Poster in a window in central London
I have arrived back in London (more luck than design) for the first time since my father’s funeral.
As chance would have it, my stay coincides with the crowning of a new monarch - King Charles III.
This time last June, I was back in my home country for the first time since Covid, and so was around for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Three months later, my father had just died when news came through that the Queen was gravely ill.
A few hours later, her death was pronounced officially by the BBC and the nation went into mourning.
“The Queen is dead; long live the King!”
As things transpired, my father’s body was held for some time by the coroner and so his funeral took place the day after that of Elizabeth II. I joined the famous queue (eleven hours, a long journey along the Thames, a few brief moments in front of her coffin) on Sunday 18th September, watched the entire funeral on tv Monday 19th September then headed to the cemetery on 20th September to say a final farewell to my dad.
The queue (stretching rom Westminster to Bermondsey) to pay respects to the late Queen Elizabeth
Three days I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.
After the public outpouring of grief, the ten days of national mourning and the knowledge that a glorious and golden Elizabethan era was over, plans were put in motion for a Coronation.
It’s now twenty four hours before the ‘Big Day’ and I decide to head into central London, to try and capture some of the atmosphere with my camera.
I decide to wander around aimlessly, and begin in Covent Garden (where my father grew up and had his family business).
“N. Mann & Sons - Picture Frame Makers” - circa 1985
It’s not just a beautiful area, but it helps me feel a little closer to him. I head past the store that used to be his and down to the famous flower market area (where he actually worked, aged 15).
The whole piazza and interior is filled with tiny Union Jacks. It’s very crowded - tens of thousands of people are flooding into London from around the globe with the desire of squeezing on the Mall at tomorrow’s ceremony.
Apple Market, Covent Garden
Apparently there’s a ‘ring of steel’ around the capital (much like at the Queen’s funeral) and there’s going to be a huge police presence tomorrow, but inside the hall, some talented young musicians are entertaining the crowd with a rendition of Pachebel’s Canon in D major and it’s simply lovely.
Heading towards Haymarket and Piccadilly, I pause for breath in Trafalgar Square.
There’s going to be a big screen here tomorrow and I see the preparations - a dias (raised platform) in colourful red and pink, emblazoned with a crown emblem, the four flowers of the United Kingdom (English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and Irish shamrock) and two banners proclaiming ‘God Save the King’ and ‘Happy and Glorious’.
Trafalger Square, installing big screens and a stage, the day before the Coronation of King Charles III
And now it’s on to Piccadilly…