A person is in mourning. Every time we watch a royal procession or queue for hours to file past the Queen's casket, we are reassured that this is true. We were told to pay their respects. They are there to say thank you to the queen. They are all in pain. A picture is built up of a group of people who love monarchy and monarchs. Things aren't that easy.
We are looking at the crowds at the various ceremonial events in Edinburgh and London as part of our interest in collective behavior. We want to know why people gather, how they experience these gatherings, and how they affect society. Any attempt to reduce crowd participation to a single universal motivation is a distortion. Some of the reasons people come along are not related to their loyalty to the monarchy.
It's true that a lot of people feel that loyalty. Those who see the Queen as the embodiment of Britishness are attending because they see it as an obligation to do so. It would be a denial of their identity if they didn't attend. The fact that it is tiring is not a problem. It is a sign of commitment. The loss of the monarch is mourned by these people. It is extremely sad.
Some people may have different levels of investment in the Queen. They endorse the Queen's values even if they don't endorse what she served. They attend in a way that's respectful. In our culture, it is normal to not speak ill of the dead.
There are those, whether royalist or not, for whom the royal family is a canvas on which they project the issues of their own lives. Events happen in the lives of the royals. The death of the Queen makes them think of their family and friends who have passed away. The people may grieve through the Queen, but not for her.
Many of the people in the Queen's mourning crowds have nothing to do with the Queen. These are important events and they know it. The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace will bring spectators with them. They would like to be able to say, "I was there". I'm a part of the past.
People would like to be able to say they were there. It is possible for parents to tell their children that they were at the Queen's funeral procession. Families are bound together by shared attendance at meaningful events.
People are telling us why they are at the processions and in the queue. The media always replace this plurality of voices with a narrative of universal respect. Dissenting voices are an exception that reinforces the general rule. Reporting on a protest against King Charles's accession in Edinburgh stressed that this was atypical and contrasted with all the other people gathered in grief and gratitude.
It is not just the crowds who are united in fealty. The crowd is seen as the embodiment of the national community. "They are us" Britain is mourning, because they are mourning. We are all behind the monarch. Anyone who leaves this view is not of us and will be excluded from the community.
It has a chilling effect. It means that certain things, such as challenging the hereditary transfer of power and wealth, can't be said. If we are led to believe that everyone else loves the monarchy, and demands due deference to the monarch and the monarchy, we will be more reluctant to challenge such views for fear of a backlash.
The nature and narratives of the mourning crowds in Britain are not just an expression of nationhood, but an exercise in the making of nationhood. There is a loyalist and deferential version of Britishness that is not imposed on us from the top. I am included in the millions of people who feel genuine and deep emotions. The death of Elizabeth made me remember my mother and I was moved and sad by it. I felt bad for Harry, who was late because he heard she had died on my way to see her.
Feelings of sadness and joy were used to equate feeling sad about Elizabeth's death with joy for Charles. Crowd participation has been seen as a collective endorsement of the monarch as head of state and of the Commonwealth, leaving no space for republicanism or anti-colonialism. It is a more modern form of taking the king's shilling and it leads to lifelong impressment in the king's service.
Stephen Reicher is a professor of psychology and an authority on crowd psychology.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
