| "Let Us Bury The Great Duke..." |
[Apr. 18th, 2021|10:05 am]
Tony Grist
|
Judy tells me the royal funeral was going out live on all the major US channels- CNN, MSNBC, Fox, ABC. That's worse than over here- where the BBC is still sucking its sore thumb over negative viewer response to its blanket coverage of the man's death- and how it displaced programmes like the final of Masterchef.
I dipped in and out. My old mucker John Sentamu, former Archbishop of York, was telling us about the depth of the Prince's faith- and I wondered how on earth he could know. I mean, were they bosom buddies? Was he the man's confessor?
I switched off after that, but switched on again as the coffin was being carried into the chapel. St George's, Windsor is a gorgeous building. The black masks that everyone apart from the officiants were wearing put me in mind of the elite orgy in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut- the kind of gathering Philip would have been familiar with in his younger days...
I think the camera persons had been given instructions to avoid any shots that showed how the Princes William and Harry were not being trusted to walk next to one another.
It was nice that the Covid regulations- which limited mourners to 30- kept the politicians away.
There was no room for Elton either, or the Beckhams...
The Dean read a passage from Ecclesiasticus. I looked it up afterwards because it was unfamiliar to me. I imagine the Duke had chosen it (and apparently he'd scripted the whole show in advance) because of it containing a line about sailors- and he was always a sailor at heart. The version used was one of those modern ones which put the text through a ringer that squeezes out all the poetry.
A choir of four sung "For those on peril on the sea"- which conjured up a vision of Philip's ghost in a tiny bark tossing on dark and stormy waves. They also sang something by Benjamin Britten.
I went elsewhere during the Britten, but left the TV on to keep my mother company. The person she used to be would have insisted on watching- and in an atmosphere of hush. Now she hasn't a clue. The Duke was her senior by a few months....
Judy says the Archbishop of Canterbury talked sense. I think he's a twit. |
|
