Indholdsfortegnelse for 16 September 2022 i Guardian Weekly

The Queen of all our lives A 70-year devotion to a regal role Page 10 → Scotland’s heartfelt farewell Crowds turn out for final journey Page 16 → Republicans bide their time ‘The dynamic has changed’ Page 17 → Waiting game is over for Charles What will the new king be like at 73? Page 18 → A very public image The most famous face in the world Page 22 → Carry on Commonwealth? Future in question without the Queen Page 24 → Australia marks end of an era Is this the time for a fresh start? Page 26 → The bear that came to tea A magical farewell with Paddington Page 28 → The Guardian and Observer view Our writers on the Queen’s death From page 37 → Celebration…

The hush had settled on the waiting crowd even before the Queen’s cortege appeared over the rise in the road from Balmoral. An oblivious toddler chattered into the silence on Ballater main street, where the country’s longestserving monarch shopped for barbecue sausages at the local butcher. It was a typically Highland farewell to a woman those lining the village streets considered a treasured neighbour: deeply felt, but understated in its expression. There was no applause, no spontaneous chorus of anthem or hymn as the coffin passed. Then, as though released from a trance, the bystanders turned to nod to friends and disperse promptly, taking home the weight of their loss. The Queen began her final journey through Scotland on Sunday, passing out of the wrought-iron gates of her beloved Balmoral…

As the Queen left her beloved Balmoral for a final time, thousands of well-wishers greeted the new King as he arrived at Buckingham Palace. Crowds lined the Mall cheering and waving as he was driven in his Rolls-Royce from Clarence House through the gates of the palace, with the Queen consort arriving shortly afterwards. Proclamations declaring the reign of King Charles III, first pronounced at St James’s Palace last Saturday, were read out aloud at ceremonies in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and across the Commonwealth. Despite his grief, the King has been keen to meet the public, shaking hands and accepting flowers. It was the first glimpse of Charles as monarch; a taste of the measure of the man who must carry out “the heavy task that has been laid upon…

At the schools and the surf clubs, the flags hung at halfmast. On the tallest sail of the Sydney Opera House, an image of a bejewelled Queen Elizabeth II beamed across the harbour. There were speeches of great solemnity, quiet ceremonies of memorial, bouquets left at the gates of government houses around the country. But for many in Australia, one of the 14 realms of the Commonwealth of which Queen Elizabeth II was head of state, her death, aged 96, has been met with a muted response. The first hints of summer came to much of Australia last weekend, and the country found itself outdoors, at sports fields, on beaches, in parks and cafes. The Queen was a moment of conversation, not the centrepiece of it. Any group as large…

Our ancestors were better prepared for moments like this. The corollary of having witnessed the longest reign in British history is that only a tiny fraction of us have any memory of a monarch’s passing – and such memories that do exist are faded, unreliable recollections. The events of the coming days and weeks will be nothing like the royal events we do have experience of – mainly weddings and jubilees. The United Kingdom has entered a period of genuine trauma, one that will be punctuated by a series of unfamiliar rituals that, behind closed doors, have been years in the planning. Whatever your attitude towards hereditary monarchy as an institution, it is simply not possible to be a disinterested bystander. Britain is instantly changed. Although profound to us, the…

QUEEN ELIZABETH II, WHO HAS DIED AGED 96, became through the course of her long reign not only the oldest sovereign in the country’s history but also its longest serving. The 42nd of a line of kings and queens of first England, then Britain, then the United Kingdom, since William the Conqueror, she was also the sixth queen-sovereign of England and the fourth of the UK. She was queen and head of state of 15 other countries, stretching from Fiji, Australia and New Zealand to the Bahamas and Canada, all once part of the former British empire. She was for seven decades head of the Commonwealth, whose 54 countries comprise 2.1 billion people, a third of the globe’s population. In accordance with the precedent established by Henry VIII, the Queen…

I an McEwan’s last book, 2019’s The Cockroach, was a petty-hearted Brexit fable and Kafka spoof. Instead of a man waking in the body of a bug, a bug wakes in the body of the British prime minister. Ensconced at No 10, the insect PM sets about creating a squalid paradise for his fellow critters – a septic isle. It’s not hard to reduce the UK to filth and ruin: just give the idiot humans exactly what they want. The Cockroach was less a satire than a sneer, a book that set out to entrench rather than interrogate the divisions that led to Brexit. It was all carapace, no guts: a testament to the easy, insular comforts of self-righteousness. It seemed McEwan had finally succumbed to that curmudgeonly old cliche,…

1 Which writer from Stamps, Arkansas, appeared on a US stamp in 2015? 2 Mec Vannin campaigns for which island’s independence? 3 What was the ill-fated sister ship of the Peter Pomegranate? 4 Alfredo Stroessner ruled which country for almost 35 years? 5 Which two sports feature in Nordic combined? 6 What ends with “thankful feelings after the storm”? 7 What is the pH value of pure water? 8 Which character was born in York with the surname Kreutznaer? What links: 9 Beas; Chenab; Jhelum; Ravi; Sutlej? 10 Piaffe; passage; pirouette; half-pass? 11 Weak; strong; gravitational; electromagnetic? 12 Songkran; Tet Nguyen Dan; Nowruz; Rosh Hashanah? 13 New Zealand’s capital; Victoria’s capital; Pennsylvania’s second city? 14 Elvis Presley; Tony Bennett; Jimi Hendrix; Ice-T; Shaggy; James Blunt? 15 Betty Draper; Cira Manzon;…

Regardless of whether one identifies as royalist or republican, it’s virtually impossible to dispute the global significance of Queen Elizabeth II, who died last week aged 96. This special edition of the magazine focuses on a woman whose 70 years on the British throne – and as the head of 14 other states around the world – became synonymous with an era. Caroline Davies reflects on a queen whose longevity was such that few people can even remember a world without her. Then, of course, there is the new king, Charles III. Having prepared for decades for this moment, what sort of monarch will he be, how will the world respond to him, and what does his ascent to the throne mean for the British royal family? As Queen Elizabeth’s coffin…

ELIZABETH II’S JOB AS THE QUEEN WAS imposed on her by an ancient constitution that required no qualification other than that she exist. Having been appointed, and whatever her private thoughts, she performed her role over an extraordinarily long reign in near-faultless manner, leaving scant ammunition for personal attack from the fiercest opponents of hereditary principle. As Britain hurtled through times of astonishing societal change, she faced many challenges in keeping the monarchy apace – and yet she succeeded in remaining a force for national cohesion. A constant: familiar in brightly coloured coat, brimmed hat and handbag, she glad-handed her way through “walkabouts”, garden parties, ship launches, plaque unveilings, tree plantings and building inaugurations with an inscrutable smile in place. Becoming the Queen at such a young age meant the…

We carried her in our pockets and purses, jangled her and handed her over, put her in slot machines and bought soft drinks with her. The face on her coins was ineffable and timeless, and dominated our age. The monarch’s face on a coin is a guarantee of value that connects the Queen with Roman emperors, with King Offa; modern British money carries on it an icon of rule as old as coinage itself. The power of the Queen in her depictions, from cash to art, from films to photographs, from paintings to novels, was as charismatic as that of any historical king, queen or tsar. In real life, Elizabeth II was the model of a constitutional ruler. In our imaginations, however, she was absolute. If a constitutional monarch is…

Comment is free, facts are sacred CP Scott 1918 MARTIN KETTLE Loss of Queen is a test for divided Britain As heir to the British throne, Princess Elizabeth addressed the Commonwealth in a radio broadcast on her 21st birthday. “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be short or long shall be devoted to your service.” In so doing, she accepted her destiny as a future monarch and a lifetime of duty. It is a heavy burden for any one individual to carry. But it is one Queen Elizabeth II bore with grace, duty and humour over her 70-year reign. She was not perfect; she got some things wrong. But in the Queen, the UK benefited from a monarch who understood her role and its limits…

Leaders around the world sent their condolences to the people of Great Britain. Despite our insistence that Elizabeth was Australia’s head of state, that was rarely acknowledged elsewhere. Before his coronation, Charles III will visit the various parts of the UK. There is no expectation that he will visit the 14 other countries of which he has become sovereign. There is a case to be made for constitutional monarchy where the monarch can be seen to embody the nation. Under our system, however, the king is represented by a governor general, chosen by the prime minister. The republican movement is clear that this is unacceptable, and we need an Australian head of state, chosen by a process that allows popular participation. But there is a question over whether we need…

Think of the Greek or Roman body, and what might come to mind is the chilly perfection of a marble sculpture. The Apollo Belvedere, for example: a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, rediscovered in the Renaissance, regarded as “the miracle of art” by 18th-century German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann. In Exposed, Cambridge classicist Caroline Vout takes a very different approach. The bodies she considers are fallible and fleshy; they are sticky, malodorous and unpredictable. Some are disabled. Some are enslaved, abused or exploited. (There is a passage on Gortyn in Crete, where, in the fifth century BC, if a free man raped a free woman he was fined 1,200 obols. For the rape of an enslaved woman the fine was 1 obol – or 24 if she was…

Magnus Carlsen’s shock withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis following his third-round defeat to the newcomer Hans Niemann has triggered a variety of “cheating” claims. It is potentially the most serious such case since the 2005 Toiletgate world championship match, when Veselin Topalov accused Vlad Kramnik of analysing games in the lavatory. Carlsen’s loss to Niemann, 19, was his first for several years with White to a much lower rated opponent, and it was the first withdrawal of the Norwegian’s career. His only explanation was a video clip of José Mourinho saying: “If I speak I am in big trouble.” This was widely interpreted as raising Hikaru Nakamura weighed in with the revelation that, years earlier, Niemann had been banned by Chess.com for computer use in an online…

Princess Elizabeth’s broadcast on BBC Children’s Hour, 13 October 1940 Thousands of you in this country have had to leave your homes and be separated from your fathers and mothers. My sister, Margaret Rose, and I feel so much for you as we know from experience what it means to be away from those we love most of all. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well; for God will care for us and give us victory and peace. My sister is by my side and we are both going to say goodnight to you. Come on, Margaret. Goodnight, children. Queen’s coronation day speech, 2 June 1953 I have behind me not only the splendid traditions and the annals of more than 1,000 years…

King Charles III had been waiting his whole life for this moment. At his birth 73 years ago, he became second in line to the throne and, for seven decades, after his mother ascended the throne when he was three, he was heir apparent. He was brought up, trained and endlessly coached for a job that has finally come to him at an age when most people want nothing more than a peaceful retirement; a time that, in his case, might have otherwise involved growing organic vegetables and painting watercolour landscapes. How he handles his reign will shape the future of the monarchy – and, indeed, determine whether it has a future at all. Edward VII, his great-great-grandfather, came to the throne (aged 59) in 1901, after the 64-year reign…

Born out of the empire, the Commonwealth, in the words of the former Conservative prime minister John Major and others, has somehow been held together by an invisible glue that was Queen Elizabeth. Major once said: “The Queen’s relationship with the Commonwealth is intensely personal. You only have to see the Commonwealth heads of government – and particularly the African Commonwealth heads of government – with the Queen to see what they think of her, and of the institution of monarchy itself.” The Commonwealth’s secretariat resides in the fading grandeur of Christopher Wren’s Marlborough House on Pall Mall, and has been led by a succession of secretary generals of varying quality, but its beating heart has always been the Queen. Indeed, as the years wore on and her experience grew,…

In 1972, Rick Sylvester skied off the edge of Mount Asgard in Canada in one of cinema’s most electrifying stunts. It’s the bit in The Spy Who Loved Me where Bond is chased over the edge of a cliff to his certain death. Except it turns out that Bond takes a parachute with him when he goes skiing just in case – a union jack parachute. In his book about Bond and the Beatles, Love and Let Die, John Higgs quotes the film’s writer Christopher Wood: “All over the world, instead of howling and throwing stones at the union jack, they were bursting into spontaneous applause.” When we were working on the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games, the designer Mark Tildesley came up with the notion of having…

The past is sometimes less of a foreign country than you might imagine. Last Friday morning, when my husband wondered aloud if we should get a new television “for the funeral” (ours is comically small), my mind turned to the coronation, the generations connected, even now, by the allure of an outside broadcast. In 1953, the question of how and where events at Westminster Abbey might be watched was, for most of the population, somewhat pressing. As the year began, fewer than 2 million people owned a television set. If every one of the more than 500,000 sets sold in the six months before the coronation told a story of aspiration, for many women this stretched far beyond the material. When the Queen was crowned, women could not take out…

I confess that I am in mourning. A resounding 62% of the voters in Chile, my country, have rejected the adoption of a new and progressive Magna Carta; leaving in place, for now, the fraudulent constitution imposed by dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1980 that has acted as a straitjacket to indispensable reforms. Like many of my compatriots I believed that the new constitution, born in response to a popular revolt three years ago, would be ratified. It was the most ecologically advanced such founding document in world history, granting personhood to nature, protecting rivers and air and forests. It extended democracy, established gender parity and popular participation, granted Indigenous peoples the recognition they had been denied for centuries, lovingly answered the need for universal healthcare, decent education and pension funds,…

Malarkoi By Alex Pheby Mordew, the first volume in the trilogy, was hugely praised, and this sequel is eagerly awaited. It is certainly as unusual and ambitious an epic fantasy as its predecessor, but the narrative has shattered into multiple storylines from multiple viewpoints, and none (apart from the talking dog) is quite as engaging or compelling as the original protagonist. It can be a struggle to keep up with all the characters, their alliances, enemies and progress (a common issue with lengthy fantasy series); and despite leavenings of dark humour, the situations are grotesque and unrelentingly grim. Pheby is an undoubted original, turning the standard tropes of modern fantasy into something weirder and more disturbing, but this is not a book fans would wish to live in. Beyond the…

Ingredients 2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil, plus extra for frying1 onion, peeled and finely diced2 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped2 tsp ground cumin½ tsp dried oregano, Mexican ideally1-2 tsp chipotle paste, or 1 tsp smoked paprika1 x 400g tin black beans, drained and rinsed200g tinned chopped tomatoes (ie, ½ tin)Salt and pepper, to tasteJuice of ½ lime50g soured cream150g cheese (cheddar, say), coarsely grated4 x 25cm-diameter tortillas50g baby leaf spinach1 small handful coriander, roughly choppedHot sauce, to serve (optional) This recipe makes enough for four burritos. Make the bean filling in advance, then assemble as you go for packed lunches each day, to be eaten at room temperature; my 15- and 12-year-old daughters take a small bottle of hot sauce to splash on when they’re ready to…