Back Story Newsletter
The Queen
In the public school I attended north of Toronto, along with the Canadian anthem, every school morning began with my class singing “God Save The Queen”.
The Canadian currency has the face of Queen Elizabeth. In fact, we drive what used to be the ‘Kings Highways’ in Ontario which became the Queens highways including the main road into Toronto the QEW or Queen Elizabeth Way.
Later in life when I was a crime reporter attending police officer functions, each meal began with a toast to the Queen.
Eventually I would cover the Queens visits to Canada (there were 22 of them) and on her 80th birthday I was lucky to be in the garden of Buckingham Palace inches from her, as she thanked the dignitaries and children who were invited to come to celebrate.
She was head of the common wealth, whose leaders relied on her judgement and leadership.
Canadian P.M. Justin Trudeau said “in a complicated world, her steady grace and resolve brought comfort and strength to us all. Canada is in mourning,” said Trudeau who first met the Queen as a child when his father Pierre was Prime Minister.
And yet the Queen was remarkable in a way she was completely unremarkable. The most travelled monarch in history, she had an elegant but relaxed and casual way of meeting and greeting, and a smile that would light up a nation.
Since she came to the throne in 1952, she was always representing everyone and everything but herself. I think humility is what is truly remarkable in some World leaders and Queen Elizabeth was always diligently carrying out her duties without complaint, while trying to bring people together in polarized and turbulent times.
Elizabeth Alexander Mary led her nation out of WW2. She went on to meet 12 U.S. Presidents, and 12 Canadian Prime Ministers, and she became the glue in a not so United Kingdom, often driven at times by nasty politics.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said the nation had lost “not just our monarch but the matriarch of our nation, the figure who more than any other brought our country together, kept us in touch with our better nature, personified everything which makes us proud to be British”.
There were of course rocky moments, including the death of Princess Diana in 1997, and the Queen who at first didn’t go to London, was urged to do so by Blair himself.
Most recently her family was embroiled in scandal and division between Diana’s sons, William and Harry and his new bride Meghan.
Her own son Andrew had to step back from Royal duties because of accusations of his involvement in a sex scandal.
The Queen saw the Royal Family through those troubles waters, including Charles’ decision to marry his long time partner Camilla Parker Bowles.
The challenges now ahead of her eldest son King Charles III to fill the shoes of his mother are daunting. There will of course be talk of a smaller Royal family with less influence and diminished responsibility.
Within hours of her death Charles said "we mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother”.
"I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world."
During the coming period of mourning, he said he and his family would be "comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held".
But for now we are facing a dark 10 days of national mourning in Britain.
Her body will be transferred to London’s Buckingham Palace where just a few months ago she celebrated her 70th Platinum anniversary on the throne.
She will lie in state at Westminster where hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pay their respects.
A State funeral will take place in Westminster Abbey a week from Monday.
The coffin will later be transported to St George’s Chapel at Windsor. She will be placed alongside her mother and father and the ashes of her sister Princess Margaret, who died in 2002.
In another poignant tribute, the coffin of her beloved late husband, Prince Philip, will be moved from the Royal Vault to join her.
It will now be days of church bells and big gun salutes and unprecedented crowds of people lining roads to pay their respects, under an umbrella of stringent security because of fears of terrorism.
The last full state funeral in the UK was for war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965.
We won’t likely hear how she died, and the rumours of a fall in October, or of a painful gout, even of cancer will stay secret with the family.
So much history, so much reflection still to come. No British monarch lived longer or reigned as long Queen Elizabeth II.
The British newspapers front pages are moving today and I included a link below, it’s worth your time to view.
They are mostly dark images and simple heartfelt messages that all reflect profound respect including;
The Daily Telegraphs “Grief is the price we pay for love”,
The Sun’s “We loved you ma’am”.
And the Daily Mail’s “Our hearts are broken”. The Daily Mirror simply said “Thank you”.
Dana Lewis
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/09/our-hearts-are-broken-how-the-uk-papers-reported-the-death-of-the-queen