They met with friends and family, on the terraces of the village square of Eymet. This Thursday evening, as soon as the death of Queen Elizabeth was announced, the English, royalists or not, shared their emotion and their fondest memories of the monarch. In this small town in the south of the Dordogne, one inhabitant in ten is a subject of the queen. “I’m totally devastated, she was a beautiful woman, confides Deborah, her eyes reddened. We loved him so much, we never knew any other monarch!”
The Queen is an icon, an inspiration to us all
More than 1,000 kilometers from London, this family does not take off their phone to follow all the information. Their laptops, placed on the table, light up every two minutes, with new notifications. “I received lots of phone calls from friends and family, it’s terrible”, says Melanie. At only 22 years old, she admired the queen : “I am a true royalist, the Queen is an icon, an inspiration to all of us, even those of my generation.”
– Lise Roos Weil
On the other side of the large table, Jayne and Simon, who have been living in Eymet for fifteen years, rent the “stability” of Elizabeth II. “She ruled the country for so long, and she did it well,” Jayne repeats. Diane nods and shows a picture of the queen, large on her desktop wallpaper. “I am really very sad, she let out a sob. I celebrated his silver, gold, platinum jubilee, all the jubilees I was there. We shared the good times and the bad times together, the marriages of the children. She’s our grandma to all of us.”
Concerns for the continuation of the monarchy
While Britain is going through a severe economic crisis, marked by record inflation and massive strikes, the band of friends worried about the future. “We have Charles, then William, but the Queen represents everything the monarchy should be, I don’t think we will find that again” admits Diane, distraught.
But for the moment, the young woman wants to focus on her mourning. She will not go to London, but wants to pay tribute to the queen in her own way, in a small committee at home. She goes hang a flag in your window. “It will be a long mourning, with a heavy heart,” she concludes.