Westminster Abbey

Today's early Autumn day out was to that well-known place of worship, Westminster Abbey.  As far as eminences interred there go, it is far and away our greatest National vault but one mustn't assume that every memorial indicates a last resting place. Architecturally, its straight lines make it an Armani-style church whereas St. Paul's is more Versace. 

While one accepts that Edward the Confessor and Elizabeth I are royal superstars and that Richard II had a great play written about him, one wonders whether the likes of Oliver Cromwell, Cecil Rhodes and Ted Hughes are remembered quite so fondly. 

Fashions have changed somewhat over time and the high camp monument to Shakespeare contrasts with the tasteful understatement of that to Larkin. I'm somewhat more concerned about Prime Minister's Corner, though, where I chose Clement Attlee and Harold Wilson to take pictures of and wondered on what basis they were allowed in because there's been a few in recent years that deserve no more than to be buried in unconsecrated ground. 

It also seemed a bit perfunctory on the grave of William Croft to say Hic Depositum Est but maybe it doesn't sound like 'here is deposited' to someone who understands Latin but not English. Of course Shakespeare's not there and none of Bach, Beethoven or Mozart belong in this country but Purcell was genuinely English, actually born in Westminster, and we somehow stole Georg Frideric Haendel and kept him. 

As was the trouble with Lindisfarne Holy Island last year, one wants to have the place more to oneself and need to remember that one is also a tourist and you can't. I waited patiently for those whose origins were ostensibly in countries that had despots of their own to move off Oliver Cromwell so that I could reflect on how a well-intentioned agenda can get out of hand. 

On my way back to Victoria I necessarily went past Westminster Cathedral while the Duchess of Kent was being seen off by the current incumbent royals,

Duchess of Kent

A class act, as far as I can tell.