“To The Queen”: This is how Austria mourns Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen is dead: there is also great grief in the pubs in Austria and among friends of the English royal family.
“To the Queen”. This is the toast that friends of the English royal family offer to the Queen of England who passed away on Thursday afternoon. “To The Queen”, says Christian Hoffmann in Wiener Neustadt. He is a member of the Austro-British Society, which was set to celebrate its 25th anniversary next week. Christian Hoffmann is sad. But he has a cure for sadness. A gin for the queen. “To The Queen,” he says, tears welling up in his eyes: “She was a great woman who stood up for her people, her nation, the Commonwealth and the world.”
discipline of a monarch
Has it been used personally? “Her discipline, her size, her ability to approach people, especially in difficult situations.” As he unveils the gin that launched the Queen’s ’90s from the British-Austrian Society (“Today is the day the gin was made for”), he also rummages through his memories of the Queen. Trooping the Colors, for the monarch’s 90s: “It was an incomparable experience for me. A precision with which this festival ended.”
![Christian Hoffmann: "To The Queen"](https://image.kurier.at/images/cfs_616w/7192821/46-190327376.jpg)
Commemoration of the Queen’s coronation
Of which the friend of the English royal family is convinced: “Charles will do well and he will enable his son William to have a few more years of private life.” Underneath he proudly shows the program for the Queen’s coronation on June 2, 1953.
England fan Claudia Altmann-Pospischek is also sad in Wiener Neustadt. “Queen Elizabeth II. She was always there as long as I can remember. She was rock solid.
![Claudia Altmann-Pospischek](https://image.kurier.at/images/cfs_616w/7192839/46-190332478.jpg)
She was the soul of Britain. What she has done for my second home is unbelievable. A royal icon is no more. But it leaves deep marks. And she will always be in our hearts. God Save the Queen.”
mourning in the pub
In the “Four Bells” pub in Vienna-Wieden, Nick is sitting with his friends in the garden: “The Queen was a British institution, you have to say that very clearly. She kept the Commonwealth alive and ruled for half a century. Her death came very sudden for all of us today.”
![Nick mit seinen Freunden im Gastgarten](https://image.kurier.at/images/cfs_616w/7192830/46-190327695.jpg)
© Picture: Stephanie Angerer
Michael, 39, from Norway is also sad: “I was very sad when I heard about the death of the Queen. Still, I don’t think her passing will have the same repercussions as Diana’s. The topic will dominate the headlines for a few days, but will then be replaced by the Ukraine war. It was also a bit of a wake-up call because our king is also very old.”
![Michael aus Norwegen](https://image.kurier.at/images/cfs_616w/7192833/46-190327375.jpg)
© Picture: Stephanie Angerer
Early in the evening it has not yet gotten through to everyone that the Queen has passed away. Football is playing in the background, the mood is calm.
Phone didn’t stand still
It’s different in “Johnny’s Pub”, also in Vienna Wieden. Johnny Szewczuk, the pub’s manager, says: “My phone hasn’t stopped ringing, a lot of people I know have contacted me because they know I’m from Yorkshire. I moved to Austria when I was twelve, but I still have a strong connection to my homeland. The Queen is like a stranger you know well. Through my business here in the pub, I also have close ties to England, so today’s news hit me hard.”
![Johnny in seinem Pub](https://image.kurier.at/images/cfs_616w/7192824/46-190332477.jpg)
© Picture: Stephanie Angerer
As he talks, people order drinks, check their phones, read the news of the Queen’s passing.
![Joseph, ungerührt](https://image.kurier.at/images/cfs_616w/7192827/46-190327374.jpg)
© Picture: Stephanie Angerer
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