By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |
Like many others, even though I am a republican and have always argued for the abolition of the Monarchy, I would like to express my sadness at the death of the Queen Elizabeth II at the grand age of 96. She either had good genes and/or like the queen bee, she was fed a healthy diet of the human equivalent of ‘Royal Jelly’!
Whatever one’s feelings about the politics of a monarchy, as a mother and benevolent head of state, she was loved by many for whom she was a permanent feature in their lives. Indeed, Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, having served for 70 years, which she did with dignity and equipoise.
Prince Charles at the grand age of 73, heir to the throne, is now king, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, is now Queen Consort. Why Elizabeth didn’t move aside earlier will be a matter of speculation for biographers for years to come. But Charles has a perfect opportunity to prove his detractors wrong. Queen Elizabeth II is so deeply etched on our minds that It will take some adjusting to the reality that we are now governed by King Charles the 3rd!
The Queen’s death is a global phenomena. This was to be expected given her personal popularity, but also because of the imperial history of Britain; she was not only Queen of England, but also Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and 14 other realms. Moreover, she was the head of the 54-nation Commonwealth. In short, Elizabeth II was easily the world’s most recognisable head of state during an extraordinarily long reign.
She ascended to the throne at a very young age of 25 and from the beginning faced many challenges, both personal and political. She became the monarch in the aftermath of the 2nd World War and decline in the power and influence of British imperialism. To her credit, she successfully steered the monarchy through decades of turbulent change,
Though she is no ordinary person, like most families growing up in the 2nd half of the 20th Century, she too had to navigate the rapid social changes that have blown tradition away when it comes to family structure, roles, expectations and relationships. But unlike most families, her family life has been lived under the challenging glare of publicity, especially in the age of social media. To her credit, Queen Elizabeth was able to ride the many storms associated with the divorces of three of her children.
But perhaps her greatest challenge was the crisis precipitated by the death of Princess of Diana in a car crash in Paris in 1997. In the immediate aftermath, just for a brief moment, one got the feeling that the British may be turning on her for the treatment of Diana, the self proclaimed ‘Queen of Hearts’.
Perhaps one of Elizabeth’s greatest strengths, despite at times being handicapped by the unreconstructed utterances of Prince Philip, was her skills as a diplomat. One good example was when she visited Amritsar in October 1997. Despite the controversy over Prince Philips comments about the scale of the Jalliawala Bhag massacre, the sight of the Queen pay he obedience at the Darbar Sahib certainly won the hearts of many Sikhs through the world.
Wherever Queen Elizabeth II went, she had the ability to bring a smile on peoples faces. She is a hard act to follow and she will be missed. May she RIP.
Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk
* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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