Peter Rhodes on the little things we'll remember when looking back at the Queen's reign
At momentous times like this, it’s the little things that sometimes stick in the memory. Like the shelves in my local corner shop the day after the Queen died.
The news stand, usually an array of tabloid red and white, was a solid sea of black as the newspapers proclaimed the sad news.
Many years from now, those newspaper special editions and supplements will be uncovered in the attics and bottom drawers of folk whose parents reverentially folded them away for posterity. This digital stuff is all very clever but when it comes to a permanent memorial of great events, nothing touches the heart (and admittedly blackens the fingers) quite like newsprint.
I can’t imagine why the BBC decided to cancel the Last Night of the Proms on the grounds of “respect.” The Proms, suitably tweaked with black arm bands all round and a ban on flags, could have been the ideal forum for the nation’s respect. It would also have featured the first mass singing of an anthem we’re going to have to get used to: “God Save our Gracious King.”
The National Anthem fitted the Queen beautifully because, from the start of her reign to the end, she was gracious, noble, happy and glorious. Is Charles? Time alone will tell.
But if His Majesty King Charles III (and what a fine ring that has) cannot make a success of the 21st century monarchy, nobody can. Most apprenticeships last about three years. He’s had 73 years.
Royalty is a strange thing, a sort of magical fairy dust that enriches everything it touches. In 1956, defence cuts forced the merger of two distinguished Territorial Army regiments to form the grandly-titled Queen’s Own Warwickshire & Worcestershire Yeomanry.
In the merger process the Queen agreed to become Honorary Colonel of the regiment, the only British Army regiment to have that honour. Regimental dinners ended with a unique loyal toast: “Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorary Colonel,” to which the response was: “The Queen.” We will not hear that again.
Those of us who served in the QOWWY and its successor units in Stourbridge and Stratford-upon-Avon will always cherish its fine name and its special links to Her Majesty. We were hers and she was ours.
