The coffin looked so small

when the camera looked down from high above.

Yes, I watched the funeral service for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II last night. It wasn't something I intended to do but, at the last moment, it seemed right - right to be some microscopic part of history.

I watch very little television, almost none at all. I had forgotten how good camera work can convey so much sense of a place. And yes, there was a sense of place last night.

Westminster Abbey is an extraordinary building at any time but even more so on an occasion like this one. One of my regrets is that I have never managed to go there when it has not been filled with tourists - even though I suppose I could have been classed as a tourist myself - or when a service has not been going on. I have wondered what it would be like to be in there when it was relatively quiet - with perhaps just a few people around or even alone. No, I don't do that sort of "tourist" experience well. 

But last night anyone watching could look down that long distance to the seemingly small coffin. We didn't see many of the attendees filing in, certainly almost no footage of the other heads of states. That was right. It was not their occasion. The focus, rightly, had to be on that small coffin draped in the Royal Standard with the Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre - and the flowers. There was no flashy florist's wreath - just flowers from the gardens the Queen loved.That felt right too. 

Yes, every detail had been planned in advance. Yes, it all seemed to be timed to within a second. Nothing was left to chance. 

And yet, it still seemed that for all the "state" of the occasion it was a relatively simple affair. There were no long rambling eulogies. The Archbishop's words were almost brief. The rest of the service was as inclusive as it could be - a real reflection of a woman who was as inclusive as it was possible to be in her position. 

Most of us never saw the Queen when she was not on public duty. I have a friend who has over the years spent more than one weekend with the Royal Family. My friend says very little about it, indeed most people would never know of the visits. All my friend has had to say is that the Queen someone who cared very much about the welfare of others, who took time for everyone - and that the Queen expected her family to behave in the same manner.

As I switched off the television set I thought again of the words of Dag Hammarskjold:

"Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of so living your life that others can received your orders without being humiliated."

Yes Ma-am, you knew that - and so many of us still have to learn it.