Monarch mourned as beacon of calm

THE WORLD’S longest reigning monarch died peacefully on Thursday. There will be much written and even more said as Britain prepares to bid its beloved Queen Elizabeth II a final farewell next week. For many, her death signals the end of an era; political, cultural and industrial revolutions and world wars, the likes of which might not be seen again.

There will be many people, too, who do not mourn her death because of what she symbolised: an empire wrought by force at the end of a gun, maintained by boot, fist and whip, that once spanned the globe.

But there will be many more who feel the loss of her passing because of what she represented to them: a consistent and reliable beacon of calm; a rock in a sea of change. To them, Queen Elizabeth embodied a sense of values of service and self-effacement with a resolute commitment and purpose that lasted her entire life.

It was here in South Africa, on the commemoration of her 21st birthday, that she pledged her life to serve the peoples of what would be her realm, and ultimately, the Commonwealth.

It was a promise she never broke. Over the past 70 years, she set an example that few have been able to emulate. Her own children have fallen short – some scandalously so.

Her personal legacy, though, cannot be divorced from the legacy of empire that she was a direct descendant and beneficiary of.

Successfully navigating this in a Britain far more heterogenous and diverse than her forebears could ever have imagined, and remaining relevant in a world that increasingly has little time for hereditary power and privilege, will be her successor King Charles III’S greatest challenge.

Only he, after the longest regal apprenticeship in history, has the answer to that question.