What can I say that better writers haven't already said?  Not a lot.   Perhaps I'd better let the interview by David Frost speak for itself...

Frost         Hello, good evening and welcome.  Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we're talking to Sandy Parkinson, writer of renown, about last week's sad funeral.

Frost          Mrs Parkinson, did you watch the funeral on TV? 

Me             Yes.

Frost          Did you feel sad, and did you cry? 

Me             Yes and yes

Frost          Did you feel a deep sense of personal loss? 

Me             No.

Frost          Did you enjoy the spectacle? 

Me             Yes.

Frost          Did you feel sympathy for the remaining Royals? 

Me             Yes.

Frost          Any in particular? 

Me            Yes, I suddenly realised that Prince Charles looked very old, and though he's not my favourite person, that's when I cried.

Frost         I was beginning to wonder if you had any conversational skills beyond the positive and the negative!

Me             (laughs weakly)

Frost         How did you feel when you saw all the Royalty from Europe and Heads of State from all around the world, all gathered in Westminster Abbey to pay their respects to the Queen Mother?

Me            I kept thinking what a juicy target it would make for Osama Bin Laden, and I thought they should all have stayed home.

Frost         Can you justify the high cost to the nation of staging such an ostentatious display?

Me            It brought the nation closer together in grief for the passing of such an icon, in a way that a quick trip down to the crematorium would never have done.  And all those soldiers and horses are being paid for anyway, so why not put them on display?  I doubt if any money was actually spent on gun carriages, cars, flags, etc.  They'd have all been kept in storage for years.

Frost         So you don't feel that such pageantry would have been much of a burden on the taxpayer?

Me            Not at all, except perhaps for the bunfight afterwards.  I wonder how much gin, cucumber sandwiches and fairy cakes had to be ordered by the Queen to satisfy the ravening hordes?

Frost         Was there anything that you think could have been done to improve the occasion?

Me            Only one thing.  With all the Royal carriages available, not to mention the gun carriage that carried the coffin from Westminster Hall to the Abbey, why on earth did the procession end up in plain black cars after leaving the Abbey?  It looked like the dustcart following the Lord Mayor's procession!

Frost         I'm sorry, we've run out of time.  Mrs Parkinson, it's been an honour and a privilege talking to such a prestigious Australian author.  Thank you and goodnight.

Me             Thank you David.