A sea of people are gathering in the twilight in front of Buckingham Palace – they will do so throughout the night, regardless of the rain. The mood is one of shock and grief. Despite her years, the Queen’s death has caught the Commonwealth off-guard. She has always been there, throughout almost the entirety of living memory.

Earlier in the day, a few concerned well-wishers watched a double rainbow form in the stormy skies over the Palace. They appeared following a concerning press release issued by the Palace that the Queen was under medical supervision.

The situation deteriorated throughout the day, as members of the Royal Family converged on Balmoral where the Queen had been staying. For several hours, the world waited, feeling that something more serious was amiss.

Then, reporters around the world changed into black. Eventually, the news most feared by the Commonwealth broke.

The Queen is dead. Long live the King.

These are the words that must be uttered as the guardianship of civil liberty is immediately passed from one monarch to the next – from Elizabeth to Charles, and so on, as the fires of our ancestors were once carried between hearths.

It is the touch of eternity that calms the turmoil left by endless political upheaval. Our Prime Ministers change with the regularity of tides, but the loss of the Head of State is a traumatic event for the Commonwealth that will shake free all manner of danger.

Therefore, with great sadness, we announce the passing of Her Majesty at 96 a little over a year after the loss of her husband, Prince Philip. Losing her life partner triggered a decline in health from which she never recovered.

The second Elizabethan era has finished and the reign of King Charles III has begun.

‘London Bridge’ has been enacted. It will include a period of national mourning led by the King and an array of ceremonial events designed to soften the transition.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in Mayfair, London, on April 21, 1926 as the eldest child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (at the time, Duke and Duchess of York).

Like the monarchs of old, Elizabeth has felt the brush of conflict. Raised in the shaky truce following the first world war, she lived through the worst war in human history that also tore her family apart. Elizabeth’s mother rejected calls to allow the young princess to flee to Canada saying:

‘The children won’t go without me. I won’t leave without the King. And the King will never leave.’

Family, duty, and country – they are lessons Elizabeth remembered. It was during the war years that the teenage Elizabeth embarked on her first public appearances, lifting public spirits and assuring them that all would be well while making herself useful by training as a driver and mechanic.

Often forgotten is that Elizabeth and her sister Margaret walked anonymously with the crowds on Victory Day.

‘We asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised … I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief.’

The crowds now swell for her. Her Majesty’s desire to be with the people in their joy and sorrow remained a constant throughout her reign, including the creation of ‘walkabout’ where she deliberately set aside time to meet with members of the public during her tours.

She had over 170 Prime Ministers across the realm, including 15 UK Prime Ministers and 16 Australian Prime Ministers, during an extraordinary 70-year peaceful reign that has reached an equally peaceful conclusion.

While the monarchy endures through her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Elizabeth is a tremendous loss.

She was the most powerful woman in the world who significantly influenced the direction of history – not only in relation to political systems, but also by inspiring others to follow her example as a human being. It takes a lifetime of faultless service for the most ruthless enemies of the Crown to throw down their swords and admit that the Commonwealth is cemented together by people’s affection for their Queen.

Elizabeth’s character as a monarch was created in 1947 when the then-Princess gave a broadcast from Cape Town, South Africa on her 21st birthday:

‘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.’

She added:

‘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.’

Freedom. Liberty. Prosperity. Unlike the empty words of those elected to serve, Elizabeth honoured her pledge to the people and to her God. How fitting that, having sworn a life of devotion to the almighty task of public service, the Queen’s final act was to welcome the new Prime Minister before smiling at us all – frail, but happy. Small, yet towering over history with the whole of her reign laid before the world.

London Bridge has fallen.
Rest In Peace your majesty.#QueenElizabeth pic.twitter.com/7Q0gfgt9k5

— Ahmed-Bashaar (@allphaa0) September 8, 2022

As we watch the footage outside the gates at the Palace, cheers continue to erupt in the crowd. They are celebrating the life of the Queen – a life well lived.

Upon her father’s passing in 1952, then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill said:

‘Famous have been the reigns of our queens. Some of the greatest periods in our history have unfolded under their sceptre. Now that we have the second Queen Elizabeth, also ascending the Throne in her twenty-sixth year, our thoughts are carried back nearly four hundred years to the magnificent figure who presided over and, in many ways, embodied and inspired the grandeur and genius of the Elizabethan age.’

While it may have been kindly said to wrap the young Queen in the protective swaddle of charismatic rhetoric from a statesman, 70 years later Elizabeth’s first Prime Minster has perfectly described the nature of her stewardship.

Though the nations of the Commonwealth are a diverse peoples, today we stand as one people well-served by our Queen who has watched over us. It seems that we did not know how terrified we were of losing her until she was gone.

Her grace and longevity made the Queen a role model to the world’s leaders. She was a matriarch who straddled two centuries and a change in millennia. ‘Majesty’ is a difficult concept to describe, but the Queen carried the nostalgic magic of the Crown that stirs the heart.

As Harold Macmillan wrote of the young Queen, ‘She is impatient of the attitude towards her to treat her as … a film star … She has indeed “the heart and stomach of a man” … She loves her duty and means to be a Queen.’

His words directly reference the famous speech made by Elizabeth I, proving herself a worthy successor to her father, King Henry VIII.

Sometimes eras fall in an afternoon. With the lowering of the flag, and the ceasing of commerce, the cities of the empire fall – not into a hush, but into applause.

‘Long live the King!’ begins the crowd, shaking itself from its momentary entrapment between a stable past and uncertain future.

It will shortly be followed by the smoke and thunder of 41 canons as the government pledges itself, once again, to the Head of State.

Her Majesty’s protective wing has been lifted and we are the poorer for her loss. She was our longest reigning monarch. Now, more than ever, the Commonwealth comes together to say, ‘God save the Queen!’

Get 10 issues for just $10

Subscribe to The Spectator Australia today for the next 10 magazine issues, plus full online access, for just $10.

SUBSCRIBE 10 issues for $10 REGISTER 3 articles a month

Already a subscriber? Log in