A STRANGE mood seems to engulf Britain when a member of the royal family dies. It went slightly mad when Princess Diana died, with normally buttoned up Brits weeping and wailing in their thousands in streets strewn with flowers, demanding that their baffled Queen showed her emotions.
"Show us you care, Ma'am," screamed the headline in the Daily Express as Tony Blair waxed lyrical about "the people's princess" and practically press-ganged Her Majesty in front of a live TV camera before there was revolution outside the palace gates.
This time, there is more decorum. Queen Elizabeth was 96 and increasingly frail, so her death, though unexpected, was less of a shock.
But the official 10 days of mourning, the cancellation of sporting events and broadcasters speaking in hushed tones is beginning to lead to a most unwelcome hostility towards anyone who dares question the prevailing orthodoxy.
It was tasteless to shout "You sick old man" at Prince Andrew when he was alongside his siblings, following their mother's coffin in Edinburgh. (Isn't it somehow appropriate that the member of the family officially in the doghouse will be given the job of looking after the queen's corgis?)
But should the heckler have been pushed to the ground by two burly members of the crowd before being dragged off by police for breaching the peace?
An anti-monarchy protester holding a sign with the slogan 'Not My King' was led away by police officers at Westminster as King Charles addressed parliament inside. Another was arrested for shouting "Who elected him?" in Oxford.
Even more ludicrous was the incident where barrister and nature rights activist Paul Powlesland held up a blank piece of paper only to be told by police he risked being arrested if he wrote 'Not My King' on it. The reason? It "might" cause offence to someone.
"It feels like a very odd time, when it seems to be... using the respect that is due to the queen and her death, as a way of silencing any dissent over Charles's accession," he said later.
Newly liberated Andrew Marr put it well on LBC: "A monarchy that cannot survive some booing and a few pieces of cardboard is a pretty flimsy thing, isn't it?"
Curtailment of free speech and the right to protest is exactly what is happening now, thanks to the draconian Police and Courts Act which the Tories, under Johnson, pushed through parliament.
They didn't like being harangued by that bloke with the giant European flag and loudspeakers outside Westminster. So the legislation allows the police widespread powers to silence even one-man protests. They've new rights on defining disruption, public nuisance, noise and obstruction which clearly handicap the right to protest.
Remember when news pictures showed the Russian man being arrested by police heavies for holding up a blank piece of paper in Red Square as a protest against the invasion of Ukraine? Slippery slopes beckon.
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I HAD always felt for people who lose someone they love during a time when someone prominent has died and all attention is directed towards that event, while they grieve alone.
I little thought that it would happen to my friend Kim Lenaghan whose loss is being felt by her husband, family and the many people who had come to know her through the radio airwaves.
Kim was a colleague and a mate for 25 years. I hadn't seen her recently because I thought there would still be time for a catch up. Suddenly there was no time.
Many radio listeners spoke of her warm, friendly voice on her weekend show and how they felt they knew her. Those of us lucky enough to have known her personally have only fond memories left.
Kim's birthday was Christmas Eve and she used to joke that she had to host a party at her own house, otherwise nobody would have time to celebrate with her.
Children were always welcome, and one year I brought my three to her house in east Belfast, where harried parents were grateful for a glass of bubbly, her marvellous array of culinary treats and her laughter.
A few hours in and I wondered where my kids had got to. Kim showed me upstairs where we found the trio tucked into her bed, eating chocolate money while watching a movie with Kim's beloved dog, Ella (after her favourite singer) lying across them.
"Look at that for a scene of perfect happiness," she said. And that's what Kim Lenaghan was so good at creating wherever she went. She will be so missed.
