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Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】 Hi, 安澜.

Hi Lulu, hi everyone.

安澜, every time I start the program by asking you what are we gonna talk about today, can I propose a topic？

Sure.

So lately, one of the biggest news in the world is the death of your queen. And actually, when I was doing my Tuesday live streaming, 我周二晚上直播的时候, 正好有小伙伴问到我这个问题就是说how do British people feel about this？So I thought can we talk about that？

It's a really, really interesting topic. It's a topic that we've been obviously discussing a lot in the UK because this is the first time we've ever had to deal with this situation for over 70 years.

That's actually, first of all, the queen passed away on September the 8th. I know that she was 96 years old, and she had been on the throne for, you said, over 70 years.

Just 70 years, she actually had a Platinum Jubilee this year.

Platinum Jubilee is 70 years.

Yep. You have Diamond Jubilee which is 60 years, and then Golden Jubilee which is 50 years.

I see. It's impressive, I mean, a few days ago, she was still working, she was still seen in public meeting up with the new prime minister that was impressive, especially thinking about her age and health conditions.

Yeah, and that I would say is probably one of the most shocking things because we could see in the pictures of the queen was very frail. She obviously aged a lot, but we still thought that she was relatively healthy.

Because she was working at her age. She passed away at a place called Balmoral?

She passed away at Balmoral Castle, which is in the Highlands of Scotland. It's actually one of her favorite residences; and it's where she goes or where she went I should say on her summer holidays.

I see, so like it's private, it's like her private home, one of her private homes.

It's not owned by the states, all of other…most of other palaces are owned by the government or owned by the nation. But Balmoral is actually her private residences.

Actually to think about, to most people in the UK, well, at least people under the age of 70, this was the only queen, only monarch they knew.

And we can talk a little bit about what people think towards the end of the episode. But I would say that's the key part really, because she's the only queen that most people have ever known, and also she's just always been there.

We can talk about people's reaction in a bit. But what's the nation's reaction？Did you set aside…I think I’ve heard it somewhere that a lot of the government business is closed for like a period of time?

As soon as the death was announced, Britain went into official mourning.

就是国丧期. And how long was that?

That was until Monday.

I see

So until the day of the funeral, and what happens during this time is that most events are cancelled, TV schedules change, so watching the BBC and other UK channels, pretty much it was 24-hour coverage about the queen.

The other thing that I’ve noticed is there was this ceremony where people could go to see the coffin and then to say their final goodbyes.

Yep. It's actually called lie in state or lying in state where the coffin is displayed to the public, and people can walk past and pay their respects.

I see. So lie in state就指的葬礼前让人们可以去公开的吊唁.

Yes. It's not the same as in maybe for example China because you don't actually see the body.

It's not the open casket.

It's not an open casket, it’s a close casket. And you can walk past and view and pay your respects.

So because she passed away in Scotland, she was first laid in state in Edinburgh as the queen of Scotland.

Oh, it’s…because it’s separate.

It gets a bit complicated, but the queen in Scotland has her own flag. She also has her own titles, and she also has a different crown.

She was first laid in state as the queen of Scotland in Edinburgh. And then she was brought to London to lying in state in the house of the parliament as the queen of United Kingdom and head of the Commonwealth.

And that viewing, that was open to the general public, anyone could go and pay…

Anyone could go and pay their respects. It was completely free. There's no tickets or anything like that. You just have to queue, but because so many people went to pay their respects, the queue lasted anywhere between 10 and 15 hours.

And did your family back in London, did they go to see it？

My sister and her family went and queued up overnight along the river to go and view the coffin.

And BBC live streamed the whole thing, I think I watched bits of it.

Yeah, and I watched a few bits of it, it was somewhat blackish in it, to be honest, there was a very very quiet experience but you could see people from all different walks of life, and many of them were bowing, some were crossing themselves.

And some people got very emotional as well.

Some people did get very, very emotional.

And then was the funeral, that was on Monday, that was made into basically a public holiday because of the state funeral.

So it was declared a public bank holiday, people could view the funeral if they wanted to. And around, I think, 23 million people in the UK watched the funeral, and that's just in the UK.

So it was declared a public holiday, and it was held at Westminster Abbey which was where she got married in 1947, and where she was crowned in 1953.

But that was obviously a close door that ceremony.

There were around 2,000 guests. You had obviously the royal family, but you had kings and queens…

From other countries with monarch…

… from other countries. You had presidents, you have prime ministers, and you have other representatives from other countries, like ambassadors, but also representatives of lots of different charities in the UK people who worked with the queen. There were people pretty much from everywhere.

But that was like more for the public. Did they hold a more private funeral for just a family？

Yes, so what happened was it was actually a few different ceremonies that was the state funeral where people went to Westminster Abbey to pay their respects, and then the coffin was processed through London.

The coffin was transferred to Windsor Castle close to London. It's about an hour's drive roughly from London. At Windsor castle, there was another ceremony where it was much smaller and then a private ceremony which was the actual burial.

She was buried with her husband.

She was buried with prince Philip who died a couple of years ago. She was also buried with her parents.

I see, one question though, I’ve heard that because the queen lived till 96 years old, I mean, they've already sort of rehearsed the whole funeral procedures and protocols before that.

Many times, actually in government circles, there is something called Operation London Bridge.

伦敦桥行动. Does that have anything to do with london bridge’s falling down?

Pretty much. So senior members of the royal family, they have a plan associated with their death. What happens is that as soon as the queen passed away, this operation went into effect.

The death is only announced to the general public once the royal family have been told and the prime minister has been told.

And also it's been sent to embassies around the world. So it's a very complex plan to manage the communication, but also to prepare for the funeral because pretty much everything in the UK stops at this time.

So very detailed protocols to follow. Those were some of the facts, but what about people's reactions?

From what I could see, obviously I cannot emotionally relate to it, but I did talk to you about it. And also, I could see on the live streaming, a lot of people got very emotional, but why? Why are people very emotional about this？Because I know the queen was the head of state for you, but she was a figurehead, right？She wasn't like in real control of the government, for example, to that extent.

No, the queen always had a lot of theoretical power, but she never uses that power. I would say it's quite complex because there are obviously some people who didn't really think that much about the queen's death in the UK and also around the world, there are some people who don't even like the idea of having a monarchy.

Mhm.

But I would say, generally speaking, people… it did affect people. The queen was very well respected, and in many cases she was loved. But there's also the element that she was always there. She represents an era, a particular time in our country. And you have to think that she ‘s always present for many of us on the TV, in the newspapers.

Kind of like mental support, isn't it？

Yes, but also I would say it represents her generation. So as a British person, when I think of the queen, I also think about my own grandparents.

Remember the queen came to power just after the World War II, she actually served as a soldier in the World War II. Her first prime minister was Winston Churchill.

So you think about in those terms, it's the end of an era.

Like to me, it was just such an extraordinary life, such a legendary life, the things that she had seen.

Yep, the things she has seen.

People she had met.

Well, exactly.

You think about all of the people throughout history that she has met, and also kind of all the places that she's been to as well.

I would say that she represents like timeless to many British people. Her reign has been one of service. You mentioned that she doesn't have a lot of theoretical power, but she still had to work. She still had to travel the country, represent the country.

She worked till the very end, a few days before passing away. That's impressive that is something that I hope I can do actually. It was… every year she used to give this Christmas speech.

Yes, the Christmas speech. It's a very complex emotion.

Yeah, I mean, again I think I understand it a bit more although still not emotionally feeling it, but I sort of can understand you are coming from.

So let's wrap up by asking you, personally how do you feel do you feel somewhat emotional about this？

I must admit I didn't cry.

I felt shocked even though that she was 96 years old, but I felt shocked because she was there, she was always present, and of what she represented as well. I would say she represented service, duty, also decency as well. She never gave any strong opinions, she just basically did her job relatively quietly.

And I guess it's also the end of an era.

Exactly. And obviously one era comes to an end, you start thinking about the future a lot more.

Yeah, future is king Charles III, and how do people feel about him？

That's actually probably…there's a lot to talk about there, so we can probably make that into another episode.

I'll hold you to that.

Okay.

On that note, we're gonna wrap up here, leave us comments on what you think and any questions that you want to ask. We'll see you time.

Bye~

Bye.