The symbolism of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral goes far beyond that of a normal head of state funeral, says Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger. She has studied the function and meaning of rituals. The historian explains why the death of the Queen leads to a deep rupture.
SRF News: Queen Elizabeth II was in office for 70 years. The institution of the monarchy was almost identified with her person. What significance does her death have in terms of rituals?
Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger: People have got used to identifying the British monarchy with this person. This means that with her death there is a deep rupture. Also because the successor doesn’t have the same charisma and popularity and doesn’t symbolize this consistency either. But rituals are there precisely to bridge such breaks and to demonstrate that not everything breaks off.
What is a ritual?
A ritual consists in doing it over and over again in what appears to be the same way. That’s why everything is written so precisely. Everything has to be exactly the way it was the last time and the penultimate one. Even if in reality some things are always changing, it still seems as if this is the case in times immemorial. This creates the impression of unbelievable stability, consistency, durability, tradition.
Rituals create the impression of unbelievable stability, constancy, permanence, tradition.
The hope is that this will bridge the death of this individual person and that this line of tradition will be passed on to the successor. In this case, however, a lot has changed. It may not work anymore.
Much also seems a little dusty, as if it has fallen out of time. Do rituals also run the risk that they may no longer be understood?
The good thing about rituals is that you can interpret anything into them. The normal television viewer does not know what the individual details mean. Although all the details have some historical reference. But you don’t have to know that to participate in this emotional effect. Suffice it to say that it is ancient. And it attracts and fascinates an incredible amount of people. This effect is enough to signal reliability and tradition.
Can rituals also fail?
Yes absolutely. They can fail if the population refuses, if there are no spectators. Or when they are ridiculed while they are being performed, when there are obvious signs of disregard or protest. And this can be the case in both monarchical and democratic rituals. We last saw this in America on January 6, 2021.