Yesterday afternoon we heard the news of Queen Elizabeth's passing away. She was the longest reigning queen in the world, and only Louis IX of France reigned a bit longer than she.
I must admit I was not all that surprised. When Prince Philip died last year, I expected her to follow not much longer. They'd been together for ages, and it often happens with older couples that when one spouse dies, the other will soon follow. I remember seeing her so lost at the funeral, sitting there all on her own in the pew. And when I saw the last picture of the queen, meeting Liz Truss, I noticed how blue her hands were and how much weight she had lost. Not a good sign.
(Mind, if losing weight means coming death, I'm not in a good situation either. I need to gain weight urgently - but all my functions are still allright and I still have my strenght.)
Now the world has to get used to King Charles III. And Queen Camilla. The man is already 73, so he won't reign for ages, like his mother. I expect that the crown will be handed over to Prince William, just like it happened here in Belgium. When King Baudouin died, his brother Albert took the throne, but after some years he abdicated and handed over the crown to his son Filip
All of us grew up with Elizabeth being the Queen of England and we learned how to sing 'God Save the Queen' at school, during our lessons of English. I know that song better (and also France's La Marseillaise) than our own 'O dierbaar België'. It will be getting used to having a king now.
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