The end of one era and beginning of another
Well here we are. The Queen has passed away. It was both shocking and unsurprising. This year saw her Diamond Jubilee, where she celebrated an incredible 70 years on the throne, and it was obvious throughout that age had finally caught up with her.
It can be very sad to remind ourselves that nothing and nobody lasts forever. It is one of the life’s inevitabilities. So now we must remember her, and be grateful that we lived through the longest reign of any King or Queen of the United Kingdom.
Today we are witnessing the transition from Elizabeth II to Charles III. It’s living history and we’re privileged to see it.
I don’t like it much but I must admit that social media has provided a helpful platform for people to express their thoughts on the passing of the Queen. Most of the posts I’ve seen have been gracious and well-meaning. Some however have been downright ugly. To rejoice in death is ugly. To wish death and suffering on others is outrageously so.
The negativity usually stems from these sources: the Queen’s excessive privilege, contempt for the Monarchy, and most viciously, hatred for Britain as expressed via hatred of the Queen.
Is the Queen privileged? Undoubtedly so, but is this reason to hate her or rejoice in her death? No it isn’t. The fact is those born in to privilege are no more responsible for it than those born in to poverty. What do we mean by privilege anyway? Lots of money? Yes, she certainly had lots of money. But do we really believe having lots of money means having no problems or worries or strains or stresses or enormous responsibilities on our shoulders? If you do believe that, I’d suggest you’re wrong. All lives have problems and challenges, and the Queen’s was no different.
It’s worth noting also that Royals are not the only people born in to money – thousands of people are. Thousands of people don’t however have the responsibilities of Monarchy on their shoulders.
The Queen, who did not choose to be Queen, lived her entire life in front of cameras. Unable to express an opinion or an emotion, her life was decided for her from her very earliest years. She was obliged to travel the world constantly under a global gaze. She was relentlessly under pressure to look the right way, shake the right hands, mingle, host, and greet. This is a life of high pressure and high stress, and she had to do it, whether she wanted to or not, and whether she felt up to it or not. She had no choice in the matter.
While it’s ok not to shed tears for this, because in many ways she was very lucky, but to say, as some have, that she did “nothing” is outrageously untrue. She had a very difficult job and she did it very very well indeed.
Contempt for the Monarchy is another matter, and of course people are free to believe whatever they wish, and to express that belief. Therefore, I shall now express mine.
There are two main reasons I support the Monarchy and hope for its continuation. The first of these is loyalty. Who is it that the Armed Forces claim allegiance to? The Monarch. Who would we like them to claim allegiance to? Some bloody politician? No thank you! One of the crucial elements of Monarchy is that it is not politics; it is something bigger. It is duty and loyalty expressed to a nation via an individual. The Monarch represents the nation, politicians do not. Politicians come and go and if the Armed Forces were to express loyalty to them, it would mean dictatorship.
The second reason to support the Monarchy is the connection it gives us to the past. The Queen’s first Prime Minister was Winston Churchill. She provided a direct link to the country’s favourite Prime Minister and someone who saw the nation through the horrors of World War II. We have moved on from that time but the Queen remained a direct connection to it. That is more valuable than many people realise. It keeps the past alive, and it keeps our connection to that past alive. That’s important because we need to remember the past, not only to learn from it, but to give us an identity and a solid ground to stand on. Who we are is largely derived from where we’ve come from. If we have no past, we have no identity in the present. The Queen, and the Monarchy, keeps us attached to that past. It is staggering to realise that Queen Victoria was Elizabeth II’s great great grandmother. What an amazing living link to history!
Finally, the ugly expressions that followed the death of the Queen included barely disguised contempt for Britain itself. Much of this comes from former British colonies or descendants of such colonies.
Some disgusting comments, which I won’t repeat here, talked of Britain stealing the wealth of other nations and leaving them in poverty. We owe them money, apparently.
This is infuriating. I’ll be brief here:
Colonialism brought civilisation to many nations. Yes, I said it. (Civilisation is not all it brought either).
Colonialism ended decades ago. If you’re still poor, that’s your fault, not Britain’s.
Reparations? No chance! We’ve already paid billions and billions to African or Caribbean countries and they’re still living in poverty. What have they done with all our money? What are they doing with the money we give in foreign aid while elderly Britons freeze? They do nothing with it. They clearly don’t know what to do, or how to get back on their own feet. That’s neither our fault nor our problem. If you’re still complaining about colonialism decades later, and still blaming it for your life’s problems, then I suggest a look in the mirror. As individuals, and as nations, nobody is responsible for our failures but ourselves.
Further comments that have caught my eye are “she knighted Jimmy Saville”. Actually she didn’t. The Queen didn’t decide who got knight-hoods, she decided very little. Jimmy Saville was a rotten excuse for a human being, the lowest of the low, but there are 1,000s of Jimmy Savilles raping and raping with impunity all over the country today. Your MP knows about it, your local council knows about it, the police know about it, your neighbours know about it, the press knows about it. Nothing is done to stop it.
Saville got away with it because he was a celebrity. 1,000s of Savilles get away with it because they are brown-skinned and their victims are white. I’d suggest that’s an even bigger problem, and one that isn’t dead and buried.
“The Crown is corrupt” say others. Well yes, isn’t everything to some extent? There is corruption in every institution touched by human hand. The value of the Monarchy however is not as widespread as corruption.
“Why didn’t she do anything about the state of the country?”. Because she couldn’t. The country was not governed by the Queen, it’s governed by the government. If anyone is to blame it is politicians; blame them, and then vote them out of office. You can do that if you wish. The Monarch has no power to govern, and if he or she did have that power, we’d complain about it, and rightly so.
Whatever your view of the Monarchy or of the Queen herself, ugly sentiments such as to wish suffering on a fellow human being, are a reflection of the person expressing these sentiments, and not the Queen.
This is a woman who was held in the highest regard by millions of people. The British, and others, know her as dutiful, competent, funny, engaging, and a kind lover of animals and the countryside. Her death is deeply saddening to so many of us.
The UK is now going through an enormous transition and that too is saddening. That’s ok, it’s normal to be sad at the end of an era.
But life will go on, and from what I can see, King Charles III is enjoying a positive reception from the public. I hope he does well. I hope he can keep the Monarchy alive, and I hope that in doing so, this country will remain recognisable and maintain a living, breathing connection with its rich and glorious past.
Anne Marie Waters
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