I watched on TV as the lonely hearse appeared from a forest green accompanied by the sad melody of the pipes. That haunting lament of Flowers of the Forest pervaded the Highland morning as the frail body of a great Queen began its final journey. People bowed their heads in reverence. The gates and chains of her castle and her life closed and the cortege sped up: she was a free bird after the emancipation of death.
Along the Deeside Road and through the loyal towns of Ballatar and Banchory the cortege glided smoothly and silently beside the Dee as it meandered its way through the Royal landscape . Tractors lined the fields and bowed their buckets in respect whilst children on ponies paid homage to a patron they loved.
In Aberdeen, sombre Doric whispers bade farewell in the grey granite streets of that ancient City.
Lewis Grassic Gibbon spoke of how the ‘red clay soil lay in neat furrows in the warm sunshine, whilst from the east against a cobalt blue sky, lay the shimmer of the North sea with a wind bringing a streaming coolness out of that sea'*.And so it was as she sped through Howe of the Mearns and the panoply of the Scottish hills and the patchwork of fields unfolded far across the horizon. This was a land she had loved and which had loved her.Dundonians stood in respectful droves as their Queen passed by and across the silvery Tay where the smell of the sea and the cool salty breeze is an ever present delight
Onwards, the Queen crossed the Kingdom then on to the Forth Bridge and awaiting crowds of the capital.
I could observe no more: I wanted to be part of this history so joined the crowds at Barnton outside Edinburgh. The scene looked like a carnival with crowds and flags and families in camping chairs awaiting the arrival . But the mood was so very sad
Boys climbed trees to see and a nursing home commandeered pavement space outside to line up elderly patients in wheelchairs. Some wept. Flags were carried but not waved. People spoke but did not laugh. When the Queen's coffin passed there was a hush: a mix of awe, sadness and unbelievability at being so close to this monumental event. Their song was their silence; their applause their bowed heads.
After the hearse passed the crowd dispersed. They walked back to their cars. They walked alone.
Brian D Harris
September 2022(*Lewis Grassic Gibbon. Sunset Song)