Royal transition a major talking point for those visiting England

It has been a surreal time for people visiting London, England.

After travelling to the city of roughly nine million people, one Saskatchewan woman found herself in the epicentre of mourning after Queen Elizabeth II’s passing.

“My friend, she moved to London. I just helped her move and she was just showing me around,” Kayla Thompson told Gormley on Monday. “We were just walking down the south bank in London and walking through St. James Park, which leads to Buckingham Palace.

“As we were approaching the palace, they announced that (the Queen) had passed. It was quite the moment to walk up and see that.”

Thompson said there was an extremely eerie feeling in the air as many people’s faces expressed disbelief at the death of the 96-year-old monarch, who had reigned for more than seven decades.

“A lot of people weren’t talking at all, just staring,” she said. “I got physical goosebumps but I wasn’t cold.

“It was genuinely strange. There were so many reporters and everything was getting a little crazy.”

The Queen’s passing forced the two friends to make a change to their schedule.

“We had plans to go to a comedy show and that was cancelled,” Thompson said. “We went to a couple of pubs and they were very quiet, I would say.

“There were talks of the whole entire city kind of shutting down, but everything seemed to stay relatively open for the most part.”

The whole conversation of what the monarchy will look like moving forward has a lot of people in the region with questions.

“It’s definitely been the talk of the night,” Thompson said. “Everywhere you went, you could hear people talking about it for sure.”

Barnhart remembers Queen

Dr. Gordon Barnhart said he was sad to learn of Queen Elizabeth II’s death Thursday, but mentioned he had a lot of fond memories of her from their meetings over the years.

He served as lieutenant-governor of Saskatchewan from 2006 to 2012.

Barnhart told Gormley on Monday that Her Majesty had a great memory when it came to Saskatchewan.

“She had been in Saskatchewan in 2005 and people will remember that it rained the whole time she was here,” he said. “When she greeted us at Buckingham Palace when I was lieutenant-governor, her first comment was, ‘So, has it stopped raining in Saskatchewan?’ That’s an example of her sense of humour and how she was briefed.”

Barnhart said she was also conscious of what was going on in the province and always had questions to ask.

He said while he had only met Queen Elizabeth II a couple of times, hearing of her passing on Thursday came with some sadness.

“After having met with her, that was just like visiting with my mom,” he explained. “That was the kind of person she was, so it was the end of kind of a friendship with someone we felt that we knew.”

With Queen Elizabeth’s passing, Charles is now King and will face many tough challenges in the days ahead. But Barnhart suggested King Charles III will be ready to lead the Royal Family.

“There’s been quite a few people throwing stones at Charles saying he won’t do as good of a job,” he stated. “Everyone coming into a new job, they have to form themselves, but I feel really assured that Her Majesty gave him good mentorship and I’m very confident that he’ll perform the role of King and William (the heir to the throne) will do an even better job.”

Moe offers his thoughts

Premier Scott Moe spoke of the way the Queen performed her duties for more than seven decades — longer than many Saskatchewan residents have been alive.

“The way that she served, not only in length but the honour, dignity and grace that she served with each and every day — I think I heard on the radio this morning that it was in excess of 400 events she would attend a year — it’s absolutely awe-inspiring,” Moe told Gormley. “I think no one has had a better view of that than our now-King Charles III.”

Moe and the cabinet took part in an accession ceremony on Saturday at Government House in the presence of Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty. Books of condolence can be signed at Government House as well as at the Legislative Building.

Flags at government buildings already were at half-staff from Sunday through Wednesday for the victims of the rampage on the James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon.

On Thursday and Friday, the flags remained lowered to pay tribute to the Queen. They were raised Saturday for the accession ceremony, then were lowered again Sunday for the late monarch.

“They’ll remain at half-staff until next Monday, until her state funeral commences,” Moe said. “At that point, they’ll be raised. Then we want to lower them again for six additional days to honour all of our family members at James Smith and Weldon that passed in the horrific, senseless, tragic event that we experienced last week as well.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Logan Stein and Shane Clausing