The civil war that wasn't

 The Queen is dead. Her funeral is today. One day we had a new Prime Minister, the next we had a new King. This cannot be good for our country. How interesting it would be to look and compare country's civil rest/unrest after a change of Monarch. There are always patterns, if we would only think to look for them.

Charles, the Prince of Wales as he was. We do all know him and I think that alone will erode much of the 'untouchable' effect that The Queen held. She was the epitome of stability. No one ever called her the ultimate feminist I can't help but notice...

For the record I'm very big on the Royal family. Not because of some long seated desire to be a Princess or because they are 'royal'. I love the Windsors because they are a family. One for the whole country to be involved in and to watch the children grow up. Even my daughter said of Princess Charlotte - 'I remember when she was born!' quite funny from a thirteen year old. 

One thing that constantly irritates me is people failing to realise how lucky they are. It seems this nation holds very little appreciation or positivity for almost anything. The Queen was a very positive lady and very religious too. 

God has saved her. She died quickly. The day after swearing in the new Prime Minister - Liz Truss. So you can see why under the circumstances, I actually blame the Tory party for this. Its quite clear, the lady had gone to Balmoral to essentially retire -  'live out my days at Casterley Rock' as Charles Dance once said in Game of Thrones, the art which life now imitates - in comes the extra and frankly unexpected workload of the new Prime Minister complete with Key Stage one haircut. The two forty minute meetings would have put a strain on her heart which gave out the very next day. 

Had the Chancellor not handed in his notice and sparked off a chain of events, things would have happened differently. That I am sure. Knowing The Queen's work ethic, I'm sure swearing in yet another Prime Minister would have pleased her greatly and it will influence Liz Truss' premiership far more than any of us can ever imagine. How, I don't know. Only that it will. 

For the King, God save him, I'm sure he will be a voice and much like Satan, will know he hasn't got long. Not only is the poor man attending his Mother's funeral today, in many respects, he attends his own. 

That troubled soul will always be Prince Charles to me. Losing his first wife under such circumstances, marrying Camilla which we all basically got on with, similar to Boris Johnson marrying Carrie. The truth is no one cares. 

A sad fact with Charles is, in comparison to his older son, he holds almost no profile. 

His youngest son is his enemy, his eldest, his competition. He's no daughter, which is a shame for any man and lets not forget the poor boy is constantly being outdone by his sister. His Mother and Father will have meant the world to him and now he has no one to help him fill that thronely void. How on earth must he be feeling? 

He will I think, want to exercise authority and I don't think that will end well. In fact, looking through the history books, no Charles ever did well as king and no King Charles ever did well.

Speaking of history books, shortly after Brexit, which divided us almost in half, I felt that a civil war may be on the cards. Perhaps its a cultural war and one the right wing lost long ago but whilst we were victors of the economy then, I don't think the same is true today. 

Much of the components of one's 'civil war' theory still remain. So, lets take a look at England.  To our left we have Ireland, home of the IRA. I was there last week and believe me, so were they. Openly. (It's very easy to forget that the European Union went to the border of Ireland when we were first in the vaccine queue. They retreated immediately but both then and now, it remains an invasion.) 

Above us, we have Scotland, well they aren't happy - something to do with independence.

Then to the right we have Europe, which we voted to leave. So imagine a compass, we aren't exactly surrounded by friends and allies. England is isolated and also, cut in half. 

Now, such predictions never came to pass but things don't happen overnight. The above situation hasn't changed, indeed its worsened. Now we have a change of Monarch and yet another Prime Minister. 

Add to this, the inflation, the strikes and I do believe that now more than ever, England is a boiling pot. Where it will end I don't know. There is war with Russia which we are in involved in and I fear the outlook is bleak. 

If this sounds a little too dramatic, just imagine you are reading a history book and we looking back at how this all began. I don't know what will happen, only that the foundations are so weak. 

If we all believed in our King and country and did as we were told the foundations would be stronger. This country is built on sand and I don't believe Liz Truss or Charles will get us through. Perhaps. Yet unlikely.

Westminster teaches us we all have a choice and can do whatever we like. Again not true. 

You see, Covid, what that did was throw away our regard for structure. Everything went out of the window. Going to work, going to school, taking your car for the MOT. It taught us we can survive without structure. We can't of course but it appears that way. It taught us, collectively that nothing remains.

 The Queen addressed the nation and the Prime Minister wrote to all of us. I'm surprised we haven't had a letter informing us of her death. 

Today's funeral will be a strong dose of God and that can only ever be a good thing. We don't get enough of it.

Even in schools, especially primary schools, there's no hymns anymore. That's a huge mistake. The biggest. In fact I'll look into this and see what can be done. I certainly remember enjoying school assembly and from the Head's side, bringing the whole school together in such a way, is good from a behavioural and arts standpoint too. 

I might mention it at the Tory Party conference, which I'm now going to. Thinking about it, they'll be a Catholic group in the party. Something to remember to avoid. I hardly ever talk about my faith.

I wonder if they will mention The Queen's funeral at Mass today. Wouldn't have thought so. I think one of the main strengths for me with the Catholic church is the steadfast stability, long established order and structure. All things lacking in today's society and I'm just so fortunate to have somewhere to find it. 

Hopefully the funeral will bring the nation and families together. We didn't rush to London, we go for Trooping the Colour, Beating Retreat and are big time royalists. I'm probably just avoiding it. The news was broken to my by my daughter via text message. It really softened the blow. Apparently the queues to see the coffin were fourteen hours!

I imagine the broadcasters will get on my nerves today but I do love live television. 

Who knows what will happen..