Séamas O'Reilly: My son thinks Huw Edwards is the queen and keeps kissing the television

The queen was, and is, several orders of magnitude more popular than the monarchy itself

The late Queen Elizabeth II, left, and BBC's Huw Edwards, right.

My son is upset that the Queen has died. “I miss her” he says during the rolling news coverage in our home in London, before approaching the TV and kissing the person on screen. It’s a tender, empathetic display from a four-year-old, rendered only slightly less meaningful by the fact he’s kissing the BBC’s Huw Edwards, since my English-born son has mistaken him for the monarch whose death, and existence, he only really learned of that day.

When considering the death of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, I find myself similarly confused. Granted, I do at least know she is not Huw Edwards, but beyond that I don’t really know how to feel. As an Irish person, and as a Derryman, my relationship with the Royal family has always been uncomplicated: I find the institution ridiculous, even profane, but have very little investment in them as flesh-and-blood people.