The overused term “end of an era” seems insufficient to describe the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
Though she was 96, and in a sense, her death was the most natural, most expected thing, it was always hard to shake that feeling of permanence about her. She was the face on the coin, the object of endless fascination and mystery. She was a fixture in conversation not just in the UK, not even just in the Commonwealth realms, but in the whole world. Under the world’s brightest spotlight for 70 years, no other contemporary figure comes even close to her stature.
It is tempting to do away with biographical details and simply say that Queen Elizabeth II has been around “forever,” like sunsets or the sky. She has broken more than her share of longevity records -- most notably, not only was she the longest reigning British monarch of all time, she was the oldest head of state in the world at the time of her death.
She came close to becoming the longest-serving sovereign in world history, but that record still belongs to Louis XIV who became king while still a small boy. It might be argued then, that Louis holds the record only because of a technicality, while Elizabeth was a mature queen from day one.
Her origin story is well known. After King Edward VIII abdicated for his love of Wallis Simpson, the throne passed to George VI, making Elizabeth the heir presumptive. A rose-tinted version of the Edward-Wallis story is told in the film W/E (2011) directed by Madonna, and a more cynical interpretation of Edward’s actions can be seen in Peter Morgan’s stunning Netflix series The Crown.
Whatever one’s view may be of Edward’s actions and his motives, there can be no denying that his choice, which paved the way for Elizabeth’s accession to the throne in 1952, changed the course of the cultural history of the UK and the world.
It seems a bit strange to think of a constitutional monarch who basically does not wield any power as changing history, but Elizabeth, simply by being Elizabeth -- unflappable, unshakeable, embodying what a true queen is expected to be -- did just that. As a popular icon in the world’s imagination, no other monarch comes close, not even Victoria, Elizabeth I, or Henry VIII.
Her appeal really does, at the core, go to her personality, discipline, and sense of duty rather than simply being a reflection of a veneration for the monarchy. Let’s face it -- for decades, the royal family has been largely the butt of jokes and tabloid fodder. Over the years, we have seen scandal after scandal. We have witnessed royals behaving badly. We have been riveted to news coverage that has ranged from tragedy (Diana’s fatal car crash), to comedy (Prince Philip’s antics), to horror (the accusations against Prince Andrew in connection to Joseph Epstein). The British royal family was a never-ending soap opera, and we, the public, had an insatiable appetite.
And yet, through it all, the individual at the centre of it, the queen herself, remained loved. Whatever Philip did, whatever Prince Margaret did, whatever Charles or Diana or Camilla did, whatever Andrew did or Fergie did or Harry did or Meghan did, and however much the public ate it up, Queen Elizabeth, the grandmother of the nation, remained as revered as ever.
Her approval ratings rarely dipped.
In an ever-modernizing world where the existence and need for monarchies get questioned every day, in a world where all other European royal houses have faded into the background and no longer command a central place in current affairs, Queen Elizabeth II remained at the centre of everyone’s attention. This is to her credit as an individual and as a human being, and to no one else.
As the world mourns Queen Elizabeth II, a figure loved by so many like a mother or grandmother, her son Charles becomes king. Already, many are saying the monarchy is over -- that Charles can never be as loved, as venerated as his mother. Whether this is the end (or the beginning of the end) of the British monarchy or not is too premature a question. For now, we say goodbye to the queen: This day truly marks -- if I may be allowed to finish with a platitude I almost always avoid -- the end of an era.
Abak Hussain is a journalist
