On this day in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the age of 96. Following only Louis XIV, she had the second longest reign in history of 70 years, 214 days, and had recently celebrated her Platinum Jubilee. Even if you are not someone who is overly familiar with the Royal Family or follows them, you more than likely would have been familiar with her, and her place in world politics. (Yes, she had a role in politics.) While I think it is still too early to truly reflect on her entire reign, we are now able to start to fully absorb the days following her death. And in Funeral for a Queen by John Fraser, we are given a journalist’s experiences in London beginning on 8 September 2022.
A massive thank you to Sutherland House Books for providing a copy of the book.
Funeral for a Queen: Twelve Days in London, John Fraser
On September 8, 2022, an announcement was posted on the gates of Balmoral Castle in Scotland and Buckingham Palace in London that Queen Elizabeth II, the longest serving monarch in British history, had died. That set in motion a remarkable ten days of official mourning and ceremony unlike anything seen in any nation for decades.
Members of the royal family gathered—the new King Charles III and his Queen Consort Camilla; the newly-minted Prince of Wales, William and his princess, Kate; Harry the Bolter and his celebrity wife Meghan; and even the bad boy himself, “Prince” Andrew—along with hundreds of royals and heads of states from around the world. Hordes of people, many from overseas, spent long hours lining up in the rain to pay tribute to the beloved monarch, a presence in their lives for seventy years. On the scene for these events, renowned journalist John Fraser takes the reader from inside St. James Palace where the new King was proclaimed to Queen Elizabeth’s final resting place at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, from deeply moving scenes to the occasional hilarious screw-up, capturing the magic of the occasion with trenchant observations and witty commentary informed by a lifetime’s experience and curiosity about all things monarchical and his own encounters with the royals.
Why You Should Read This…
While you can find many day by day news accounts of the events from QEII’s passing to her funeral, this is a more personal approach and remembering of the period.
If you are unfamiliar with Canadian royal coverage over the last two to three decades, you may not be familiar with John Fraser. Fraser, among other things, was a journalist and the Founding President of the Institute of the Study of the Crown in Canada. As an historian, I will say that certainly makes for a biased approach to the royals BUT this is a personal memoir of his time covering QEII’s passing and his experience and knowledge is an integral part of these essays.
I suspect that anyone who is going to pick this up is probably familiar with the events that occurred but if you are not, I would recommend quickly brushing up. Although Fraser doesn’t cover the “facts” of what happened in detail for each day, that is more than alright- it is his wider context on previous events, royal persons, political figures, and beyond that make this an interesting read. And for anyone who was not in Edinburgh or London for these events, it is interesting to read about what the cities were like.
My only qualm is that he seems somewhat flippant when discussing the events at various points- I would argue that a piece on The Queen’s death is not the place to name the Duke of Sussex “the Bolter”. I am not saying that one can never criticise the royals (and am for fair criticism) but Harry’s choice to step back from royal life was not terrifically relevant and it seemed a bizarre place to take potshots.
All in all, I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the modern royals and the traditions and ceremonies that surround royal life and death!
Is Funeral for a Queen by John Frasre on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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