Phil_314

I also think that family history plays a big part. One of my colleagues has aging parents with Scottish lineage so she places huge value on the Monarchy and Scottish tradition, plays in pipe band and even went to London this year to pipe for the Queen's Jubilee.  She's really devastated. The fact that it's a reminder of her own parents mortality is also a factor I'm sure.

I was 10 when Elvis died. I couldn't figure out the devastation among people. But a few years later when John Lennon was murdered that cut deep because I loved his music. You don't have to personally know someone to have empathy. The Queen was one of those institutions that despite the topsy-turvy world, it was unchanging. If something happened tomorrow to Elon Musk. I wouldn't care. Because I assume the company might be shocked and his fanboys might go into mourning. But the companies would carry on. But I don't criticize others for feeling compassion and sympathy. Hell I burst into tears when I saw a baby cub who survived a forest fire, with his paws all singed. (That I chalked up to months of Covid stuff, and I needed an emotional release.)

North Korea punishes it's citizens if they don't mourn loudly enough if a prominent figure dies