The Archbishop of Canterbury "I hope I do not oversee Queen's funeral"

[sara8150]

Justin Welby: I hope I do not oversee Queen's funeral
Justin Welby: I hope I do not oversee Queen's funeral - BBC News

[Duch_Luver_4ever]

He likely wont have to, barring accidents and such, as far as natural lifespan, she probably has another 5-10 years at least. The interesting part will be when PP goes, likely  in about 5 yrs, unless they have some secret tech we dont know about for life extension. That will be a big blow to her, and I fear it will start a cascade of ill health.

[Curryong]

The Queen is 92 next birthday, Prince Philip is five years older and will be 97 next year. I don't know how old the archbishop is or when he plans to retire, but by the law of averages he will be presiding over the funerals of one or both of them in the next few years. Due to Philip's bouts of illhealth he may very well die first. Of course Archbishop Welby is expressing a pious desire here but really it's unrealistic, much as nobody wants it, to think that we aren't coming to the end of a very long life and reign.

[amabel]

Maybe he shouldn't say anyting about it.  The plans are in place for the royal funerals, and there is no need to speak of it ahead of time

[royalanthropologist]

Must be grim reading for the queen to hear people talking about succession plans and funeral arrangements. Typical of the thoughtless and selfish generation that things everything revolves around youth and them.  :notamused:

[sandy]

I don't think this article is appropriate with the Queen alive and healthy.

[amabel]

The queen is well aware of her own mortality and of the plans for her funeral and those of other senior royals.  But I don't relaly see why people need to discuss them in public.  I can understand the Bishop feels that he admires the queen and hopes that she does live a good bit longer, but realistically, she will probably go before him

[royalanthropologist]

The queen actually joked about her death recently with David Attenborough. As a Christian, she accepts this as her inevitable fate and is already making plans for that (e.g. no more young dogs).

Btw I think that there is a nasty element in royal commentary these days that seems to take pleasure in predicting people's death. "Oh, she will outlive so and so. Oh she has cancer and is about to die" etc. It is a mean and nasty streak in my view. The media is to blame for encouraging it.

[sandy]

I think these sort of articles are morbid. I doubt Charles and William, respectively, would not like seeing these things about them when they become monarchs.

[amabel]

well I've seen plenty of unpleasant speculation about charles and Camilla, and not from the Media but on forums to  the point where I had to stop visiting them.. becuase of my personal grief. I agree with Royal that there is plenty of such speculation nowadays, about people, "X looks older than his age, he may not outlive his wife", or "She smokes so she'll die first" etc.  But I haven't seen this in the media, rather on the INternet.

[sandy]

A war veteran at age 94 was just elected Mayor in a USA town.  Elderly people are not necessarily talked about as "when they'll die." The man is eager to be Mayor now.

[royalanthropologist]

well I've seen plenty of unpleasant speculation about charles and Camilla, and not from the Media but on forums to  the point where I had to stop visiting them.. becuase of my personal grief. I agree with Royal that there is plenty of such speculation nowadays, about people, "X looks older than his age, he may not outlive his wife", or "She smokes so she'll die first" etc.  But I haven't seen this in the media, rather on the INternet.

You are absolutely right. These guys think that they are the best in the world and take delight in hoping for someone's death in order to satisfy their nasty plans. I have nothing but contempt for them. Anyone that revels in another's death really has some issues upstairs.

[sandy]

These stories appear a lot in the Globe and Enquirer  with stories about so and so's (name the celebrity, famous person) sad last days.

[amabel]

I'm not talking about the Globe and enquirer, this is on Forums, where people's life expectancy was discussed.

[sandy]

Well the fodder for the forums discussions are these sort of articles. For instance the one on this very thread, talks about the "Queen's funeral."

[royalanthropologist]

I agree that there is an unsavory element of royal commentary that treats the actors as if they were chase players. You choose who you want to die first and sometimes even how you want them to die. In fact, this phenomenon is not just about royalty.

I was appalled at how the media was doing a countdown of the death of David Guest (famous Irish soccer player that died from liver failure). There seemed to be something a bit mean about standing outside someone's death bed and waiting for the "breaking news" of their death.

[sandy]

People waited out side Jackie Onassis' apartment building when she was dying. Very ghoulish