What to say of the passing of the Queen? I think there will be much, but not today. At this moment I think it appropriate to do three things.
The first is to hope that she rest in peace. Few people work until they are 96. Whatever our beliefs, the idea of resting in peace resonates, I think. She undoubtedly served as she saw appropriate. Given we were all impacted by that she deserves our final best wishes.
The second is to reflect. A family and millions of others are mourning a loss that they will feel deeply. It is, again, wholly appropriate to respect their grief and to give them the space to share it.
Third, it is right to note that this is the end of an era. The Elizabethan Age is over. The Crown may have passed, automatically, but history tells us that monarchs are individuals, and the monarchy changes on the passing from one to another. There will be time to discuss the consequences. I will want to do that and I am sure others will. But that can wait, because that discussion is institutional whilst death is very much a personal issue that we all must face.
At this moment I respect that human commonality and all the sentiments that go with it. There will be time enough to reflect on the future. I will do so. But for now, the death of an extraordinarily well known, as well as little known, person requires that time be taken, and I will be doing so.
If commenting on this post please do so sensitively, whatever your personal feelings.
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I agree with those thoughts and would also add that I hope that her family are given the privacy and opportunity to grieve for their loss.
RIP, Queen Elizabeth II
Craig
Thank you, Richard, for your wise and sensitively chosen words . I am sure that there are many of your readers who will heartily concur.
September 8th, 2022 will be a major date in the history of our nation. As we witness the events and formalities of the next few days, we have an opportunity to reflect upon the great paradox of life; that change is the only constant, and that change is often measured by the span of a lifetime. As such, the death of the Queen mark’s such a measure. Her seventy years as monarch saw change on an unprecedented scale, but her presence represented a reassuring constant and continuity. It must be observed, however that this momentous moment in the life of the nation may well serve as a historical marker preceding equally momentous changes in society as our turbulent times proceed in the face of the multiple crises that confront us.
As the Caroline era begins, we can still be proud Elizabethans, and
it is thus that we can unite in expressing sincerely that most human of hopes;
May she rest in peace.
Thanks for those thoughts Richard. I don’t have tv and haven’t listened to live radio deliberately. I’d just be sent dizzy by the total dominance of the subject. It would be the same with any momentous news.
Have spotted some gracious thoughts and memories on Twitter. That will do me. Many have liked John Major’s contribution and, as I live here in Scotland, sought out the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s address – as ever striking the right tone in my view. She’s good at that stuff.
My own wee story? I don’t actually remember. My mum told me she was wheeling me in my pram across Woolwich Common, it must have been 1952/3, and saw the black car with Royal Standard flapping. No-one else around, mum waved anyway and we both got a wave back from HM. One personal wave, that’s it.
We’ve had to cope with so many events in these 70 years but this does seem to be ‘the old order changes’ and it’s a biggie. Feeling a fragile this morning – here in Perth we had flash floods yesterday, they needed dealing with first. The news of Queen had to wait for some of us to attend to it later in the day. I am thankful for her servanthood and her christian faith undergirding, which I share. Can’t even articulate what her legacy may be just now. Maybe that’s for the next generation.
Thanks
Good luck with the flooding
You are towing the populist tone and mood of the nation and that makes you a complete hypocrite..you are a fervent anti royal and have continually slagged her off..you and your type should be celebrating not mourning..but you are a populist attention seeker and therefore go with the flow
I am a human being
I have never pretended to be a fan of the monarchy
But I can empathise with those who are grieving
The callousness here is all yours
Well said! Good reply!
You are the hypocrite James, not Richard. He’s always made it clear he is a republican at heart, but he hasn’t laid into the monarchy down the years; politicians yes, but not the monarchy, even though he doesn’t agree with the basis of it.
You on the other hand use her death as a means of attacking Richard and in doing so incidentally, you lie through your teeth. So much for showing respect eh? Not that I’m surprised by your behaviour. The populist right will use any means available to attack everyone they don’t agree with. As will this vile government that you no doubt support, who will wrap themselves in the union flag to show their so-called patriotism.
And then attack anyone who disagrees with them as anti-British.
Are you going to say the same about Jeremy Corbyn? This is what he said.
“My thoughts are with the Queen’s family as they come to terms with their personal loss, as well as those here and around the world who will mourn her death.
I enjoyed discussing our families, gardens and jam-making with her.
May she rest in peace.”
“you and your type should be celebrating”
I am a republican & I pity those born into royalty – groomed to play a part – &, with some obvious exceptions (Harry Windsor), stuck with it for life. The woman was manipulated from start to finish (witness the events of last year). Her death & funeral should not be a public spectacle – but it will be. One can only hope that at some point, UK people are able to have an adult conversation about the desireability of having a monarchy & subjecting people such as Elisabeth Windsor to it.
Amen to your last sentence Mike. Bonnie Greer writing in The New European some weeks ago made the point (as an Americam living in the UK for many years) that many English people seemed afraid of real democracy; if you ask why we have an unelected head of state they’ll say ‘but we’ll end up with someone like Donald Trump as an elected head of state.’
So it would appear they have very little faith in democracy at all.
Well said, and although I had respect for the queen, it could also be said, quite reasonably I believe, that monarchies and democracies are totally incompatible. The sole achievement of any hereditary monarch is that they have successfully navigated the birth canal, like so many of us here today.
The problem with people like James is that he does not realise that none of the critiques are actually personal and about the Queen (RIP) who was also a human being. She had been a young girl, was a lover, wife, mother, grandmother, auntie, matriarch of the Windsors certainly and a much-loved public figure – and still I think deservedly so. A real person – like they all are!
Where the problem is in the Windsor Brand and the shadowy people and cling-ons who maintain it and are noted for their passion about that.
And also, the peculiar arrangements in terms of the way in which the United Kingdom is governed. A head of state who is paid in immense wealth to just be it seems a passive partner in the whole thing, whose status and prestige is used as a flag of convenience for all sorts of questionable things of late – such as making ‘her people’ poorer and unhealthier for example or to actually close down parliament!
There have been exceptions – when it was reported that the Queen had asked why the economists could not see the 2008 crash coming for example? Was this a slip of the tongue? Now, a monarch who actually said what they thought about a government was treating their subjects – now, what would that look like? But as I understand it, this is an arrangement where the monarch can be made to sign their own death warrant if the government wills it.
And then we have the Privy Council. Such a body is unacceptable in something calling itself a democracy.
This is what people like James don’t understand.
We’re not taking the man (or in this case the woman), we’re taking the ball – the system that the Queen was a part of. And she was part of this, as will her successor and his successors. It all remains very questionable whether there has been a bereavement or not, because the rest of us have to go on living with this arcane system.
Adult conversations seem lamentably rare in the UK these days. Perhaps if that were not the case, we’d no longer be in a UK.
Anyhoo, in related news, I’ve seen it suggested Her Maj grimly hung on as long as she did in order to avoid the indignity of liar Johnson presiding over her death and funeral arrangements. That seems credible to me.
I think wistful
It is of course a deeply felt personal loss for her family and others close to her. We have lost one of the few remaining links to the wartime generation, and the time when the UK really was a world power (as an example, consider the power of British armed forces at her coronation compared to today: the number of ships and aircraft at the coronation reviews)
Charles was born in 1948; Truss in 1975. As far as I can see, we have never changed prime minister and monarch in the same week before.
It may take a few years to truly appreciate the great loss for our nation. Her legacy will live on through her impact on the lives of others, but the UK is much diminished without her, both domestically and internationally, and the sense of national unity, stability and continuity that she represented. And now … ?
Now can wait for a little bit, I think
But the discussion will be required
We all have to suffer the loss of parents and grandparents and it is sad for anyone who has to go through it. We cannot ignore that as to do so means that we are less than human in my view.
I am no monarchist, but I admired the way she led by example. By all accounts she was spirited woman but upon taking office I think that she above all royals, has set a very high standard of conduct that some of her family members have failed to meet. That’s why I respect her and over the years can even say a bit fondness crept in. To me, The Queen knew that she had a certain kind of life many will never have but she also had a certain self-awareness about that, which marks her out as rather special to me. There was a certain humbleness about her.
My sadness of late is in the fact that I feel that this person of quality has been so badly used by some extremely bad quality people in the Tory party.
To think: in her last days she had to see a person like Johnson and ask a person like Liz Truss to be a Prime Minister on the basis of a very undemocratic process. She was going to leave her subjects – many loyal to a fault – in the hands of people like that. It makes me shudder.
Queen Elizabeth II was a person from a more gracious and honourable time.
God Bless you Ma’am. And thank you.
“Queen Elizabeth II was a person from a more gracious and honourable time”
Precisely so.
Maybe
‘Maybe’
I had to smile.
I was laying it on a bit thick because I was trying to keep my sentiment within the boundaries of the context which was not a good time to launch into a critique of the whole set up.
But on the whole, I concur with ‘maybe’ if only not to appear so naive.
Her speech on her 21st Birthday
I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service
Sets a standard that those in positions of authority, Politicians, managers, etc are conspicuously failing to follow at the moment.
Perhaps if some at least were to follow her example the world might be a better place
I cannot put it better than this lady: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/09/10/having-a-queen-was-stupid-having-a-king-is-too-stupid-%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8a-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/
As I said: there is a time for this discussion
I do not think it yet
For my O level English Literature, I studied Tennyson’s Morte d’Arthur.
At the end the dying King tells Bedevere to throw the Sword Excalibur into the Lake. Bedevere is reluctant to let go the remaining symbol of what has been a great reign with an inspiring monarch. He twice lies to the King that he has disposed of the sword but Arthur knew he lied so the third time he throws it and it is caught by a mystic hand and drawn down in to the mere. He reports back to the King and tells him what he has seen.
“The King tells him ‘the old order changeth, yielding place to new
And God fulfils Himself in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world”.
It means that a new generation will do things differently and what was good for its time , may not be good for another.
Thus we can honour the Queen who did what she thought was right for her generation but also we change things without dishonouring the past. It is not one thing or the other. Things will be different and rightly so.
Poetry and myth can teach us beyond the opinions of the situation.
I understand your mixed feelings. Somehow the change of Monarch feels more destabilising than a change of Prime Ministers. There is something of the emptiness felt when my own parents from the same generation died. It will take a little while for the country, let alone her family, to get used to the change.
As you say it is the end of an era. It would be good to think that once the immediate mourning is over it would be time for reflection. Consideration not just of the role of the monarchy but the whole nature of the UK Consitution. Unfortunately the opportunity is unlikely to be taken.
My daughter has raised a series of interesting questions: what would have happened if the Queen had died 24 hours earlier? Would Johnson’s resignation have been possible without royal assent and, if the answer is no, could Truss have been officially appointed in his place and how long might that take? Was there in theory a brief opportunity for a republic to be declared or Scotland to declare a plebiscite in the absence of a functioning UK government (not that there’s been much sign of a functioning government in the UK for months)? Could the Faroe Islands for instance have successfully invaded the UK given that most of the UK’s forces appear to be on ceremonial duties in London?
Pardon the flippancy, but all of this obscure tradition and clouding of the respective roles and powers of royalty and elected politicians simply underlines the necessity of having a proper written constitution for the UK (and any of the devolved nations if they win independence). The powers of governments cannot be permitted to be absolute or democracy fails, hence the necessity of clearly defining the limits of these powers. Meanwhile, the rest of the world looks on as the UK flounders.
Very good questions
I think you are confusing the person with the role. The Queen is dead, long live the King. If she had died 24 hours earlier Charles would have given the royal assent. We can never (currently) not have a monarch – the heir becomes monarch in the moment the monarch dies.
There would have been no accession – that requires an Accession Council