Despite the uninterrupted rain on the British capital, thousands of people continued to make their way to Buckingham Palace all day Friday. From Big Ben, Trafalgar Square or Green Park tube station. Of all ages, of all ethnic backgrounds, a significant number of whom carry flowers in their hands.
“I’m not working today, so it felt right to come and pay my respects to the Queen,” explains Anna, 25, whose tanned face and flip-flops are reminiscent of upcoming vacations. “I cried when I heard the news, and I immediately called my mother, who was also crying. We appreciated her dedication to the country and the nation, we knew she was always there. »
A lot of emotions
The various Commonwealth countries are widely represented. The South African Gareth, 30, thus extended his professional stay when he learned of the Queen’s death on Thursday. He keeps the Thursday night scene in his memory ” of thiselegant woman, her eyes bathed in tears in her taxi stopped outside Buckingham Palace »he says.
“It’s amazing to see so much emotion. It reminded me of the death of Nelson Mandela: there had been a great silence, everyone had stopped their activities, the country had stopped. It is all the more strange that I am on my side rather divided on the monarchy. I like to see the world evolve, open up, while these irremovable sovereigns remain the signs of another time. »
Many Britons still seem shocked by the death of their queen, with whom they felt connected. But everyone knows that the country has entered a new era with the disappearance of the one who reigned for seventy years over the United Kingdom and the arrival of her son Charles on the throne, himself aged 73.
Charles meets the crowd
The 96 cannon shots fired from Hyde Park by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery resound in the distance and seize the crowd. A few minutes later, the car of the new king and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, sneaks up to the palace gate. The two spouses leave. The sky is with them: the sun is finally shining.
Charles then heads for the row of barriers, behind which are amassed thousands of people. For nine minutes, he exchanges a few words and shakes hands with all those seated in the front row. The moment seems endless. Then, alongside Camilla, he enters the palace for the first time, this time as a ruler.
At the other end of London, in the district of Islington, life goes on. If it weren’t for the display of a photo of Elizabeth II on all the digital billboards at bus stops, nothing suggests the event that is shaking England. Undoubtedly, the attention placed for twenty-four hours on the sovereign annoys some. “If it’s to talk about the Queen, I won’t say anything, thank you”, says a woman in her forties from the Caribbean. “No, don’t insist! »
“It does not change my life”
Not far from her, Ranata, 45, pouted. “I am very sad that a grandmother died, but it does not change my life”, she says, in a sardonic tone. “I don’t think people should have the right to rule a country. » Her friend, next to her, nods. Life goes on, and with it, double digit inflation and the onset of winter and its high energy bills. And, for Ranata, “The death of the queen will not change anything”.