Marr: Queen's funeral was for the monarchy, for Britain and for the lonely and bereaved

19 September 2022, 18:13 | Updated: 19 September 2022, 18:29

Andrew Marr says the Queen's funeral was for the monarchy, Britain, the lonely and the bereaved

Andrew Marr believes the Queen's funeral allows the monarchy can display itself to the nation, for Britain to show itself to the world, and for the lonely and bereaved.

Speaking after the funeral on Monday, the host of LBC's Tonight With Andrew Marr said: “No point, tonight, in simply repeating all that’s happened on this day of the Queen’s funeral - and even if there was, in one hour, no time.

“But plenty to chew over. This was a giant act of magnification. Something inherently sad and simple, the last short journey of a woman to her grave, has been made huge, grand, memorable, to the point where it became a global event - watched, they tell us, by around half the people of the world.

“So, why? What was the point of this magnification? Well, first, so that the British monarchy can show itself to the British people to say here we are, we are the core of the nation.

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“We may be dressed differently but essentially we are you. In death, as in weddings and jubilees - and of course there will be the coronation next year - monarchy needs to be looked at. To be acknowledged. It is made, not by monarchs, but by the enthusiastic engagement of their subjects.

“As the late Queen would say, it must be seen to be believed. Second, this was modern Britain, in all its oddness, with its heavy weight of history showing itself to the world.

“Britain may be a smaller force than it was when she came to the throne, but the Queen’s death pulled in all the world’s attention. Here we are sitting in central London and we can barely move for kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers, sheiks, emirs.

“Third, this was for the thoughtful, the lonely, and the bereaved. The best piece of journalism committed today was by the Times cartoonist Morton Morland.

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“He drew a picture of an elderly man sitting in his front room watching the funeral on TV. On his wall are family photographs, and he’s turning to stare at an empty armchair next to his.

“His life time partner has gone. He’s alone. I was thinking today of all the people who’d lost partners and parents during the pandemic and never had a proper funeral or send off, and how today’s state funeral was also, somehow, for them.

“We will meet again, promised the Queen then - words repeated today by the Archbishop of Canterbury - and a promise, whether you believe it or not, which hung over everything on this remarkable sun splashed September day.”