Last night my husband and I ended up watching the Royal Festival of Remembrance on the BBC.

It wasn’t planned; he only watched it because one of his favourite singers was on it (Alexandra Burke).

It’s a strange thing to watch. It’s really not our cup of tea, being about the military, however the tone is one of reflection on the losses of war – those that were required to make the ultimate sacrifice so that we might have our freedom.

A lot of the ceremony was just a little strange to me, but then I’ve never been into marching and or military music. However, there was a deep reverence there which was extremely moving.

Having watched the old queen’s funeral, I at least understand some of the symbolism.

I couldn’t help but notice that the king was crying at times. That is new and marvellous. I’m not aware of his mother ever showing emotion.

Musically, the performers were well selected, although the performance of Bette Midler’s “The Rose” was painful to listen to (in my opinion) because it felt as though the singer was fighting the orchestra.

I thoroughly enjoyed “Bread of Heaven”, which is a wonderfully rousing hymn associated with Wales. I found myself wondering about those of other faiths in the proceedings – there appeared to be some Sikh men (turbans give them away), and some Muslim women (the scarves).

Towards the end, the Bishop of London came on. She wasn’t really any different from any other Anglican priest. However, she was a she. And whilst her words and the blessing at the end were distinctly C of E, she paid reference to all faiths and treated them with respect and validity.

I looked at the audience, and just particularly the soldiers, sailors, air force personnel, and the others honouring the fallen. A wonderful mix of colours, creeds, and gender, the uniforms subtly adjusted to respect the dictates of faith and morphology of gender. There was probably a good smattering of gays and lesbians mixed in. There might even have been trans in there, but I’ll never know.

I said to my husband “what a wonderful country we have; it’s not perfect, but is there anywhere in the world where such a display of equality could exist?”

Then I thought about the Conservative party – a group of people whom I generally detest because they are often led by her for personal acquisition – they have provided three female prime ministers and one male Hindu one. Currently, the Conservatives are led by a woman of colour. I might not like their politics, but they don’t care what gender or religion their leader is – as long as they win.

I think that there are several reasons why the UK is such an inclusive place. Firstly, the Empire. One cannot rule over quarter of the globe and then complain about immigration. Secondly, we are very tightly packed! We have to find ways to get on because the people who are different from “us” don’t live a thousand miles away in a different state, but next door.

I belive that living in close quarters with diverse neighbours has encouraged mutual respect and understanding.

Here, familiarity brings comfort, not contempt.