As the TV in front of me airs the coverage of the state funeral for HM Queen Elizabeth II, I struggle to put some words down. I did not know her, I have never had the privilege to meet her, but as a Canadian I have felt a sense of loss over the past 11 days. She was our monarch, the only one many of us knew. While this topic is not necessarily travel related, I felt the need to honor her life as the world says their final goodbyes. Regardless of a person’s opinion on the monarchy or Royal Family, it’s hard to not feel sad at the loss of such a woman as the Queen. The world will likely never see a monarch reign for 70 years again. As a girl growing up I always admired the Queen’s service during WWII. She seemed such a strong woman to me. I also love hearing the stories of her sense of humor and my favourite one of late was when she met some American tourists who had no idea she was the Queen. Stories like that remind us that at the heart of it all she was a human being who loved a good joke. May she rest in peace and be reunited with her husband forever.
I have not yet been to London to tour the amazing city. I did have the opportunity to be near Balmoral Castle during my Scotland tour in 2010. The Queen was in residence at the time, so we could not tour the castle, but we could walk up to the gates. We had a great time talking to some of the castle guards. They told us to get our cameras ready and line the street as Prince Andrew was coming out of the castle grounds. At that time, we had no idea of his involvement in scandal, so we were excited to see a member of the royal family. Before we headed away from the gates, the guards got quite serious and asked that we all move off to the side as a police led motorcade was coming down the street. A blacked-out town car was flanked by police cars and went past the gates quite quickly. No on said who was in the car, but our group suspected it might have been the Queen returning from her morning walk through the market. We also had the opportunity to tour Crathie Kirk near the castle. This is where the Royal family worships while in residence at Balmoral castle. The royal pew was adorned with royal purple velvet. The ladies at the church told our group that the Queen was largely left alone while in summer residence in Scotland. She would walk through the market in town with her corgis.
In April 2023 I will be in London for a few days, and I look forward to seeing the home of the royal family. There is so much history in London and I cannot wait to see as much of it as I can. I’ll also be back in 2024 ahead of a bus tour of England and Wales. Even though the Queen is no longer with us, I will tour the royal residences in her honor. I have always been interested in the history of the British Royal family, from the Tudor era onward. As person of Scottish decent and as a Canadian, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with some of the past actions of monarchs. However, I am still interested in expanding my knowledge of the monarchy by my future travel plans.
Places I want to visit:
- Westminster Abbey
- Balmoral castle
- Buckingham palace
- Windsor castle
- Tower of London
- Kensington Palace
- Hampton Court Palace
- Palace of Holyrood House (I’ve seen the outside but have never had the tour before)
As the world says goodbye to the Queen and long live the King, I reflect on an outstanding woman and her life