(Photo: Anadolu Agency/Lorena Sopena)
A 70-year reign is of epic proportions by any measure. Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-serving British monarch, overtaking the record of 63 years of her great-great-grandmother Victoria, whose name became synonymous with the industrial revolution, economic expansion, and a worldwide empire where the sun was said to never set.
What the legacy of the Elizabethan era will remain to be seen.
In seven decades on the throne, the late Queen saw no less than 15 prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to the incumbent Liz Truss.
Although the period is described as having relative peace, especially compared with the two world wars earlier last century, the country’s armed forces were involved in many conflicts, from the Korean War and Suez Crisis to the troubles in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as bombing or being dispatched to other Muslim countries.
During her lengthy reign, Elizabeth oversaw the loss of an empire and the emergence of a midsized, multicultural country.
At the offset in 1952, she was Queen regnant of 32 sovereign states that dwindled to just 15 at the time of her death, namely Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the UK.
It is an empire downsized to a family of commonwealth nations that her heir inherits. While Britain becomes used to the exhortations of God save the King, his face replaces his mother’s on stamps and banknotes.
It is a continuous period of change at a time when many questions are being asked, including whether constitutional democracy is working in the face of an increasingly unaccountable right-wing Tory government.
If anything, Elizabeth provided certainty and stoicism amid profound challenges, including at times of adversity and even scandals within the royal family.
The mantle passes to King Charles III, who inherits a post-Brexit kingdom and the task of adapting to the role in limited time. His renewed message has been his mother’s life-long pledge of service.
As the Queen’s funeral illustrates, the country remains steeped in imperialistic traditions, so how will her successor modernise a monarchy, with (Victoria) descendants surviving in four of 28 European countries.
Charles has indicated that he intends to continue, within the convention, the observance of refraining from political interference. He has spoken of his respect for the country’s traditions and the “system of Parliamentary government.”
However, given his record of outspokenness on climate change and sustainability, will he, like his royal European counterparts, be able to maintain his silence on issues that he may consider transcending party and national politics?
It is a challenging time for the UK, which is threatening to become more disunited, which could eventually lead to the breakaway of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Is Charles’s fate in the hands of politicians and how well, or badly they, perform? The dangers should not be underestimated as the new era promises even more dramatic change.
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