Mortem Regina

It was quite sudden. I'd been to Noirmont to view the 2022 air display and saw the news about the Queen being poorly, but she has been poorly before. At around 6.30 I put on the news to see if there were any clips of the air display, just as the news broke. 

The picture above I selected because the rainbow is traditionally associated with a sign of hope and promise (from the Noah stories) and also a sign of ending. It seemed almost miraculous that it should light up the sky above Windsor Castle, the flag already at half-mast, as if nature itself shared the sense of the departure of a great Queen.

The poem below follows the pattern of a well known Royal hymn. You may recognise it!

Mortem Regina

Now dies our gracious Queen,
Farewell our noble Queen,
We mourn the Queen
Seventy years victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Now she departs from us
God bless the Queen!

Memories so precious store,
Of her blessed reign we pour
As ends her reign
Long she defended laws,
And truly gives us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
Farewell our Queen!