Candles were burning, but the hall was not candlelit. It was bright as a train station. The most remarkable thing: the quiet and the solemnity.
The public is allowed no photography, and so there were no hands held aloft with smartphones. No selfies, no Instagram snaps, no Facebook Live.
People came wrapped in scarves, swaddled in puffer coats because of the nighttime chill. Some were dressed in funereal black and a few men in formal morning coats with vests. One woman wore what appeared to be an evening dress with pearls. At the coffin, they paused. For a few seconds, but not longer. Some made the sign of the cross. I watched mourners move their lips, in prayer or thanks or memories. Others bowed, a dip of the head, or very deeply, from the waist.There were older men, with regimental berets and medals on their chests from past service. There were people with canes or in wheelchairs. One couple embraced, after passing the coffin, to comfort each other. Some mourners dabbed their eyes with tissues.
Surrounding the coffin, they stood like wax works: the Gentlemen at Arms with plumed headdresses and cavalry swords, the King’s Guard in bearskin hats, the Yeomen of the Guard in scarlet tunics with staffs.
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