“Latent spirituality” expressed in spontaneous mourning for the Queen
33,000 people lined the streets of Edinburgh as the Queen’s coffin was taken from St Giles’ Cathedral to the airport for the journey to London. As the hearse travelled through the capital to Buckingham Palace, thousands more lined the roads, parking in the fast lanes and standing beside their cars to pay respects to the cortege, or standing along the route on a wild wet evening, or crowding outside the gates to the palace.
The spontaneous gatherings to pay respect, creation of shrines of flowers at palace gates, gatherings around religious buildings and silent acts of prayer can be understood as an expression of “latent spirituality”, according to speakers at a Religion Media Centre briefing. They explained that the emerging rituals are religious responses to the shock of grief, expressing a gut instinct that is far more emotional and embodied than an intellectual response to a set of beliefs. View our discussion on our YouTube channel here >> Read our report here >>
Lying in state at Westminster Hall
The Queen’s coffin is to be taken to Westminster Hall today (Wednesday) where she will lie in state for four days. People have already started camping down on the streets to have the opportunity to file past. It is expected that more than one million people will make the attempt to pay their respects. Lambeth Palace has announced that a team of multi-faith chaplains will offer pastoral support to the people in the queue, which is expected to stretch to Southwark park, south of the river.
The Queen “never ceased to pray” for Northern Ireland
King Charles III and the Queen Consort visited Northern Ireland yesterday as part of his series of visits to all the nations within the United Kingdom. Addressing civic leaders at Hillsborough Castle, he said that his mother “never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and its people”. He would emulate his mother’s healing work and seek the welfare of the people “whose sorrows our family had felt”. This was a reference to the bombing of a fishing boat in 1979 which killed Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who was a close mentor to Charles.
The Queen’s patience and reconciliation
The King then moved to St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast for a service of prayer and reflection on the life of the Queen. The Anglican Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell, the Primate of the Church of Ireland, spoke of her commitment to reconciliation and her qualities of patience, faithfulness, care, dutifulness, love and devotion. The ecumenical service ended with the blessing delivered by five faith representatives.
King Charles ends his tour of the nations with a visit to Cardiff on Friday, for a service at Llandaff cathedral and a visit to the Senedd.
Windsor final resting place explained
Kaya Burgess in The Times, explains the history of the King George VI Memorial Chapel, within St George’s Chapel Windsor, where the Queen will be laid to rest. The remains of 45 royals are within the Chapel.
