Features

A fitting final farewell

Published

4 years ago

2022/09/26

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

The slow descent of the lead-lined oak coffin, draped in the Royal Standard, to the Royal Vault in St George’s Chapel, in Windsor, brought a tear to many an eye and gave a feeling of emptiness to the millions who adored Queen Elizabeth II. Shortly before, the Imperial State Crown, as well as the Orb and the Sceptre, The Instruments of State, which she received at the Coronation, in 1953, that rested on the coffin, were removed by the Crown Jeweller and placed at the high alter by the Dean of the Chapel, following which the Lord Chamberlain “broke” his wand of office and placed it on the coffin, signalling the end of his service to the sovereign as her most senior official in the Royal Household. A lament played by the Sovereign’s piper floated in the air, masking the sighs of the personal congregation of 800 assembled to witness the end of the Elizabethan Era; one of the greatest in British history.

A few hours later, at 7.30, the same evening, at a private family service, the Queen was buried, together with her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, located inside St George’s Chapel. British Royals are actually not buried but their coffins are placed in the Royal Vault, or in a Chapel. Queen Elizabeth financed the construction of the Chapel that bears her father’s name, which is small due to constraints of the architecture of St George’s Chapel. The coffin of King George VI, which was in the Royal Vault, was moved to this Chapel, on its completion in 1969. When the Queen Mother died, in 2002, her coffin was placed next to the King’s and shortly after that the ashes of Princess Margaret, who died seven weeks before her mother, that were in the Royal Vault was moved to be with her parents. As previously planned, the coffin of the Duke of Edinburgh was kept in the Royal Vault till the death of the Queen. Some say that Princess Margaret was cremated as King George VI Memorial Chapel can accommodate only four coffins but others say that it was her wish.

September 19th is a momentous day in British history as it is the day that the nation bid the final farewell to a much-loved quee, with a ceremony marked by splendour and pageantry. The Queen’s Lying-in-State, which started on the evening of 14th September, ended at 8.32 am, when the last of thousands and thousands who queued, sometime up to 24 hours, walked past the catafalque, on which her coffin lay. At 10.44 am, her coffin was lifted and bought out by the ‘bearer party’ of eight soldiers and placed on the State Gun Carriage, drawn by 142 Navy ratings. With their white-capped heads in rhythmic motion, the 90 ratings, in front, pulled, and when the procession reached Westminster Abbey, for the service at 11 am, those sailors behind had to pull backwards, to act as the braking party.By the way, the hallmark of a State Funeral, the State Gun Carriage drawn by naval ratings, is the result of an unfortunate incident that happened during Queen Victoria’s funeral, in the extreme cold of February, 1901. It is reported, in the website of ‘Memorials and Monuments in Portsmouth’, where the State Gun Carriage is kept, as follows:

“The timing for the funeral procession in London went awry and when the coffin and cortege finally arrived at Windsor the troops had been in position without moving, for more than 90 minutes. When the order to move off was given the gunners had trouble with their horses and some started to rear. It looked as if the coffin would fall from the gun-carriage. Immediately behind were King Edward VII, the Kaiser, the King of Greece and Prince Louis Battenburg. The panic among the horses spread to the leaders and the situation became very serious. Prince Louis whispered something to the King who nodded and Lt. Noble was ordered to stand by to pull the gun carriage with the seamen guard. Noble passed the message to Lt Boyle. The horses were led off and the sailors grounded arms and formed fours at the head of the cortege. Improvised drag ropes were brought in and so the great Queen went to her rest.”

Westminster Abbey, hosting the funeral service, deviating from tradition, is the historic church where Britain’s kings and queens are crowned, including the Queen’s own Coronation, in 1953. It was also where, in 1947, the then Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip. There has not been a monarch’s funeral service, in the Abbey, since the 18th Century, although the funeral of the Queen Mother was held in 2002.

The doors of the Abbey opened at 8 am for the 2000 invited guests to arrive. Among them were 500 foreign dignitaries, including 100 heads of state. If all the heads of state arrived separately, it would have taken more than four hours, in addition to being a security nightmare. Therefore, a decision had been made to bring them by buses in groups, some agreeing, reluctantly. However, one exception was made; for President Biden. As George Orwell stated in Animal Farm “Some are more equal than others”! Unfortunately for him, his armoured limousine ‘Beast’ and the large motorcade got stuck in London traffic making President Biden a late arrival and having to contend with a seat not in the front of the Heads of State section!

After the service in Westminster Abbey, when the coffin was brought out, golden sunshine illuminated the surroundings, though it was cloudy till then. Nearly two-mile route, from the Abbey to Wellington Arch in Hyde Park Corner, was teeming with people. Fortunately for them there was no rain and no scorching sun either. King Charles, Princess Anne and other male senior royals walked behind the coffin. The procession, which was about a mile long, was led by Royal Canadian Mounted Police and was made up of seven groups, each with its own band. Members of the armed services from the UK and the Commonwealth, the police and representatives from the NHS followed. As the coffin and the Royal mourners following them passed, in some place the crowd burst into applause; many observed silences whilst some shed tears.

At Wellington Arch, the coffin was transferred to the Royal Hearse, made by Jaguar, with input from the Queen, for the start of the 30 miles journey to Windsor. Throughout the route, crowds gathered and were throwing flowers in spite of requests not to do so. The approach to Windsor Castle, the long walk, was again teaming with people, some having camped overnight. Inside the gates, the approach road to the castle was lined on either side with flowers laid at various sites previously, giving the appearance of massive flowerbeds.

In London and Windsor and along the route, in all, around a million mourners had lined to pay respects to Her Majesty and around 28 million has watched on Television. In fact, The Daily Telegraph reported that in the UK the National Grid noted a two gigawatt drop in power, equal to switching off 200 million light bulbs, as people across the country paused to concentrate on their TV screens. Global audience, it is estimated, was four billion. According to The Sun it was the most watched television event in the world ever.

Among the other papers, The Daily Mail described the state funeral as the “greatest valediction in British if not world history”. It was a massive undertaking to honour the “People’s Queen” which was executed to perfection. As The Times stated it was “a day of history marked with tears” which was “flawless” and the “perfect farewell”.

The deeply religious Queen Elizabeth, it is said, believed in the afterlife and was confident that she would meet again her parents, sister and husband. Whether it happens or not, at least they rest together in the same Chapel.

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Features

The hard challenge of clinching a political settlement in the Middle East

Published

4 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Bruised hearts: Displaced Palestinian civilians in the Gaza.(Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Despite some sections of the Trump administration persisting with the view that the possibility could not be entirely ruled out of there being a diplomatic solution to the current US-Iran hostilities in West Asia, the skeptic could not be blamed for thinking otherwise. The intensity, scale and frequency of the tit-for-tat strikes by the antagonists over the past few days against selected military targets and civilian infrastructure in particular in West Asia make the adoption of this stance excusable.

The continuing hostilities render the mentioning of the MOU signed between the warring parties in mid-June a laughable matter. While it could very well be that the foes are wishing privately for a cessation of hostilities before long, what seems to be uppermost on their minds right now is to negotiate with each other from a position of strength. This strategy compels them to incapacitate each other militarily to the extent possible, lest they have to concede too much to each other during negotiations. Hence the stepped-up hostilities.

However, even on the question of there being a negotiated political settlement in the West Asian theatre in the longer term, the skeptic could come to be seen as scoring over the optimist. Developments on the ground account for this.

At the time of writing Israel’s Netanyahu government is going ahead in fairly care-free fashion with the establishment of more Jewish settlements in the Gaza and the West Bank, and it’s all happening under the apparently complacent gaze of the US. In fact, some quarters estimate that Israel is in control of some 65% of the Gaza Strip. Ethnic cleansing, that is, is being drastically stepped-up.

Accordingly, in terms of the power relations of West Asia, the world is almost back to the status quo of the late forties of the last century when the state of Israel was established and the Palestinians were reduced to a microscopic minority in the land they came to inhabit. Therefore, even the impartial observer would be compelled to ask: ‘Will a negotiated peace be ever possible in the Middle East?’

The humanist in the observer would prefer to answer this question in the affirmative and it is indeed the ideal stance to adopt considering the staggering human and material costs of the conflict. But the way ahead to peace could be expected to be highly hazardous and arduous. Among other odds, it would also prove an uphill endeavour to win minds and hearts.

The US’ Trump administration would need to be counted out in this pursuit. This is on account of the fact that it has been far too wayward in its management of West Asian affairs in particular over the past couple of years. Given its unpredictable character it is a matter for conjecture whether it could be counted on to live up to its commitments.

Moreover, Israel could be expected to ‘go it alone’ in the Middle East regardless of whether US help is coming or otherwise. It has indicated as much in recent times and Israel could be doubted on this score only at the doubter’s peril. Because time and again Israel has demonstrated that it could steadfastly defend its interests even single-handedly in the Middle East. History bears this out.

However, a durable alliance with the US would stand Israel in good stead. On the matter of military and intelligence assistance, for example, the US’s help proved invaluable for Israel in the past and going forward this is bound to be so as well. Moreover, it is unlikely that the Trump administration would give up on Israel, considering that a strong Israel is crucial for the furtherance of the US’ strategic and economic interests in West Asia.

But whether the above factors would have a considerable bearing on the question of working out a durable solution to the West Asian tangle is an entirely different matter. Israel, as in the case of the Palestinian enclaves, is acutely security conscious and would need to satisfy itself fully that it could live in a security environment that would guarantee its complete safety, going forward.

The Middle East is badly in need of another peace effort on the lines of the Oslo Accords of the mid-nineties that brought the key actors together and helped hammer out a solution that addressed some of their notable concerns. To be sure, that process did not prove to be the ideal answer to the tangle, but it yielded some respite to the region and drove home that one-time sworn foes could indeed negotiate with a degree of success. The West Bank authority, although falling short of fulfilling some key Palestinian aspirations, is testimony that a degree of success is possible if the intent is right.

Given the current realities of West Asia, peace-making is bound to be an uphill challenge. The violence faced in recent times by the Palestinian community, in particular, has been nothing less than mind-numbing. Merciless has been the violence visited on them by the Israeli side. In such circumstances, durable peace in the region could smack of an idealist’s dream.

Nevertheless, there needs to be urgently, a meeting of minds over the divides. The US would need to be counted out as an honest broker in bringing the sides together but the rest of the West would do well to step up to the challenge.

In this exercise the onus would be on the world’s democracies to take the initiative and doggedly stay the course. An acceptable combination would be the EU and the UN. Given their credentials, the main sides in West Asia ought to find them the least controversial.

Even if the relevant institutional and political arrangements could be shored up to take a reconciliation process forward, winning hearts and minds for the peace drive would prove a grueling challenge. Over the past few years in particular tens of thousands of hearts and minds on both sides of the divide have been bruised badly in the runaway murderous violence that has come to define the Middle East.

These badly scarred personalities would need to experience healing without much delay. It is therefore a multi-faceted challenge that is at hand. Since wide-ranging expertise would be needed in the healing process, people’s participation in peace-making, ranging over the divides, would need to be made a durable reality. It will be a time for enthroning humanity and ensuring the rejection of all forms of violence and coercion.

Features

Amazing Thailand …right here in Colombo

Published

4 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

For many Sri Lankans, Thailand is the go-to holiday — beaches, temples, food, and that famous warm hospitality.

In fact, I’ve been to Amazing Thailand 24 times myself, and was honoured with the Friends of Thailand International Media Award by the Tourism Authority of Thailand for promoting Thai tourism.

The good news I have for you today is that you don’t even need a passport to get a taste of Amazing Thailand.

The Royal Thai Embassy, in Colombo, is bringing a vibrant slice of Thailand, to the city of Colombo, with Thai Festival 2026 — a cultural experience like never before.

Whether you are an avid enthusiast of Thai culture, a total novice, or simply just interested in exploring foreign cultures, Thai Festival 2026 is going to be the perfect opportunity for you to get more than just a glimpse into one of the most celebrated cultural heritages in South East Asia. And ENTRANCE IS FREE.

The festival will be held on the 1st and 2nd of August, 2026, at Siam Nivasa, 43, C.W.W. Kannangara Mawatha, Colombo 7, and the East Parking Area, of the Colombo Municipal Council, from 11:00am to 5:00pm.

Both days will be full of live entertainment, and dispersed throughout with Thai cultural displays, including exhilarating traditional dance performances and breathtaking Muay Thai demonstrations.

Exploring art and craft specific to Thailand, tasting irresistible authentic Thai cuisine, and playing arcade games, are just a few more fun-filled events available for visitors at the festival premises.

An array of Thai products will also be available for purchase.

While at the festival, you will find Sri Lankan Alumni from Thai universities sharing their experiences with you and willing to answer any questions you might have, related to studying abroad in Thailand.

You can also register for the Muay Thai workshop that will be happening on the 7th and 8th of August, 2026, in Colombo.

Irresistible authentic Thai cuisine

Visitors can also stand a chance to win traditional Thai souvenirs, get exclusive photo opportunities, and, the big one — to enter the raffle draw, at the end of each day, for the grand prize of an all-inclusive round trip to Thailand.

Be sure to avail yourself of this exceptional opportunity and add a cultural spin to your weekend.

To keep up with the latest updates on Thai Festival 2026, head over to the Thai Festival official social media pages.

The Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo official webpage:

https://colombo.thaiembassy.org

Official social media:

Facebook: @RTEColombo

Instagram: @thaiembassysrilanka

Thai Festival official social media:

Facebook: Thai Festival in Colombo

Instagram: @thaifestival_colombo

TikTok: @thaifestival.incolombo

Features

Thicker, stronger hair …

Published

4 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Hair fall, in this heat, can be so frustrating, and noticing a thin patch is even more worrying. The good news is … yes, with a little care and kitchen ingredients, you can nourish your scalp and support healthy regrowth.

Try these four easy home remedies … even our grandmothers trusted:

* Coconut Oil and Curry Leaves Tonic:

Warm 04 tablespoons of coconut oil, with a handful of curry leaves, till the leaves turn black. Cool, strain, and massage into scalp 02-03 times a week. Leave for 01 hour, or overnight.

Why:

Coconut oil deeply nourishes, while curry leaves help strengthen roots and add shine.

* Onion Juice for Spot Treatment:

With cotton, dab the juice of 01 small onion, directly on the thin/bald patches. Leave for 20-30 minutes, and then wash with a mild shampoo. Use twice a week.

Why:

Rich in sulfur, onion juice helps boost blood circulation to the scalp.

* Aloe Vera and Castor Oil Mask:

Mix 02 tablespoons of fresh aloe vera gel and 01 tablespoon castor oil and apply to the scalp, focusing on thinning areas. Leave for 45 minutes, and then rinse with cool water.

Why:

Aloe vera soothes the scalp, while castor oil coats hair to make it look thicker.

* Fenugreek and Curd Strengthening Pack:

You will need 02 tablespoons fenugreek seeds, soaked overnight, and 02 tablespoons plain curd.

Grind to a paste, apply to scalp for 30 minutes, and then wash.

Why:

Fenugreek strengthens strands and reduces breakage.

Extra Tips for Healthy Hair:

Avoid tight hairstyles that pull on the scalp.

Eat iron and protein rich foods: greens, dhal, eggs, fish.

Use lukewarm water, not hot.

Be gentle when brushing and drying.