{"id":1646118,"date":"2022-09-18T09:22:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T13:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1646118"},"modified":"2022-09-18T09:29:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T13:29:13","slug":"dominic-green-queen-elizabeths-state-funeral-the-first-since-churchills-sees-britain-stand-still-before-a-perilous-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dominic-green-queen-elizabeths-state-funeral-the-first-since-churchills-sees-britain-stand-still-before-a-perilous-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominic Green: Queen Elizabeth\u2019s State Funeral \u2014 The First Since Churchill\u2019s \u2014 Sees Britain Stand Still Before a Perilous Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdominic-green-queen-elizabeths-state-funeral-the-first-since-churchills-sees-britain-stand-still-before-a-perilous-future%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1646118&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The world is watching the last journey of Elizabeth Windsor. Her simple oak coffin has <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/09\/11\/queen-elizabeth-iis-funeral-procession-2\/\">wound its way from Scotland to London<\/a> through palaces and cathedrals, past grieving crowds and the thunder of the cannon. <\/p>\n<p>Even now, lying in state for four days beneath the ancient stone vaults of Westminster Hall, she is not alone. The line of mourners waiting to say goodbye <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/09\/16\/the-queens-coffin-at-londons-westminster-hall-wait-reaches-14-hours\/\">is nearly five miles long<\/a>, a human chain whose links are a people\u2019s shared lives and loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A nation prepares, and a world waits, for the ultimate in ceremonial tributes, the Monday state funeral in Westminster Abbey. President Joe Biden will lead the foreign dignitaries. The new king, Charles III, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/09\/16\/king-charles-siblings-to-hold-vigil-at-queens-coffin\/\">will be the chief mourner<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The grit and glory of Britain\u2019s past will be on show: the splendid uniform, the heraldic precision, the seamen from the Royal Navy who will haul the funeral bier through the streets of London.<\/p>\n<p>And then, as the presidents and monarchs return to life, Elizabeth will travel the final leg, out to the chapel at Windsor Castle. At last, she will be alone. Her remains will join those of her ancestors in a private family ceremony, to the skirl of a lone bagpiper.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/green-queen-471.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption>People proceed along the Long Walk to pay their respects to the Queen near Windsor Castle on Sept. 16. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Britain\u2019s power is not as great as it was in 1952, when Elizabeth\u2019s father George VI died. He was the last emperor; she became the first queen of the post-imperial age. Decade by decade, the British have trimmed their pomp to fit the circumstances. The state funeral, the monarchy\u2019s many defenders argue, is a bargain, costing each British household about 5 pence (6 cents).<\/p>\n<p>No one quibbled about how much it cost to send off Queen Victoria. But that was in 1901, when Britain was at the top of the world. Monday\u2019s state funeral will be the first since Winston Churchill\u2019s in 1965. All the other flourishes of the old glories we\u2019ve seen, from Princess Diana\u2019s 1997 procession to Prince Philip\u2019s COVID-restricted send-off last year, were \u201cceremonial funerals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s only a state funeral if sailors haul your coffin, and if, as Britain stands still for the two minutes\u2019 silence, you know that one age is closing and another is opening. For Churchill, the dockers of the East End, who had borne the brunt of the Blitz, lowered their cranes onto the dark Thames as if they were doffing their caps.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/green-queen-469.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-469.jpg\" alt=\"WINDSOR, ENGLAND - APRIL 21:  Queen Elizabeth II waves during a walk about around Windsor on her 90th Birthday on April 21, 2016 in Windsor, England.  (Photo by Samir Hussein\/WireImage)\" class=\"wp-image-23899071\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-469-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-469-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-469-2.jpg&amp;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Queen Elizabeth was the longest-serving monarch when she died on Sept. 8 at 96.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/green-queen-467.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-467.jpg\" alt=\"The cortege at the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), makes its way down Whitehall, London with Big Ben in the background, 30th January 1965. (Photo by Fox Photos\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-23899073\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-467-1.jpg 1023w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-467-2.jpg 682w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-467-3.jpg 341w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-467-4.jpg 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The cortege at the state funeral of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes its way down Whitehall, London, with Big Ben in the background on Jan. 30, 1965. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There are no cranes there now. Docklands, as we now call it, is the back office of the City of London. The warehouses that carried the scents of India and Africa in their dust are apartments for bankers. The East End, always the first stop for immigrants, is now home to the descendants of empire. Only hipsters wear flat caps in England now \u2014 and David Beckham, who donned one when he queued through the night to view the queen\u2019s catafalque. And there\u2019s no doffing. Only the Thames runs on forever.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/09\/10\/queen-elizabeth-ii-death-latest-updates-king-charles-iii-becomes-britains-monarch\/\"><strong>Get the latest on<\/strong><\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/09\/12\/queen-elizabeth-ii-latest-news-updates-king-charles-leads-procession-of-queen-elizabeths-coffin\/\"> Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s passing with The Post\u2019s live coverage<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>Britain today is less deferential and more democratic, and life is much easier and longer. Churchill\u2019s funeral was the hinge between the old England of coal mines and the class system, empire and aristocracy, and the new, Technicolor England. The world\u2019s master became the world\u2019s entertainer. Within a year or two of Churchill\u2019s death, the kind of uniform he\u2019d worn in deadly earnest as a soldier in Afghanistan and Sudan could be seen on the streets of Swinging London and on the cover of \u201cSgt. Pepper,\u201d like a ghost of empire.<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth\u2019s funeral also casts us into a new era. She was perhaps the most famous face of them all in the golden age of global media. In the \u201960s, Britain became the hub of an empire of entertainment. All roads led to London, once you\u2019d finished a season in Vegas.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/green-queen-466.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-466.jpg\" alt=\"The funeral procession of King George VI arrives at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, 15th February 1952. (Photo by Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-23899068\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-466-1.jpg 1023w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-466-2.jpg 682w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-466-3.jpg 341w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-466-4.jpg 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The funeral procession for Elizabeth\u2019s father, King George VI, arrives at Windsor Castle on Feb. 15, 1952. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But every empire must fall. Digital media have made the world smaller but more various and more provincial. In the future, no one can be as famous as Elizabeth was or as her most famous subjects, John, Paul, George and Ringo, were. That will make Britain smaller, too.<\/p>\n<p>The past is suddenly slipping away, the present is disordered and a dangerous future is rushing towards us like a cold wind. Elizabeth was one of our last witnesses to our Finest Hour, when Britain stood alone against Hitler in summer 1940. On Monday, we\u2019ll say goodbye to that age of heroism and sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p>We will need the memory of her generation in the trials to come. Elizabeth\u2019s example of duty, dignity and decency struck the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/09\/08\/queen-elizabeth-ii-dead-at-06\/\">deepest of human chords<\/a>. How typical it is that her death is bringing out the best once more. Imagine what the British could make of their society and their islands if they carried this moment of unity and compassion forward along with their mortgages and gas bills.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/green-queen-468.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-468.jpg\" alt=\"Mourners file past the flag-draped coffin of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) at his state funeral at St Paul&#039;s Cathedral, London, 30th January 1965. (Photo by Fox Photos\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-23899070\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-468-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-468-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/green-queen-468-2.jpg&amp;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Mourners file past the flag-draped coffin of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on Jan. 30, 1965. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Our upper lip isn\u2019t as stiff as it once was, but the British are still the British, just as the Thames is the same river that carried the body of the first Elizabeth up to the Palace of Whitehall in the days of Shakespeare. At a moment when history stands still, even for two minutes, we see ourselves in the long view. <\/p>\n<p>The British might not be at ease in the shadow of their history, but it is one of their greatest resources. They will need their past now and in the future.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dominic Green is a Wall Street Journal contributor and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The world is watching the last journey of Elizabeth Windsor. Her simple oak coffin has wound its way from Scotland to London through palaces and cathedrals, past grieving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1646120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1646118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1646118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1646120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1646118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1646118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1646118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}