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How can an elderly woman, heading an extremely poor family and living in the lap of luxury at the expense of the taxpayers, possibly act as a safeguard against the erosion of democracy?
Well, maybe that’s a huge claim on the part of Queen Elizabeth II to make. Maybe it’s even a stretch to suggest that his presence at the helm of the monarchy, his honesty and unmistakable civility over the astonishing 70 years may have given Britain’s elected leaders pause, curbing some of their excesses.
But the added layer of monarchy under this matriarchy, formally presiding over the political field, credibly helped Britain to maintain its self-perception of doing the right thing, upholding traditional positive values, and therefore Made it a better place than it would have been without it. His.
With his death, the monarchy – its purpose, legitimacy, value – will be tested and reevaluated. Even here, however, this charming figure – somehow kept a mystery despite the ubiquitous and relentless scrutiny – has done an important service, giving his successor a far greater chance of success than had been imagined for many years. could not be done earlier.
After Lady Di, the former Princess of Wales, was killed in a Paris tunnel car crash 25 years ago by the paparazzi, her adulterous ex-husband was a widely despised figure and support for the institution of royalty was waning. a Survey In 2000, less than half of respondents supported the hypothetical process by which Charles would become king when his mother died or abdicated, with a third advocating that the throne be left to Prince William by a generation.
The Imperial State Crown is seen on the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, decorated with the Royal Standard and the Imperial State Crown and pulled by the gun carriage of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery during the procession from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster. In London on September 14, 2022. (Peter Nichols / Poole / AFP)
Staying around for another quarter-century, the Queen – at her shortest in underestimating public grief over the death of the “People’s Princess” (© Tony Blair) – gave Charles enough time to rehabilitate himself substantially. did. Also enough time for the new king’s first love and second wife, Camilla Parker Bowles – “There were three of us in this marriage,” Diana memorably Told BBC – To gain acceptance, be trusted with the title “Queen Consort”, and even see their relationship as a modern love story (of course far) Newspaper column This week.
However, even Queen Elizabeth could not stop the deep staining of the royal brand by some of her other players, and in particular the notoriety caused by her third child. Prince Andrew paid millions to settle sexual abuse earlier this year suit Brought against him in America by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that Andrew was smuggled into her by Jeffrey Epstein.
In terms of her public duties, the Queen rarely put a foot wrong in those seven long decades of endless appearances and interactions, with calm, restraint and poise, sometimes exceeding humour, wisdom and subtlety.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth during a visit to the former Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, Friday, June 26, 2015. (Fabian Bimmer/Pool Photo via AP)
No, she didn’t go to Israel. Nor did he apologize for Britain’s legacy of colonialism: as an Associated Press Speciality “After taking the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II has inherited millions of subjects around the world, many of whom were reluctant,” it opened this week. After all Hers was a formal office; There were limits beyond which she could not defy the Foreign Office in particular and the government in general.
Personally, he is believed to have had a fight with some of his prime ministers over policy and direction. She was also sometimes said to publicly intimate private feelings about hosting certain foreign dignitaries through her creative use of jewelry (which included wearing a brooch from Obama on the day of Trump’s visit in 2018.)
And she happily participated in not only a James Bond comedy stunt For the 2012 London Olympics, but with a decidedly well-understood symbolism, this year just starred in a sketch with a refugee with no table manners but endless good intentions: Paddington Bears .
As screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce points out centrally in both of those sketches, so put it up beautifully This week, “Paddington is an evacuee, a refugee, a one-time prisoner, the need of almost every class that is mentioned in Matthew 25. Here, he is being welcomed with tea and good manners. It is a set of values. A strong statement from the group who are not unopposed in the corridors of power. It meant something to exemplify them so happily in such a moment.”
Three years earlier, Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave him what was later determined to be illegal advice. suspend parliament – a move that critics saw as a design by Johnson to reduce lawmakers’ scrutiny of his government’s Brexit plans. Johnson was forced to step down as premier earlier this month, having been ousted by his own party; Had it been decided that he had lied to the queen, he might have left sooner.
Once distant and forever, the Queen sought to serve as a focal point for British unity and decency and whatever Britons would like to consider British values for 70 years. If she was numb or tired or unhappy about the job, she rarely showed it.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience in Balmoral, Scotland, where she invites the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government on September 6, 2022. (Jane Barlow/Pool Photo via AP)
Last Tuesday, leaning on a cane but smiling and, as always, kind, she formally invited Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, to form the government on her behalf. Two days later, at 96, she was dead.
Prince Charles was heard grumbling about an unbearable leak of ink from his fountain pen on Tuesday, three days after his formal ascension.
Truss is the Prime Minister of Britain on the strength of the national vote, not elections among members of the UK Parliament, but on the votes of 81,326 members of the Conservative Party.
British democracy is certainly not perfect. But the queen played a positive role in its functioning, as she was the epitome of what was ultimately acceptable and what was not.
He will be sorely missed in democracies other than Britain at a time when that cardinal distinction is being seriously challenged.