![]() That is why, less than 24 hours after the death of Elizabeth II, the new King and Queen Camilla were on their way from Balmoral to London. After stopping their car outside the Palace to look at the great expanse of flowers and candles, they heard the first indicator that the tide was turning: warm applause. Although she did so with the best of motives, namely to throw a ring of compassion and normality around Diana's sons, a vociferous section of the public and the Press demanded that she should be with her people.Īs the days went on, so tempers rose - only for a complete change of public mood once the Queen and Prince Philip finally reappeared in the capital on the eve of Diana's funeral. The memory of 1997, when the Queen remained at Balmoral after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, still lingers. No one at the Palace needed any reminding of the perils of an absent monarch. That was in no small part because Charles III hit the ground running. The big question was: would the nation rally round its new King? And it did. Yet it all seemed of secondary importance on September 8. The Government had been inert all through the summer of 2022 and the political situation febrile and angry as ever that week. ![]() Why such a seamless transition? It was, I believe, because of something we either mock or take for granted: the inherent stability and continuity that come with having a constitutional monarchy. In Britain, however, no shots were fired, no mobs took to the streets. Many organisations are at their most vulnerable when there is sudden transition at the top. (where the two roles are merged) when it was time for Donald Trump to leave office and his henchmen laid siege to Capitol Hill in January 2021. It can happen to the most advanced democracies. It also seemed a thoroughly British response to what might become a very grave crisis.įor in most of the world, the idea of a country losing both a head of state and a head of government in the space of three days would be a recipe for serious civil disorder, if not civil war. This not only had the merit of being true, given the appointment of Liz Truss as PM on September 6 and the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8. 'It has seen two monarchs and two prime ministers - and it's still going strong.' 'There's a pint of milk in my fridge,' ran a much-repeated meme. Amid all the usual froth and fury, Twitter did manage to throw up one decent observation during that historic week this time last year.
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