How fitting that there should be one single rose here, out of rose season, on my Queen Elizabeth II rose bush on the day of Her Majesty's funeral.

Signs are everywhere. Thanks for coming to say goodbye, Ma'am.🌹

History is awesome, by any and every definition of the word. 

Two photographs from nearly the exact same vantage point taken roughly 70 years apart. On the surface, they are perfect bookends for the story of one single person, but imagine all the other stories connected to that era. The husbands and wives and affairs and mistresses and children and grandchildren that have always populated the tabloids, of course. But also the end of an empire. The independence and self-determination of millions of people and the unheard voices of millions more. So many stories and lives with direct and indirect connections to the events that happened between the day that the 25-year-old woman walking into Westminster Abbey in the black-and-white photo on the left had a crown placed on her head and the day that pallbearers carried a flag-draped casket with her 96-year-old body into Westminster Abbey one last time for her state funeral in the color photograph on the right. 

I’m not from the UK, I’m not a royalist, and I’m certainly not an imperialist, but I love history and that is the closest thing to a personification of history that I think any of us will ever experience. The Queen has always been a representative of something to somebody -- that was basically the duty she accepted and the utility she served. Some people believed she represented something positive, some people believed she represented something negative (or even evil), and others believed she represented the anachronism of monarchy itself in a diverse, modern society. To me, I saw history and everything that comes with history: the good, bad, and ugly (anachronisms are part of the daily diet of historians). But it’s always interesting and we can always learn from it. Do you know why? Because history is awesome.

Queen Elizabeth II's children, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward, take vigil over her coffin. St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland. 12 September 2022

She's home now.

She's home and soon she'll be back with Philip, her parents, and her sister.

Rest in Peace Your Majesty.

Try as you might to come up with the best joke or meme about the queen dying, it’s gonna be hard to beat the fact that today while every single other british channel was broadcasting her funeral, Channel 5 decided to show the fucking Emoji Movie

I'm watching the Queens funeral and I'm deeply moved by watching it.

We are witnessing history, if only it wouldn't have been because of the Queens death.

All these people, Royals, Heads of State and many more coming together for saying goodbye to a woman, not only the longest raining monarch but a very important figure in so many peoples lives cause she was more to them then just their Queen.

Farewell your Majesty.

Viscount Severn and Lady Louise arriving at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022.

Fuck off with your monarchy worship, start worshipping MY ass!

The only thoughts running through my head watching the queen's funeral

This is really it.

This is really goodbye.

Duty done, Ma'am. Thank you.

I know that the UK has centuries of state funeral traditions as a model and had 70 years to prepare for the Queen’s death, but you’ve got to hand it to them: they sure know how to put together a home going service.

Queen Camilla and Princess Catherine

Westminster Palace, 14 September 2022

I know it's a Queen Victoria tradition, but the fact that the sailors are bringing a navy man's wife and daughter on her final Journey.....my poor heart.

Was that it?!? Is that what a 6 billion funeral gets you in THIS economy?!?! I expected a new requiem, a coffin covered in gold-leaf, Tom Hiddleston and Beenerect Cuddlepitch to do stand-up! Where'd the money go Charles?!?!

Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Viscount Severn and Lady Louise Windsor at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022.