On Thursday 8th September 2022, people heard at lunchtime that doctors at Balmoral were concerned about the Queen’s health. They turned on the TV News and commentators were speculating until early evening and then Huw Edwards made the announcement, ‘A few moments ago Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth the second …‘
The flag above the County Hall was at half-mast, and the tenor bell at St Helen’s and at St Nicolas’ tolled for an hour from noon on Friday, and in parish churches throughout the nation. This was part of the London Bridge is Down protocol – a series of events planned following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Most were at the national level, but some happened at district and parish levels.
On Sunday, the Mayor of Abingdon, councillors, MP Layla Moran, and Deputy Lord Lieutenant, Felicity Dick, met on Abingdon Market Place, and the Mayor announced that the new monarch was King Charles III. People sang ‘God save the King’.
The Town Council opened a book of condolence, as did the County Council through libraries such as Abingdon Library. Some churches had books of condolence.
Many people from Abingdon went to London to join the Queen’s lying in state queue at Westminster Hall. After a wait of from five to fifteen hours, they arrived, dazed and tired, in view of the Queen’s coffin. The coffin was covered with a flag and the imperial crown. There, people bowed or made the sign of the cross or saluted.
Back in Abingdon, most of the churches had special services. On Sunday, the eve of the funeral, St Helen’s held a Civic Evensong. The Deputy Lord Lieutenant and an officer from Dalton Barracks read passages from the bible. The Mayor gave a short address saying how the Queen enjoyed services like evensong. In it the choir sang Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. In the Magnificat, Mary accepts as a young woman to be the mother of Jesus and a life of service to God. In the Nunc dimittis, Simeon, an old man, after a lifetime of service to God and after seeing Jesus, says ‘Now let your servant depart in peace.’ The Mayor said it was similar to the start and end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the promise she made to a life of faith and love and service, a promise she kept to the end. The service ended with God Save the King.
On Monday, the roads around Abingdon were quiet, and for the hour before the funeral in London, the tenor bell at St Helen’s and at St Nicolas’ tolled for an hour. Bells tolled in parishes throughout the land.
Some people went in person to be near the funeral procession, some joined to watch in a public place as happened at Peachcroft Christian Centre, and some watched on TV with family or friends or alone. The processions and crowds were huge. There was a regal church service at Westminster Abbey and a more intimate service at Windsor. After all the pomp, that service ended with the orb, sceptre, and crown being taken from the coffin and placed on the altar, and a slender stick, called the Queen’s wand of office, was broken. The coffin sunk slowly from public view.
Soon afterwards more traffic could be heard on the roads.