Junwu Jun also took a sneak glance, intending to witness this historic moment, but he didn't expect that he would end after watching it for a long time, so he had to give up.

"Military Martial Plane" Author: Xia Chong Buyu Bing

Beijing time yesterday afternoon The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of was held in London, England. The British BBC TV station is expected to have more than 4 billion people watch the funeral live broadcast.

Junwujuan also took a sneak look. He originally planned to witness this historic moment, but he didn't expect that he would end after watching it for a long time, so he had to give up. It was only afterward that the funeral began at 6:30 pm and ended until after 11:00 pm. The last time such a big scene may be traced back to the death of Prime Minister Churchill in 1965.

▲The political leaders of various countries who attended the Queen's funeral

In fact, for any country in the world, the death of an important national figure is a first-class event. Not to mention the far-reaching situation, just talk about the Abe who was assassinated a few months ago. Of course, Abe's influence is not as good as Queen of England , not to mention the queen who died as a monarch.

So we can see that there were more than 500 politicians from all over the world attending the funeral, including US President Biden , Japanese Emperor , and South Korean President Yoon Seo-yeol , etc. These are more familiar to us. Therefore, the queen's funeral is also known as "the largest diplomatic activity in Britain in the past 60 years." Today, Junwu Jun will talk to you about the queen's funeral.

The rules of the royal family are many

About the death of an important national figure, everyone will almost think of a rule, that is, " lowers the flag halfway ". It is said that this commemoration method has a history of nearly 400 years. It first originated in 1612 and was a crew member of the British ship "Haz Ice" to commemorate the captain.

Their captain unfortunately died while exploring the waterway leading to the Pacific Ocean in northern North America, so they lowered the flag on the mast to a distance from the top of the flagpole. Later, the ship sailed into The Thames . Why did people see that the flag of the ship did not reach the top? After inquiring, I found out that it was mourning the dead captain.

Later in the second half of the 17th century, this method spread to the European continent and became an internationally common way of commemoration, including Article 15 of our " National Flag Law of the People's Republic of China" has the relevant provisions on half-stand .

▲On September 9, the French Presidential Residence Elysee Palace lowered half a flag to mourn the late Queen Elizabeth II of England

However, a French mayor sneered at the act of lowering the flag to commemorate the queen. The mayor was named Jane Gallut, the mayor of the central French city of Bourge, and he said, "respect the sadness of British friends, but will not lower the French flag in the municipal building of Bourge." Because "France is a Why should a republic mourn a foreign monarch? "

▲"Times " report screenshot of the French mayor's opposition to lowering the flag

By the way, we are all used to saying "lowering half a flag", but if you pay attention carefully, you will find that it is not really "half-stile", but is lowered to one-third from the top of the flagpole. It is said that this is to leave a "invisible flag of death" above the normal flag by lowering the flag.

After the death of the Queen, half-masts were lowered across the UK to express condolences. It is reported that the flag drop will continue until 8 am the next morning after the Queen's funeral. What is more special is on September 10th, because Prince Charles officially succeeded to the throne on this day, it would be inappropriate for him to succeed to the throne, so the whole country was suspended for several hours before it continued to surrender.

However, there is still a flag in the UK, and even if the queen dies, it never surrenders, that is the royal flag of the UK.The British -meter-shaped flag that we are familiar with is the national flag. The British royal family has its own flag, called the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom, which is the flag covered on the queen's coffin. Under the British Flag Agreement, the British flag can be hung all over the streets, but the royal flag can only float above the Queen's buildings, and must be a little higher than the British flag, the flags of other royal members and other British flags.

▲The royal flag covered on the queen's coffin

Why is this flag so special and never lowered? Because this flag symbolizes the monarch, the flag is in the monarch, and the monarch will not be broken. When the queen dies, Charles automatically succeeds to the throne and becomes the new monarch. If one day the royal flag is lowered, there is only one possibility, that is, Britain abolishes the monarchy, and then it will be another witness to history.

There is another familiar link that everyone is salute . Now many countries will roar cannons and greet when holding major ceremonies or greetings to the state guests. For example, on March 23, 1984, Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone visited China, and my country welcomed the 19th cannon.

This practice also originated in the UK. More than 400 years ago, British Navy had the habit of fired cannons to welcome guests. At that time, the cannon on the warship was a bore gun, which was the kind that had to run to the muzzle to stuff it into. After a round of fire, it took a lot of effort to reload it. Therefore, before a ship of a country enters another country's harbor, or encounters a foreign ship on the high seas, in order to show that I am not hostile, I will first release all the shells on the ship before I can enter the port or dock or pass.

This practice has gradually developed into a friendly act of disarming oneself and a tribute to the other party. The number of firecrackers indicates the degree of disarming, friendship and sincerity, and respect for the other party. Later, fire cannons became an international common practice of mutual tribute and also a high-standard etiquette to welcome VIPs to board the ship. Later, this kind of etiquette was used from sea to land, becoming a kind of courtesy at the grand welcoming and sending the state guests and a content at the grand celebration.

▲ London Tower Bridge salute

There is also a complex set of regulations on the location, occasion and number of times when the salute is fired. For example, in 1827, the British Ordnance Commission set a rule to fire 41 guns at one of the Royal Parks in London or the Tower of London, but the rules are not dead. On a more important day like the monarch's birthday, it will make an exception to fire 62 guns. After the Queen's death, Hyde Park, London, fired 96 salutes for the Queen to commemorate every year of the Queen's life.

In addition, there is another tradition in the UK, which is to ring the bell in the church when the monarch died. This tradition is said to date back to the seventh century. After the Queen's death, many cathedrals in Britain sounded bells to express their condolences. In order to deliberately make a "dreary bell sound", people will add thick pads to the bells and take them off after the funeral, and they can make a normal sound.

Where is the British royal tomb? What are the funeral objects?

After the funeral, a question that made Junwuju curious is, where will the Queen of England be buried?

If we follow the tradition of our Chinese emperors, we have to build an imperial tomb.

If you know about the UK, you will find that there have never been any imperial tombs in the UK, so where are these kings buried?

There are two places where kings of Britain have buried their bones. The first is the Westminster Cathedral on the north bank of the Thames River in London, also known as Westminster Cathedral . It is a very typical Gothic building . The queen's funeral was held in this church.

▲Westminster Cathedral

This church was built in 960 AD by King Edward, the monarch of the Anglo-Saxon Dynasty in England and known as the "Confessor". Historically, Edward was a very devout Christian. In 1045 AD, he originally promised to go on a pilgrimage, but he broke his promise and did not go. In order to atone for his sins, he built the church. Westminster Cathedral became a burial site in Henry III. Henry III rebuilt Westminster Cathedral in memory of Edward and buried his body here. After Henry III's death, the body was also buried here. Since then, many British kings have chosen to be buried here after their death.

In addition to burying the king, many British aristocrats, poets, generals, politicians, scientists and other important figures also regard burying them after death in Westminster Temple as the highest honor. Celebrities such as Newton , Darwin , Churchill, Hawking are all buried in this church. According to our statement, being able to be buried by the king and being buried with the king is equivalent to being worthy of the Taimiao.

▲Newton's Tomb

Another interesting thing is Cromwell. Although he was buried in Westminster Temple after his death, it was not long after that it caught up with the restoration of the Stuart Dynasty. Charles II dug Cromwell's body out of Westminster Temple, cut off his head and nailed it to the roof of Westminster Temple. As a result, people forgot about this. It took 25 years. Once a strong wind blew him down in London.

Westminster Temple is also the chapel of Anglican . 38 British kings, including Elizabeth II , were crowned here, and the wedding of British royal members was also held here.

▲The crown of the queen was also held in Westminster Temple in 1952

Another royal burial site is the St. George's Church in Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is located in the outskirts of London and is a family castle of the Windsor Dynasty. The queen lived here most of her life.

▲Windsor Castle

St. George's Church was built in the 14th century and is a special church for the British royal family. It has long been used as the venue for royal wedding and funeral ceremonies and cemeteries for royal members. Starting from the 18th century, a special royal tomb was built in St. George's Church, and since then, many royal families have begun to choose to be buried in St. George's Church in Windsor Castle. Currently, there are three British kings buried in the royal tomb, namely George III , George IV and William IV.

In addition to the royal tomb, many British kings are buried in other places in the church. Last year, after the death of Prince Philip, Elizabeth II's husband, died, his coffin was temporarily housed in the royal tomb in St. George's Church.

▲St. George's Cathedral

Now that the queen has passed away, she will be buried with Prince Philip at the Memorial Church of King George VI. George VI is the father of Elizabeth II. After his death in 1952, he was buried in the royal tomb in St. George's Church.

▲Tomb of George VI

962, Elizabeth II specially asked someone to build a new tomb for Joe Liu, but there was no extra space in the church at that time, so a new tomb was built on the side of the main building of the church, which is the King George Sixth Century Church. After its completion in 1969, George VI was moved to the funeral. In 2002, George VI's wife and Elizabeth II's mother were buried here after the death of her. Elizabeth II's sister Princess Margaret was buried here after the death of her. Now the queen and her husband can finally reunite with their family.

▲The queen is buried

There may be many people who don’t know that because Britain mainly believes in Christianity, the British royal family will be buried after the death of the death. Of course, if there is an explanation before the death, it may be treated specially, but there is no precedent yet.

Of course, there is another thing that Junwuju is more concerned about. What will he take with him as a queen as big as her wrist when she dies when she comes to another world?

It is reported that the Queen collected more than 300 pieces of private jewelry during her lifetime, including 40 crowns, 34 pairs of earrings, 98 brooches, 46 necklaces, 37 bracelets, 5 necklace pendants, 14 watches, and 15 rings.

However, there are media reports that Elizabeth II was humble during his lifetime, so it is very likely that he would only wear two special jewelry to bury him when he was buried. One is the Welsh golden wedding ring, which is a custom-made ring by the Queen's parents when they got married. It is a traditional wedding ring of the British royal family; the other is the Queen's favorite pearl earring, which is said to be a wedding gift given by her mother.

After the death of the Queen, jewelry distribution has also become the focus of people's attention. According to internal revelations from the royal family, the queen suddenly changed her will before her death and gave the jewelry worth 700 million yuan to her favorite granddaughter-in-law Princess Kate, while her daughter-in-law Camilla and another granddaughter-in-law Megan will not get anything. It seems that the phenomenon of the unhealthy conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is not only present in ordinary people's homes.

Why don’t European monarchs have their own tombs like Chinese emperors?

Although the value of gold rings and pearl earrings is generally astronomical to us, the Queen was at least the king of a country during her lifetime. Not to mention that she was compared with the Qin Emperor, Han Wu, and Tang Zong, and Song Zu in our history, even the kings and princes with some status were indeed a little shabby.

Let’s talk about the cemetery, the queen’s family is crowded in a church, and any imperial tomb here will be thrown out of their family for several streets. Let’s not talk about the emperor and his pit, and no one will be next to each other.

▲The Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang , a Terracotta Warriors and Horses Burial pit is larger than the cemetery of the Queen's family

Then why is the gap between China and abroad? This is the different habits caused by different cultures in China and abroad. To give the simplest example, friends who have watched foreign film and television dramas know that in general, there are not many people coming to see off for funerals abroad. Basically, they are friends with close relatives and friends, and ordinary friends may not be invited.

But it’s different here. When we have sex at home, we basically don’t leave any friends. In some places, we can even place mats, play and sing to express our condolences.

The tomb of the monarch is the same. We Chinese people pay attention to "doing death is like living things". We will have to do whatever we want before our lives. The treatment cannot be reduced. So look at the tombs of those emperors, such as chariots, wine vessels, book simplified , swords and swords. Basically, the tomb owners liked before their lives and buried them together after their death.

▲ ▲ The tomb of Haihunhou gold cake

is different in the West. The Western royal power is basically related to the church, and the kings are all believers. Christianity advocates going to heaven after death. For believers with faith, money and other things are external things. And when you see God, you say that it is not appropriate to put a bunch of money in a big bag, and there is no place to spend it.

Another reason is that European monarchs are not as centralized as our Chinese emperors. They are more like feudal countries like Western Zhou . The monarchs don’t have much money to build graves for themselves. Many monarchs even owed money from the nobles and churches. For example, there was a very famous Knights Templar in the medieval era. It was because they were too rich that even French King Philip IV owed them money. What should I do if I really couldn’t pay it back in the end? Then I’ll kill you.

So basically, after death, the European monarchs were either buried in churches or in their own family cemeteries, and there were few large tombs of that kind.

▲Tomb of Queen Victoria

Speaking of churches, in fact, at the beginning, the church only stores the bones of saints, and no one else accepts them, nor does the king accept them. After all, this is not a cemetery. Later, some believers believed that many people prayed there in the church. If too much prayer will help eliminate disasters after death and go to heaven, which led to this custom. In fact, not only the inside of the church, but also the grass outside the church is the first choice for tombs.

Of course, not everyone is qualified to bury churches, especially royal churches. For example, the Westminster Temple mentioned earlier, only saints, famous believers, or those who have made outstanding contributions to the church and the country have the opportunity to enter.

This is a bit like some Buddhists put their tablets into the Buddhist temple after death, and even Japanese people put their tablets into the shrine. They all want to get a spiritual sustenance by getting close to these religions.

No matter how grand the queen's funeral is, it is an undeniable fact that Britain's status is gradually declining. From the energy crisis to the financial difficulties to the diplomatic deadlock, a series of policy difficulties began to bother every British after the Queen's death. The winter of the Queen will no longer be cold, and what will happen to their winter?