Party ends but UK monarchy looks to future

LONDON » Extinguish the beacons, take down the stage, roll up the bunting. The party’s over.

After four days of parades, street parties and a gala concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne, the Platinum Jubilee celebrations ended Sunday with a queen’s wave from Buckingham Palace and the crowds outside singing “God Save the Queen.”

But as the tributes to Elizabeth’s lifetime of service begin to fade, Britain is left with the reality that the second Elizabethan age is in its twilight.

The 96-year-old monarch, limited in recent months by what the palace calls “episodic mobility issues,” made only three brief public appearances during the Jubilee. Her son and heir, 73-year-old Prince Charles, stood in for her at other events.

“Inevitably, we’re going to lose her sometime. And so this will have been a sort of a tail end of a golden reign, won’t it?” historian and royal biographer Hugo Vickers told The Associated Press. “That’s why it’s got a little bit of hint of sadness, I find.”

That truth was the subtext of the weekend’s events as newspapers, TV screens and even the walls of the palace were filled with images of Elizabeth changing from a glamorous young queen in crown and diamonds to a global grandmother known for her omnipresent handbag and love of horses and corgis.

Elizabeth is the U.K.’s longest-serving monarch, the only sovereign most people have ever known.

That longevity has bred a deep affection for the queen. The question for the House of Windsor is whether the public will transfer those feelings to Charles when the time comes.