Small but bold. And ready to be the image of continuity too. If the new Princes of Wales, William and Kate, represent the future of the British Crown, with William now first in line to the throne, their children – George and Charlotteaged 9 and 7 – who took part at the state funeral for her great-grandmother Elisabeth II. they guarantee the royal family exactly that: the image of continuity, with all generations together in the solemn greeting.
For days before the funeral there was talk of the possibility that the two children (not the third brother Louis, who at 4 years old is really too young) would attend after the death of his great-grandmother, on September 8th caught her on the first day of school, also in a new facility. A shock to protect them from it and a change to lead them into it. Then the inclusion in the official program of the ceremonial on the eve of the funeral spread late in the evening from the palace: today in the church the two children behaved impeccably.
George in a blue suit, like a little man, with a tie, sits next to his father, William. Charlotte with Kate. The little princess was immortalized entering Westminster Abbey with the grace and composure that circumstances demand.
++ The Queen’s coffin in the Abbey, the funeral begins ++
She, too, looked flawless in her dark outfit: a wide-brimmed, dark hat with a bow of the same color. Blonde hair to the shoulders, a dark, knee-length coat buttoned to the velvet collar. And then this brooch: she too wanted to pay homage to the beloved ‘Gan Gan’ – the nickname given to her great-grandmother by the little ones of the palace – as much as the already grown princesses and for this reason she wore the iron-shaped jewel made of horse and set with diamonds to commemorate the love for these animals that the great-grandmother had and that the granddaughter shares. The first publicly worn piece of jewelry that Elisabetta gave her.
CHARLOTTE AND GEORGE BEHIND THE COFFIN, THE PRINCIPLES DEBUT
George and Charlotte also walked around the coffin, at least for a while, not for the whole procession, too long, too tiring, too stressful. Nothing to do with the picture of 12-year-old Prince Harry walks behind his mother Diana’s coffin with his head bowed. An excruciating pain very different from the lack – albeit painful – that the princes will feel for the 96-year-old great-grandmother. Who, among other things, entrusted responsibility for change to her generation (always in line with tradition): in the meantime Little George is now third in line to the throne, while Charlotte is fourth, at the behest of Elizabeth II. The little princess will indeed become queen without having to give way to her younger brother Louis and precisely because her ‘Gan Gan’ in 2013 wanted to put an end to male primogeniture in the line of succession to the British throne, a moment that until then had resisted for centuries. Today, before the eyes of the world public, the public homage to little Charlotte, who seems to agree with the sovereign’s foresight.