A few more thoughts in retrospect, while it is still reasonably fresh in my mind. The politicians were all in the transepts so were effectively invisible to the bulk of the congregation. The nave was filled not with the political establishment, but by-and-large, representatives of national and community groups, including those, like the Prince’s Trust, which operate under the crown: so, deliberately apolitical. I thought this was interesting: the idea of the crown binding the nation together through public service and community action, outside the remit of national and local government. Not sure where this leads us, except perhaps to demonstrate how divisive recent politics has been, as demonstrated by the procession of former prime ministers exiting the Abbey right at the end.