TONIGHT I’m going for a drink and a bite to eat with Tony O’Reilly. Hang on, I’ll rephrase. Tonight I will be in a hotel room with 500 other people — and one of them will be AJF O’Reilly.

The first spectators are already arriving to make sure of their places on the route along which the Queen Mother's coffin will be borne from St James's Palace to Westminster Hall.