On Tuesday September 6, I read about the appointment of the UK’s new prime minister, Lizz Truss, by Queen Elizabeth II, and I recall thinking how well the queen looked, her face beaming, a look we had grown used to whenever she made a public appearance. I would never have guessed that 48 hours later she would be dead.
In June, my partner and I happened to be in the UK on the weekend of Friday June 3 to Sunday June 5 when the queen celebrated her Platinum Jubilee which marked 70 years of service to the people of the UK and the Commonwealth.
We stayed in Andover, Hampshire, and did not plan to go to London but were very tempted to do so as celebrations started across the UK.
In Andover, we celebrated with a braai in the local park. It was attended by residents who wore T-shirts with Union Jacks and the queen’s face.
That evening, we watched the concert at the palace featuring Brian May of Queen, Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, and Elton John, among others, and listened to Prince Charles’s speech.
The atmosphere was incredible, and in a moment of weakness, which cost us about R2 700 for two train tickets, we decided to go to London the following day.
In typical UK style, the weather did not play along and we were greeted with grey skies and soft drizzle at Waterloo station.
Despite it being the beginning of their summer, it was freezing, but it didn’t matter because we were on holiday and were in London to witness some of the queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations first-hand – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It was around 11am and the streets were buzzing with people, security personnel, mounted police, decorated horse carts, and people selling memorabilia on every corner.
We hadn’t realised that we would be unable to get close to Buckingham Palace as the streets surrounding the palace had been cordoned off. Only people with tickets were allowed in and the queue was about a mile long.
The parade started about an hour later and while we could hear it, we couldn’t see it. Crowds had gathered at every corner to get a glimpse of the parade so we couldn’t even get close to the barricades.
We made our way to Trafalgar Square, where a big screen had been put up, but we could not get to it because we could not get through the tightly-knit crowd. So we watched the parade on our phones and soaked up the atmosphere.
We had forgotten about the cold during the parade and only realised afterwards that we were freezing… and starving.
We made our way to the closest pub, which turned out to be the ideal place to rest our tired feet and take in what we had just experienced.
That night, back at home in Andover, we watched the parade on TV. It was only then that we realised just how many people there had been on that day.
We watched the queen step out onto the palace balcony in a bright green outfit, waving and smiling at the crowds as she has been doing for more than 70 years. While I had not seen this momentous moment myself, I can say I was there.
Rest in peace, your majesty.
