Home Page Teddington Baptist Church

Richard Littledale

Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: September 1997

index | later month

eyeline

Tears for the Queen of Hearts

Queen of Hearts

Queen of Hearts A sea of floral tributes, the A1 strewn with flowers, tears shed in public by men and women alike - all are encouraging signs that post-modern Britain has not lost its heart. The phrase, "I was no fan of Diana's but..." has been repeated in many an editorial and interview. And why not? This great outpouring has had something of a purging effect upon our nation. Perhaps the late Princess' desire to be Queen of hearts was granted after all.

Queen of Hearts But what about those tears? As a working minister of religion, I often spend time with those who mourn. I know that many of the tears we shed at funerals are as for the living as for the dead. "What will we do without dad?", "How will I get by without Mr X to speak up for me" etc. Some of our tears have been shed for Diana out of sympathy for a life cut so short, others for her "blood family", but others for still more selfish reasons.

Queen of Hearts Some are mourning the end of a new kind of fairy tale. In this tale the Princess not only got her beautiful gown and her ticket to the ball, but she went outside to talk to the paupers on the street as well. She was "our" Princess because she lived out the fairy tale as we would have written it. Now she is gone and we must either drop the idea completely or start to live it out for ourselves. As Elton John has said, we are "lost without the wings of your compassion". Either our nation will be compassionless again, or we will have to supply that compassion for ourselves. Tears have been shed because both seem too costly.

Queen of Hearts On the way to his own funeral, Jesus told those who wept for him, "not to weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children". Will those children who watched the Princess' funeral remember it as the beginning ... or the end of an era?

rjl signature
eyeline
Home Page
This page is maintained by Colin Hicks; Comments by e-mail are welcome;
Return to the TBC Home Page;   Copyright information;
Last updated: 26 January 2002;