A Queen gloriously devoted to us
Aglorious chapter of history has closed. But the queen's funeral, with all its marvellous pomp, medieval pageantry and colourful parades, reminds us that another chapter has already opened.
It is tempting to think that we shall not see her like again. But is that really the case?
One of the mourners Monday was seven-year-old Princess Charlotte, daughter of Prince William and third in line to the throne. In the decades to come perhaps Princess Charlotte will become a queen as great as her great-grandmother.
When Queen Victoria died in 1901, after a reign of more than 63 years, who would have foreseen that her great-great granddaughter would rule for 70 years?
Both queens presided over historic times. In the year Queen Victoria died, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill, NL. On Monday, Queen Elizabeth's funeral was seen live around the world on TV and computer screens by millions.
But the more times change, the more they stay the same. History and continuity are two of the hallmarks of monarchy.
King Charles III is now on a throne with a thousand years of history.
One of his namesakes, Charles I, came to the throne in 1625, a time when Samuel de Champlain was still governing New France.
The last monarch to have his funeral service at Westminster Abbey before Queen Elizabeth on Monday, was George II who died in 1760, 15 years before the American Revolution.
Love and respect may have been why, for more than a week, the people of Britain, and around the world, crowded the streets, from Edinburgh's Royal Mile to The Long Walk in Windsor, as the queen's coffin passed by.
It may be why they joined an eight kilometre queue for up to 25 hours to see the queen lying in state in Westminster Hall.
But those hundreds of thousands of people also knew they were taking part in history.
In an ever changing world, the monarchy, and especially the life of Queen Elizabeth, reminds us that some things do abide — duty, service and loyalty, among them.
In a sermon at Monday's funeral, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, made reference to the queen's speech on her 21st birthday when she famously said, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
“Rarely has such a promise been so well kept,” said the Archbishop.
“Few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen.”
But in that birthday speech, the queen also alluded to the weight of history and the promise of the future.
“If we all go forward together with an unwavering faith, a high courage, and a quiet heart, we shall be able to make of this ancient commonwealth, which we all love so dearly, an even grander thing — more free, more prosperous, more happy and a more powerful influence for good in the world — than it has been in the greatest days of our forefathers,” she said.
She uttered those words in 1947, two years after the end of a war which killed about 50 million people. At the end of her reign, she did, indeed, see a world that in many respects is more free, happy and prosperous.
But there are those who see the death of the queen as an opportunity to replace the monarchy. But with what?
Should politicians become our heads of state, with their eyes always on the “electorate” rather than the “people”?
During her reign the queen outlasted 15 British prime ministers and 12 Canadian prime ministers of all political persuasions.
She symbolized continuity and permanence over the transitory nature of power wielded by politicians who merely strut and fret their hour upon the stage.
“People of loving service are rare in any walk of life,” said Archbishop Welby Monday.
“Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases those who serve will be loved and remembered
SHOULD POLITICIANS BECOME OUR HEADS OF STATE, WITH THEIR EYES ALWAYS ON THE `ELECTORATE' RATHER THAN THE `PEOPLE'?
when those who cling to power and privilege are long forgotten.”
Time and again, duty and service were the words used to describe the queen.
At St. George's Chapel, Windsor, where the queen will be buried, David Conner, the Dean of Windsor, praised her “unstinting service to the nation, the Commonwealth and the entire world.”
“In the midst of our rapidly changing, and often troubled, world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future as she did with courage and with hope,” he said.
At the end of the funeral service and the committal service, voices were raised in unison, not in praise of the queen, but to sing the anthem God Save the King. A new era has begun.
And so the monarchy endures, buoyed by a dutiful queen who was devoted to her people for 70 years.