Queen enters ‘twilight’ of reign after farewell to Philip

Now that the Royal Family has said farewell to Prince Philip, attention will turn to Queen Elizabeth II’s 95th birthday on Wednesday and, i n coming months, the celebrations marking her 70 years on the throne.

This combination of events is reminding the United Kingdom that the reign of the queen, the only monarch most of her subj ects have ever known, i s finite. That has triggered speculation about how l ong she will remain on the throne, what the monarchy will l ook l i ke i n the f uture and, for some, even whether i t should continue to exist.

“The queen is certainly moving now i nto the twil i ght of her reign and a new phase of her reign,’’ said Anna Whitelock, director of the Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy at Royal Holloway, University of London. “She now is a widow, and i t remains to be seen how she’s going to respond to that.’ ’

While most observers say the queen i s unlikely to abdicate given her l i felong commitment to public servi ce, she has already started to turn over more responsibilities to Prince Charles, 72, her eldest son. That process i s l i kely to accelerate following Philip’s death.

Charles’ i ncreased role began gradually, when the queen began cutting back on l ong- haul flights, resulti ng i n Charles taking her place at a 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting i n Sri Lanka.

Then i n 2017, he represented the queen at the annual Remembrance Day ceremony marking the end of World War I, l aying the monarch’s wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph in London. It was the f i rst time the queen hadn’t performed the solemn ritual, other than when she was pregnant or out of the country.

Since then, Charles has taken on an increasing number of public engagements and been named the queen’s designated successor as head of the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 54 nations with links to the British Empire.

“Symbolically, the transition towards the succession i s already underway,” said Ed Owens, a historian and author of “The Family Firm, Monarchy, Mass Media and the British Public 1932- 53.”

“I anticipate that we’re going to see a l ot more of Prince Charles i n the next couple of years so that we, as a people, start to see him i n his future role as king.”

For now, the l ongest servi ng monarch i n British history continues to reign. But she will do so without Philip, the man the queen called her “strength and stay,” a source of emotional support i n her often l onely j ob.

Her l oss was underscored by Saturday’s funeral at St. George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle, where the figure of a widow i n black sitting alone offered a glimpse of the next solitary phase of the queen’s reign.

“Constitutionally, Prince Philip’s death doesn’t change anything. But, of course, at a time when the queen i s approaching her 95th birthday, she’s vulnerable and aging,’’ Whitelock said. “Clearly, Prince Philip’s death has begun this transition to the future and the beginning of the end of this phase of monarchy.”

Questions about the end of the queen’s reign will also f uel the debate over the l ong- term future of the monarchy, seen by many as a symbol of national unity but by others as an obsol ete vestige of the nation’s feudal history.

The BBC received more than 100,000 complaints about i ts decision to preempt popular TV programs for round- the- clock coverage of Prince Philip’s death, the most i t has ever received about a single programming decision.

And while there i s enormous respect for the queen, the same i sn’t necessarily true for Charles and other members of the royal family, said Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, which campaigns to replace the monarchy with an elected head of state.

Philip’s death “serves as a reminder to an awful l ot of people, who on the whole don’t think much about the monarchy f rom one day to the next, that change is coming,” Smith told the Express newspaper.

The queen’s reign began with the death of her father, King George VI, on Feb. 6, 1952. She was formally crowned on J une 2, 1953.

During that ceremony, televised around the world, the queen promised to govern the United Kingdom and her other realms. Six years earlier, i n a speech i n South Africa, then- Princess Elizabeth made clear that her commitment was for l i fe.

“I declare before you all that my whole l i fe, whether i t be l ong or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great i mperial family to which we all belong,” she said.

That i s a pledge the queen i ntends to keep, said Robert Hardman, author of “Queen of the World,” which chronicles the monarch’s i nfluence and stature around the globe.

Even as she mourned l ast week, the queen attended a ceremony marking the retirement of her Lord Chamberlain, who organizes all ceremonial events for the palace, and continued to hold conversations with Commonwealth l eaders.

That shows she has no i ntention of emulating Queen Victoria, who retreated f rom public l i fe when her husband, Prince Albert, died unexpectedly at the age of 42, Hardman told the BBC.

“The signal she’s been putting out during the l ast week i s that this i s going to be business as usual, that duty comes before self,” Hardman said. “She will continue with all her duties because … she took a coronation oath and she’s sticki ng to i t .”

But she won’t be alone. While her popular grandson, Prince Harry, has stepped away f rom royal duties, the rest of the royals, backed by professional staff and advisers, are l i kely to ral l y round t he queen and t ake on more tasks. Sustaining the i nstit ution will be t he bedrock popularity of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who have a reliable ability to connect with the public.

The queen may also be helped by technology.

During the pandemic, Elizabeth has connected with the public through a series of Zoom calls. The appearances, released by the palace and posted on social media, have allowed people to see the queen speaking to schoolchildren, volunteers and health servi ce officials — smiling, j oki ng and making canny observations i n a more personal way than the scripted speeches that have dominated her public l i fe.

Last month, for example, she held a Zoom call with a group of children and scientists where she was asked about her meeting with the first man i n space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The monarch, who i nvited Gagarin to Buckingham Palace shortly after his historic f l i ght i n 1961, was asked what the pioneering spaceman was l i ke.

“Russian,” she replied with a smile. The audience chuckled.

J ust another day of worki ng f rom home.

“There’ll be a l ot of emphasis as soon as t he f uneral i s done on a return to normalcy. ( For) t he Royal Family, i t will be the ‘ Keep Calm and Carry On’ sort of model, which they’ve been so good at promoting over t he l ast 70, 80 years,’ ’ Owens said, referring to t he World War I I - era adage.

“They’ll want a quick ret urn to t he normal program of royal service.”