A Tale Of 2 Royal Deaths- Mike Awoyinfa Column

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The tributes came like torrential rain pouring on our beloved Queen Elizabeth whose death at 96 has plunged the world into a flood of encomiums—the type that has not been witnessed since the death of Lady Diana.
With all the beautiful tributes and flowers flooding in for Queen Elizabeth from around the world, there is no way this canonized saint would be refused entry at the gates of heaven—if it is true that the voice of the people is the voice of God. Now, his son King Charles III made one of the most poignant funeral orations ever heard. Eyes soaked in tears, voice filled with emotion and sadness, he prayed for singing angels to carry his mum home on the flight to eternal rest.
“May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest,” he said, borrowing from the iconic words of Horatio in Shakespeare’s epic play Hamlet which I read for my A-level English Literature course at Ijebu Jesha Grammar School in the early ’70s. King Charles like a Shakespearian actor echoing those famous words of Horatio brought back the nostalgia of the good old days of my HSC days, burning the midnight oil in the quest for university entry and a better tomorrow

The Queen’s death hit many for different emotional reasons. On my part, I was born the very year the Queen’s father King George VI died at 56 and destiny beckoned on her to succeed her father in faraway Kenya where the sick father had sent her to represent him on a royal visit. About this time, I was in the throne of my mother’s womb getting ready to enter the world when the late Queen of England ascended his father’s throne on February 6, 1952. Five months later on July 23, 1952, I stepped out of my mother’s womb seventy years ago. That is the commonality I share with the departed Queen of blessed memory who died on the 70th year of her reign. I equally join King Charles in saying: “May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.”
King Charles must have endeared himself to students of English literature. While addressing the Scottish Parliament, he quoted Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland saying: “If I might paraphrase the words of the great Robert Burns, my dear mother was ‘the friend of man, the friend of truth, the friend of age and guide of youth. Few hearts like hers with virtue warmed, few heads with knowledge so informed.’” This quotation is from Robert Burn’s poem ‘Epitaph On My Own Friend’.
I envy all those who have a personal story to share about their encounter with the late Queen. How I wish I had met her to be able to share my royal anecdotes. My only royal experience was in 1984 when I went to England under the auspices of the Harry Brittain Fellowship which brought together journalists from the Commonwealth for a training programme in journalism lasting three months. It’s an experience I can never forget. I remember meeting and shaking hands with Lady Diana of blessed memory at an event in Goldsmith’s Hall in London. I tried having the royal handshake captured on camera but the security men around her wouldn’t allow it. After the encounter, I refused washing my hand because I wanted to shake my people back home with the hand that shook the legendary Princess Diana. From London, I wrote a column about the experience. My editor then, Mr. Sina Adedipe of blessed memory created a column for me titled ‘AWOYINFA IN BRITAIN’ which was run in the Sunday Concord for the period I was away.
Then came 1992, the year the Queen witnessed the breakdown of three royal marriages—including that of Charles and Diana. And Windsor Castle was engulfed in fire. In a sad broadcast, the Queen called it “annus horribilis”—a year of horrors.
After four years of separation, the fairy tale marriage between Charles and Diana ended in divorce on August 28, 1996. With the divorce, Diana went out with Dodi Al Fayed, son of an Egyptian billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed who owned the Harrods Stores and Hotel Ritz Paris. According to The Independent, the two first met during a polo match in Windsor in 1986 when she was still married to Charles. After the divorce, she found solace in Dodi in a relationship that attracted aggressive paparazzi news hunt. They chased them everywhere until one fatal day in Paris, when the two were fleeing from press photographers and had a fatal accident which both of them didn’t survive.
The death of Diana was received with shock by the whole world just like the Queen’s death. Diana’s death nearly turned public opinion against the British royal family in that there was no statement from Buckingham Palace and the flag was not flown at half-mast. The Queen was expected to come to London but she kept herself and Diana’s boys at the Balmoral Castle believing that she needed to protect her grandchildren. Diana fans were expecting to see the Queen in black, showing signs of grief but there was no such thing initially. The British tabloids started fueling the situation through inciting front-page headlines asking: “WHERE IS OUR QUEEN?” Things got to a point where people started questioning whether there was any need for monarchy in modern times. Eventually, the Queen smelled the coffee and woke up. She rushed down to London, got down from her car to greet the crowd at Buckingham Palace, flew the flag at half-mast and delivered a sober pro-Diana speech. She even bowed as Diana’s cortege passed by—a humble act that touched every heart. And God saved the Queen!
I pray for you. May the gates be opened when you knock, knock, knock on Heaven’s door to meet the Queen of the Heaven. And may the King of Kings sitting on His throne welcome you into His celestial palace in the mighty name of Jesus that opens heavenly doors.
• I tweeted this and wrote on my Facebook page: “A great newspaper headline is like the crown on a King’s head. It reigns forever in the readers’ heart.” (Think about that!)