A Moment in History from Afar

 

I'm just going to put this out there straight away - I'm a republican and a socialist (yeah, I know , I can feel my parents' eyeballs rolling already - where did they go wrong?) I see no reason why anyone can or should be born into inherited privilege and power. I believe that the state should govern and guide at the behest of and under the supervision of the people and there should be no 'higher power' appointed to sit above us all by nothing more than an accident of birth.

That said, I still feel a mild and nebulous sense of loss and sadness at the passing of Queen Elizabeth the Second - a fact which surprised me!

This is not some jingoistic outpouring of displaced feelings, but something more nuanced and complicated.

This is perhaps my favourite image of the Queen

Firstly there is the natural human empathy for a family who have lost a beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother, especially coming so hard on the heels of the loss of Prince Philip. Not even the most hardened anti- monarchist can ignore the simple human fact of the loss of a loved one. Queen Elizabeth was also Elizabeth Windsor - she was part of a family and we can't ignore this. However, this is no different from the empathy I would feel for anyone who has lost a family member and I feel a much greater sense of empathy for my friends and family who have also lost loved ones as these are people to whom I have a personal connection.

Secondly there is the loss of a public figure that I regarded as part of the fabric of my past - more specifically of my childhood. However, here again I felt the loss of figures such as Bernard Cribbins and Sean Connery maybe more keenly in this sense as they had formed a more integral part of the fabric of my youth - the flawless Spanish accent of Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez and the voices of the entire Womble clan have more emotional resonance than any member of the monarchy does for me personally. I suspect I'll be more upset at the passing of Sir David Attenborough (not a though I want to contemplate).

Perhaps what Queen Elizabeth the Second represented and the loss of this is the thing that brings the most sadness. For the longest time the idea of the queen has been something that has been a part of the national character. Queen Elizabeth was a symbol. She was a symbol that represented the idea of leadership through quiet service, that represented the best parts of what we felt our national character and history should be - not a reflection of what they had been in the past or indeed what the country actually was; all of these are far too complex and problematic to be reduced to mere symbols, but a representation of how we as a nation wanted to be seen and wanted to see ourselves. We needed a leader who was representative of what the best of our society should be and regardless of my personal feelings about the institution of the monarchy, this monarch did represent all of this within the narrow confines that her context would allow for.

If you needed evidence of the Queen's commitment to diplomacy there can be few more powerful pieces than this - shaking hands with a man who was an avowed member of an organisation directly responsible for killing one of the people she was closest to in the whole world. How many of us could honestly say we would have been able to do the same?

The Queen was widely respected by world leaders who had no reason to look favourably on Britain for its past actions. She skilfully negotiated relationships with politicians from across the world and did so, not for personal gain or accolades (you could argue that she had every accolade and reward a person could ever receive just by dint of her existence), but out of a sense of duty. The tributes paid by our own former Prime Ministers and world leaders past and present are a testament to this. Yes, you could argue that a career diplomat or politician could have accomplished much the same thing, but nevertheless the Queen saw this as her role and her duty and she worked tirelessly to fulfil this. 

The Queen was in the position of ultimate privilege and doubtless benefited from this, but she still fulfilled the role that history and chance laid out before her. It would have been easy to allow the monarchy to fade into the background, but the Queen clearly felt that whatever influence and power were granted to her should be used to improve the world around her as best she could.

You could argue better value for money could have been made by cancelling the civil list and relegating the monarchy to increasingly low key ceremonial duties until they fade from public life altogether, but this did not happen and wasn't likely to happen. I don't believe the line often touted by royalists that the monarchy pays for itself in tourist revenue alone - the buildings would generate that wealth without the background cast of the aristocracy, but I do think that there was a return in terms of the image of the UK on the world stage. She offered a counterpoint to our often torrid domestic politics and even the scandalous events within the wider royal family too.

There can be no arguing that the Queen saw her role as leadership through service - something that has not always been present in our elected officials (just look at our last Prime Minister). Her wider family may not represent the best humanity has to offer (I think we all know to whom I am referring - but don't sweat it if you can't work it out - he certainly won't be...), but she always tried to demonstrate the qualities that we should expect from those in public service.

The Queen was a symbol for what we hope our leaders should be and so frequently aren't. Yes, as a symbol she wielded very little actual power, but she did provide a model against which we could measure those who actually hold the reigns of power. However, even this doesn't fully explain this feeling either.

No, what I think may be affecting the country at large and certainly is the biggest source of my feelings of loss, mild and abstract as they are, is that the death of the Queen represents a reminder to all of us of the constancy of change, the inevitability of entropy and the ever present hand of mortality.

The Queen was a constant in most of our lives - she was well above the national average age and in fact only a handful of people alive now will have clear memories of a time when she was not on the throne. It is the loss of this cultural touchstone that has temporarily unsettled out national psyche. That which seemed constant, that which we were sure would always be there, suddenly is not. This reminds us that the same is true for all of us. One day, all that we know will pass. Recent events are a reminder of this written on a national level. We are reminded that we have to navigate the future for ourselves. The kindly old lady who popped up on television at Christmas and at the times of national crisis and uncertainty, offering words of comfort, and whose picture is on the money and the stamps, isn't there any more to offer those reassuring words or demonstrate that even the highest and mightiest in the land have a sense of humour.

Okay, I like this one too

What is sobering is witnessing this all from the other side of the globe - most people here haven't even noticed. There have been a couple of people who have raised the issue; a very nice lady in a food court this weekend asked us where we were from and offered her condolences when she found out we were from the UK, but in general she was more fascinated by the fact that we enjoyed Malaysian food! The hairdresser we use said she had heard a prince or something had died... The bulk of the world very much has other concerns and this does lend some perspective - things will carry on. 

And honestly, I think that's what she would have wanted.

Enjoy your rest Ma'am - you have earned it.