Lawyer David Jones (Rongowhakaata) says enormous numbers of Londoners were standing outside Buckingham Palace in the rain today in London waiting to hear the news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death earlier this morning [announced at 6:30pm, Thursday September 8, UK time].
Jones, who lives in London, says the rain describes how the United Kingdom and the world are feeling in light of Her Majesty’s death at 96.
“I guess our weather indicates similar tohu for how the people are feeling. He wai kei te rangi, he wai kei ngā kamo. The sky is falling with water, so too are the tears of the people.”
Jones says there will be around or up to 10 days of mourning, and the funeral’s decisions will be made by the new king, her son King Charles III. “From tomorrow, we expect that the king will arrive io London. He will then meet with the [UK] Prime Minister and other ministers and will begin his ascension to the throne.”
The King will then go on tour to Ireland, Wales and Scotland to meet their respective parliaments.
Jones made note of whānau and people he knows who would have had memories of the Queen, during her tours and being made Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit in her presence such as Ngāti Rānana founder Esther Kerr Jessop.
“I think Patu Hohepa made a really interesting note of the relationship between Māori and the Crown as being ‘tino rangatira’. The notion is those connections between monarchies have continued through whakapapa, and the continuation of that relationship between Māori and the Crown continued with Queen Elizabeth.”
“They continue that type of relationship right through to the now-King Charles and Prince William.”
