In truth, there was nowhere else to look. The people had taken matters into their own hands. Instead of being told what to do, they had told the royal family how to behave. The monarchy had responded – but only after it had been battered into submission. But now the week was at its end and the beast of public opinion began to settle, its anger vented, its grief expressed. As Diana’s coffin made its way up the M1 motorway to her lonely grave on an island in the middle of a lake in Northamptonshire, the crowds began to melt away. A few hardy souls continued to keep vigil in the gardens outside Kensington Palace, but for most the roller-coaster had run its course. There was much talk of a new Britain, in touch with its feelings, cut loose from the restraint of its past, but slowly the country returned to normal, exhausted and exhilarated by the experience it had come through, but embarrassed, too, by its own wanton exhibition of emotion.

There was no retreat to the sanctuary of the pedestal for the royal family, however. The door to the past had been slammed shut. As the Queen had said, there were ‘lessons to be drawn’ from Diana’s life and, first and foremost, from the reaction to her death. The regal system had been put the test – and found to be woefully wanting. Change was vital if the monarchy was going to sail into the next millennium. And the couple who had led their family for so long knew they would have to change with it, but they would also find comfort in maintaining the patterns of the past.

Chapter 12

DIFFERENT INTERESTS

It is 20 June 2013 at Windsor Castle. The Queen is having breakfast alone as Prince Philip is recuperating from an abdominal operation having been discharged from the London Clinic three days earlier. The Queen has forsaken her usual Daily Telegraph crossword in favour of the Racing Post, which she is studying intently. She has a particular interest in the Gold Cup because her filly Estimate is one of the favourites for the race. The Queen’s house guests, among them her grandson Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, are also enjoying breakfast in their rooms, having given their breakfast order to the page in charge the night before.

At 12.45 the Queen joins her guests for pre-lunch drinks in the Green Drawing Room before lunch in the State Dining Room. They all sit down to a brisk and, by royal standards, relatively simple meal, the men in tailcoats and the ladies with colourful outfits and extravagant hats. After lunch, they make their way to the Sovereign’s Entrance where they all climb into a fleet of cars for the short drive to Ascot before they transfer into open landaus for the final part of the journey. They make their way through Home Park to the Golden Gates at the top of Ascot racecourse.