来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2021年4月16日
Because of the pandemic and its restrictions, the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral at Windsor will be a less grand event than might once have been expected. Only 30 official mourners will attend. Those who do so will leave their military and naval uniforms at home. The public has been asked to stay away. Television will nevertheless ensure that this private ceremony of farewell will be acted out on the global stage.
由于疫情及其限制，爱丁堡公爵在温莎城堡举行的葬礼可能没有以前预期的那么盛大。只有30名官方吊唁者将出席。吊唁者将把军服和海军制服留在家里。公众被要求远离。然而，电视将确保这个私人的告别仪式将在全球舞台上上演。
As a result, the funeral’s emotional hold over the wider nation will be undiminished. There is a single overriding, deeply shared and understandable reason for this. Most of us have lived under only one British monarch, Elizabeth II. In the days since her husband’s death on 9 April, attention has moved from the departed duke to the effect on those who remain. The elderly and widowed Queen is thus more than ever at the forefront of a respectful national mind.
因此，葬礼对整个国家的情感影响将不会减弱。这其中有一个最重要的、共同的、可以理解的原因。我们大多数人都只生活在一位英国君主的统治下，那就是伊丽莎白二世。在她丈夫于4月9日去世后的日子里，人们的注意力从已故公爵转移到了遗留亲属身上。因此，年迈寡居的女王比以往任何时候都更受国民尊敬。
Saturday’s funeral is an event of shared national significance. This is also the beginning of the end of an era, and the gradual start of a turning point for an institution and the UK itself.
周六的葬礼是一个具有共同国家意义的事件。这也是一个时代结束的开始，也是君主制和英国自身转折点的逐渐开始。
The funeral will be the next stop – Prince Philip’s death having been the first – in a five-stage but one-way journey on which the British monarchy and the nation which it embodies are now embarked. The journey marks the transition from the long and generally settled era of the Queen’s record-breaking reign since 1952 to an unpredictable future after she passes on. The third and fourth stages of this journey will be her own death, followed by her almost certainly vast state funeral. The past week has given a taste of what those will entail. The final stage will be the coronation of her heir and successor.
葬礼将是下一站——菲利普亲王的去世是第一站——英国王室及其所代表的国家现在开始了一个五阶段但单向的旅程。这一旅程标志着女王从1952年以来打破纪录的漫长且普遍安定的统治时代，到她去世后不可预测的未来的转变。这一旅程的第三和第四阶段将是她自己的死亡，随后是她几乎肯定的盛大国葬。过去的一周已经让我们尝到了其中的滋味。最后阶段将是她的继承人和继任者的加冕仪式。
The length of this journey of transition is unknowable. It could all happen surprisingly quickly. Or it could last for several years. What is knowable, however, is that the journey has begun, that it is not only the monarchy that will be in transition, but the country too, and that things will be different – and feel different – afterwards.
这个转变过程的长度是不可知的。这一切都可能以惊人的速度发生。也可能持续数年。然而，可以知道的是，这段旅程已经开始，不仅君主制将处于过渡阶段，整个国家也将处于过渡阶段，之后情况将会有所不同，而且感觉也会有所不同。
This is not a start to saying that Britain should be a republic, although that is one option. It is to say that ours is a country in need of a talking cure. We need to ask if the “modernised” postwar monarchy that Prince Philip once encouraged, increasingly marked by its ever-extending family of celebrity royals in the public eye, has been a useful change. It is proving to be a high-wire act. No other European monarchy has chosen this collective route.
这并不是说英国应该变成一个共和国，尽管这是一种选择。要说的是，我们的国家需要一种谈话疗法。我们需要问一问，菲利普亲王曾经鼓励的战后“现代化”君主制——公众眼中日益扩大的名人王室成员家庭日益成为标志——是否是一种有益的改变。事实证明，这是一种走钢丝的行为。欧洲其他君主国还没有选择这种集体路线。
When the dust from Saturday’s funeral has settled, Britain needs to look the transition that has begun in the eye. It must give itself permission to discuss what comes next, and do it in a more grownup way. It needs to give permission to public bodies, to politicians and, not least, to members of the royal family to discuss such matters. Talking is neither treasonous nor disrespectful. After the duke is laid in earth, it will be time to begin.
当周六葬礼尘埃落定后，英国需要正视已经开始的过渡。它必须允许自己讨论下一步该做什么，并且以一种更成熟的方式去做。它需要允许公共机构、政治家，尤其是皇室成员讨论此类问题。这种谈论既不是叛国，也不是不敬。等公爵下葬后，就该开始了。