Welcome home, Ma’am!” someone shouted as the cortège passed on its slow progress up The Long Walk. A murmur of agreement from the rest of the crowd, then silence.
Here in her favourite royal residence, Elizabeth II would be reunited with her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, laid to rest alongside the man she called her “strength and stay”. Some 97,000 people came out to bear witness and express their appreciation of her devotion to duty over the past seven decades. Families with hampers picnicked on the grass, toddlers ran around waving Union flags as parents drank takeaway teas in folding chairs and grandparents kept their places right up against the barrier.
The unexpected autumn heat lent the gathering a relaxed, festival mood. “Her Majesty’s parting gift to us,” one teenager observed drily. “A sunny bank holiday.