Jenny Bathurst: "I still can’t quite believe it"

“On Thursday evening came the news notification that I always knew would one day come, but never did I honestly expect to actually read the news that has sent the entire world into shock and mourning. The death of Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch who I foolishly believed would somehow always be the backbone of our country, was suddenly upon us.

“It seems that everyone reacted in varying ways. Some cried and were deeply saddened and shocked, whilst some were expecting the news due to the events of the day. I, in true journalist fashion, decided to ensure that everyone who might not yet know the sad news would know there and then, by firstly screaming it around the house at my parents and then calling my boyfriend, who, due to having just moved house, had no wifi or TV signal to know what was going on.

“Due to being just twenty years of age, I of course should have always anticipated that I would see multiple monarchs rule the nation throughout my lifetime. I obviously knew that once Queen Elizabeth II passed away that her son would take the throne, and then his son after that, but Her Majesty was such a constant in my life that I never dreamed of it being any different. And to think that anyone up to the age of 70 could say the same thing.

“I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the TV as the flag flew at half mast and somber crowds stood around Buckingham Palace, when just two or three months ago there were celebrations and parades to mark the Platinum Jubilee.

“Somehow I forgot that so many key traditions of this country would not last forever. After filling up on Christmas lunch this December we won’t sit down with a mince pie and see Queen Elizabeth II in her home, delivering a powerful and relevant message to the nations. The lyrics will now change to ‘God Save The King’, something many of us will at first stumble through as we try and alter something that has been carved into our brains for our entire lives. And of course whenever there is a crisis or notable event, such as the Covid pandemic which Her Majesty handled with such grace, it will not be her comforting presence making a reassuring statement to us all.

“Of course this is not all to say that we will now be without a worthy monarch, simply that so many aspects of this country that we have taken for granted will be shifting in a way that none of us have ever before anticipated.

“And somehow, after typing all this out and being reminded of the news whenever turning on my phone or the radio, I still can’t quite believe it.”