The scenes of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II this week are riveting, and importantly, they are not unique. I’ll get to that second thought a little later.

But let’s start with the extraordinary spectacle that London presented to the world. No one does ceremony better than the British. Can one imagine a sight more dignified than that of the sovereign’s coffin on a red catafalque within the thousand-year-old walls of Westminster Hall, draped in the Royal Standard, surmounted by the crown, and guarded by officers of the Household Division?

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