It’s been a month since the United Kingdom heard the dreadful news – its Platinum Queen had died.
It’s quite challenging to write down the rollercoaster of emotions felt in those early hours: shock, sadness and an enormous sense of grief for the loss of someone so familiar to many. Yet, there was also a sense of joy and heartfelt compassion for a life well-lived and gratefulness to a woman whose dedication and service to the country are unmatched in history.
Most of us probably have not yet come to terms with her death. I certainly am still processing. I will never forget the tears in people’s eyes, the chants of ‘God Save The Queen’ outside Buckingham Palace, the painful tributes left in every corner of London, the teddy bears and marmalade sandwiches, the might of the military, and the number of people lining the streets to pay their final respects. For ten days, the entire country stopped, and the eyes of the world set on Britain as the country came together to bid farewell to our beloved Queen. We put aside political views, cultural differences and opinions, and we all felt proud to be British.
What struck me in the aftermath of her death, as I lined the streets or queued to bid my final farewell as she lied-in-state, is the togetherness of the people. That was her greatest ability. She was able to bring together people of all faiths, backgrounds, and beliefs. I doubt we will ever meet someone like her again, not in our lifetime.
Reunited with her beloved Philip, my comfort is that she was watching down and felt proud, not only of her family for the impeccable show of dignity and grace in those excruciating days but also of all her people and her Armed Forces.
In an address to the Commonwealth in 2011, quoting an aboriginal proverb, the Queen said: “We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home.”
Now that she has returned home, I doubt she will be regarded as a passenger on this earth. She might be confined to our history annals, but her legacy is far beyond measure because Elizabeth II made history and was history.
It’s hardly impossible to summarise her whole life, but one could say that Queen Elizabeth II was the most remarkable woman to walk the planet, and I’m beyond proud to have lived through the final years of her reign. I am and will always be an Elizabethan.
During the dark days of the pandemic, she said: “We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again,” and I’m sure, Ma’am, that one day we will all meet again.
