This question must be clarified in peace and coordinated with the palace and the monarch, British Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan told LBC radio on Tuesday. The state mourning after the Queen’s death had only just ended. Donelan reported that over 250,000 people attended the Queen’s laying out in Parliament.
“We want to give the country a break. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was a remarkable event that brought the country together,” Donelan said. The same applies to the Queen’s 70th jubilee in June. “That can also stimulate the economy,” said the minister.
Heir to the throne Charles automatically became king when his mother died on September 8th. The 73-year-old has already been officially proclaimed monarch. The coronation ceremony is still to come. Elizabeth II had been King George VI since the death of her father. became Queen on February 6, 1952, but she was not crowned until 16 months later, on June 2, 1953.
Donelan also gave Sky News a first indication of the number of people who paid their respects to Queen Elizabeth II’s laid-out coffin in London. The more than 250,000 are not yet a final number, your ministry is still evaluating the information. Scores of people had queued for hours to see the closed coffin in the British Parliament’s Westminster Hall.
Commentators were quick to point out that the figure given would be lower than that of Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, who was paid their respects by some 300,000 people after his death in 1952, and significantly lower than the government had previously anticipated. The monarch, who died on September 8 at the age of 96, had been laid out in the London Parliament for more than four days before the state funeral took place for her in the presence of numerous heads of state and government from all over the world on Monday at noon. She was later buried at Windsor Castle.
Minister of Culture Donelan initially did not provide any information on the cost of the state funeral. “I think the British public would argue that the money was well spent,” said the minister. “You have seen so many thousands out there and I don’t think anyone can argue that our late monarch did not deserve this farewell given the duty and selfless service to which she has dedicated more than 70 years.” To claim otherwise is “downright absurd,” Donelan said. “It was a great sense of community,” she said. The Queen was the glue that held society together.
Source: Nachrichten
