IN MEMORIAM: QUEEN ELIZABETH II, 1926-2022
The extraordinary and universal outpouring of sadness and real grief that attended the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8 at the age of 96 is not surprising, but then again maybe it is. We are so used to the fast news cycle, the passing story, the move on to whatever is next that the very concept of having endured for more than seven decades is hard for some to get their heads around. Nevertheless, one of the most extraordinary presences in all our lives has gone, and the accounting of it all will go on for years to come. One thing Canadians can know for sure: she loved this country. There may be others who have travelled more extensively in this vast land of ours than its late head of state, but it’s hard to think who that person would be. Even before she ascended the throne in 1952, 70 remarkable years ago, she had square-danced in Calgary at the Stampede, attended the biggest afternoon tea party in Toronto’s history, sledded through the backwoods of Quebec and taken part in her first rendezvous with Indigenous nations. She had also had her first brush with blackflies. There is a sequence of CBC archival film from that 33-day visit in 1951 when she was in the North and had to contend with the interminably pesky insects. She kept her right hand out for greeting while her left hand was in perpetual motion swatting the little beasts away. It was during that same early trip that Elizabeth and her equally young husband, Philip, made a little hop across the border to the United States. She got her first glimpse of the contrast between Canadian loyal deference and American pugnacious egalitarianism, especially in the media, and especially among press photographers. When they returned “home” — as she called Canada — she got her own camera out and once, on the grounds of Rideau Hall, was overheard mimicking the American photographers as she tried to photograph her husband: “Hey! You there! Hey, Dook! Look this way a bit. Dat’s it! Thanks a lot!” That first progress across as heiress presumptive was the trip that bonded our Queen to what was then her “Dominion of Canada.” She made some 22 further royal tours, the most to any country among her realms. If your constitution weds you to the only international monarchy in the world, it’s quite nice to be number one. At the end of that first trip in 1951, she spoke from her heart: “I am sure that nowhere under the sun could one find a land more full of hope, of happiness and of fine, loyal, generous-hearted people.” There was an echo of that early affection and respect for Canada and Canadians when she was told in 2013 that a Canadian, Mark Carney, was about to become the next governor of the Bank of England. “Good,” she was reliably reported to have said to her British prime minister. “Canadians are sensible people.” Queen Elizabeth helped Canada stay together when she promised she wasn’t just “a fair-weather friend” and was happy to be here during stormy constitutional weather. That connection is still with us, and for some time to come, when we say “God Save the King,” it will include the quiet prayer of “God bless his mother.”