When I first heard that Queen Elizabeth had died yesterday, I have to admit my initial reaction wasn’t reverential. In fact, I posted a little bit of snark on Facebook. I’ve just never been someone who has followed the Royal Family’s doings. In my mind, we fought a war almost 250 years ago to disconnect from the monarchy, and yet a whole lot of people today act like they want to be part of the whole thing. Also, the royals haven’t had any real power for a century or more. I’ve never gone in for pretention of any kind, and it has always seemed to me that the Royal Family basically exist to be pretentious.
With all that said, I’ve spent the past day or so reflecting. Regardless of how I might feel about it, many people do feel a genuine connection to the Queen and the family. It’s inexplicable to me, but it’s real to them. So this feels like a personal loss to them, and that needs to be respected.
I have also thought about the longevity of the Queen’s reign. I know of no other sovereign who ruled as long as QE II did. The two that come the closest, at least that I know of, are Hirohito (63 years) and Queen Victoria (64 years). A 70-year reign is mind-blowing. When she ascended to the throne in 1952, Harry Truman was President. Television was still very much the new game in town, and most people still got a majority of their entertainment through radio. McCarthyism was in full swing. The Athletics were still in Philadelphia, the Braves were still in Boston, the St. Louis Browns still existed (thogh not many really cared), and the Dodgers and Giants were still the darlings of Brooklyn and Coogan’s Bluff. In summary, it was a real long time ago. That kind of longevity needs to be celebrated.
I mentioned how in my view the Royal Family basically exist for pretention. Yet interstingly, much of what I have heard and read over the past 2 days seems to indicate that QE herself wasn’t terribly pretentious. I’ve seen descriptions of her that talk abut how approachable she was, how she was able to interact wit her subjects on their level, I even saw a few references to her being “cool”. So perhaps I judged too harshly.
I’m just not comfortable with any monarchy, or any government that’s based on inheritance as opposed to competence and/or the choice of the people. But, again, I know a lot of people feel differently than me, and I don’t have a monopoly on right and wrong. And any death is sad, even the death of a 96-year-old who lived an incredibly full life. I think we can all be certain that King Charles won’t last 70 years. So here’s a toast to Queen Elizabeth II, to a life well lived.
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