I'm not a monarchist, but I did feel sad when the news was announced today. We've lost something intangible that is irreplaceable.
I think that the Queen was one of the last people in public life who genuinely committed herself to public service. She is from a generation that served the country so admirably in WW2 and led the country as Britain emerged from that period. I remember growing up in the 80s and speaking to WW2 vets and hearing their stories of dedicated service and wanting to serve the country. They had a sense of solidarity and wanted to build a future that was better than what they endured. I think the Queen embodied that generation and that genuine will to serve the country. I think part of me is kind of mourning the passing of that generation of people.
The easy comeback to the point above is that she was born to a wealthy family etc, but she committed herself to her duty. There is no one who could even question her dedication to her service. Of course, no generation is perfect and I'm not saying that but it's a passing of an era. When I look at leaders in public life - in politics, business, sport, religion etc - there's barely any that I regard as being in it to serve others. Selfishness, cheating, scandals and absence of responsibility are the norm now. Very few people have the same sense of duty she had.
I am sure that the Queen spent the majority of her life looking at how the UK changed and how it's place in the world has changed. She saw a a lot and I'm sure there was enough over the years that would've concerned her.
However, I would love to know how she felt about what she saw in the UK in her final days: Young people cannot afford housing, proxy wars with Russia, energy bills putting millions into poverty, choosing between eating and heating, food banks, arguing with our closest European friends. We have Prime Ministers that see no value in uniting the country. We can imagine the UK disintegrating and a united Ireland. We can imagine the NHS collapsing and the BBC too. On top of this we have the climate change problem. I'm not saying that previous Prime Ministers were saints (they weren't) but when you look who she met in the past, she must have been exasperated with who we want to lead us and represent us in this world.
The world and the future just feel unstable and the Queen provided an anchor. That anchor was to the past, to maybe an imagined safer place. However, she remained an anchor in a changing world. Maybe she offered proof that - even during the worst times the UK has been through - we will get through it. And I hope we will do.
As I said, I'm not a monarchist but I do feel that as the Queen passes we have lost something in the UK that we cannot replace. It feels like it's just another part of the country breaking up.
RIP.
