I'm very proud of how this skin turned out, and I hope others like it as well. (You can change this in the skins category in Minecraft's settings option). You can remove the armor to make it a citizen, or keep the armor on for the rebel appearance. “God bless her and protect us, because this inflation is going to kill us,” said another, raising a glass.Loosely based on the look of Male 07. Quickly, a consensus was formed: the face of Elizabeth II should continue to illustrate the pound sterling “as always.” Which means 70 years, to be precise. “Now we have a new king, an older gentleman who is a little weird.” Then the issue of the new bills came up. “I thought she was immortal, really,” said a 30-year-old patron only half-jokingly. At places like the Coach and Horses or the Bunch of Grapes, there was laughter and loud voices as if nothing had happened. It was the mirror in which the British (and not just them, as she reigned over 15 countries, and in some way, over the 54 members of the Commonwealth) looked to see a more dignified, more firm, more stoic version of themselves – in a way, more British.Īnother good place to get a feel of the general mood is the pub. Perhaps the secret was that her reign meant at once everything and nothing. And in the display window of the famous Foyles of Charing Cross, there were no books about the late queen. At the bookstore Waterstones in Trafalgar Square, just a 10-minute walk from Buckingham, there were two books on display about Elizabeth II on a small shelf away from the door, surrounded by a story about Peppa Pig and an almanac of drawings of London bridges. When Diana died, her image was plastered in bookstore windows, and anything related to her sold out. People watch a broadcast of Britain's King Charles III first address to the nation at a pub in London. The flag is never seen at half-mast, because the throne is never empty. It was seen briefly after the death of Elizabeth II, until it was replaced with the royal insignia when Charles III arrived from Scotland on Friday. It was first seen days after Diana’s death. It is very rare to see the British flag at half-mast over Buckingham Palace. “It’s a great coincidence,” said the man, Frank, “and an opportunity to experience a historic moment, to be able to say for the rest of our lives that we were there and personally said farewell to a great world figure.” An American couple recently arrived from San Francisco was planning to do so as well. The days during which the queen’s body will lie in state to receive the respects of her subjects will, in all probability, be a good occasion to verify the importance (political, social, even psychological) of the deceased queen.Īnd it will not just be the British. Perhaps a long wave is forming that will break in a while. It’s business as usual as soon as one steps away from the small Buckingham crowd. With her passing, a very long chapter of British history ends as well, one that included the resistance against the Nazi armies and the victory of May 8, 1945, the last great victory of what was once the greatest empire in the world.Īnd yet, life goes on. The death of Elizabeth II is not just a farewell to a woman who was always there, solid, disciplined and exemplary. It’s also hard to find someone who expresses terrible pain. It’s hard to find a British citizen who doesn’t feel like they’ve lost a piece of their own life. What is happening now is not tragic or cathartic: it is sad, more intimate, much more dignified. There were even those who called Elizabeth II a “murderer.” And the United Kingdom seemed to go crazy during the month that followed the fateful event of August 31, 1997. What happened just over 25 years ago, the death of Diana of Wales, was a tragedy. A tragedy, in the classical sense, requires conflict and a fatal mistake that leads to the hero’s destruction.