London Bridge has fallen down.
The Queen is dead. Long live the King.
The greatest leader of a country in crisis was Lincoln. The two greatest leaders of the 20th century were British- Churchill and Queen Elizabeth II. Britan's two most influential Monarchs were Queen Victoria who ushered in and oversaw the last great expansion of the United Kingdom as it entered the industrial age, and Queen Elizabeth II, who guided England as it receded from dominating the world stage after World War II.
Queen Elizabeth II is remarkable for her longevity and her gentle touch on the throttle. She kept her feelings to herself and inspired her subjects and the world without imposing her views. When needed, she was there, as when she said "We will meet again" in her address to England at the start of Covid. She reassured the Commonwealth and neigh the world that this too shall pass. Keep Calm and Carry On. She oversaw England's unsteady emergence from World War II while preserving the British Commonwealth. Countries gained their independence from English imperialism, but many kept their ties to the Queen who at age 21 famously devoted and pledged her life to the Commonwealth (see below at 2:21 in the video). England got its money's worth.
She was gracious, wise, courageous, steady, inspiring and damn near everlasting. She gave the world more than she took and we are lost without her in this troubling times.
God Save The Queen.
A few practical thoughts. Every coin in the UK has the Monarch on it. QEII faced right. King Charles will face left because the tradition is every new Monarch faces the opposite way of their predecessor except for the brief reign of Edward VIII who abdicated after a year and faced left although his father King George V faced left. Edward's brother King George VI (Bertie and Elizabeth's father) renewed the tradition and faced left -under the assumption George V should have faced right. Elizabeth faced right and King Charles III will face left.
QC will become KC. Barristers who took silk and have for 70 years become Queen's Counsel will now become King's Counsel. Lots of sewing to be done to the robes to change QC to KC.
The Ascension Counsel that formally proclaimed Charles a King was the first one ever to be televised.
The Monarchy will be changed. Charles wants a streamlined royal family. His job, and not an easy one at that, is to preserve all the goodwill his mother created, and shepherd England and the Commonwealth from Elizabeth II to his son William- who bring the modern touch the Crown so needs. There is no guarantee King Charles III succeeds.
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9 comments:
Coco flying across the pond for the funeral next week. Invited guest and a reserved seat in Westminster Abbey.
Hanzy in trial and cannot make it.
Two working titles for their book:
Compassionate Justice- Our Journey into grief and redemption;
OR
Loss, Law and Recovery, the true story of how a Miami Judge brought closure to 98 grieving families in record time.
When Britain first, at Heaven's command
Arose from out the azure main;
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."
Thank you Colonel Blimp. Britons may never have been slaves, but they certainly didn't have problem with making millions of their "Imperial Subjects" into slaves, beginning with Ireland and spreading throughout the World.
Slave or be a slave that is the question.
In auld London town, only 40% of today's inhabitants are ethnic Britons. That will plummet to 30% and below over the next decade or so. Once Baby Boomers croak, who knows.
For all of Elizabeth's accomplishments, she reigned over the total loss of British cities for ethnic Britons.
Imagine any other British monarch overseeing that transformation and it not being the first sentence in their obit. George III lost the American colonies and that's the only thing anyone knows about him.
Elizabeth lost their own London.
What's more, Elizabeth reigned during the annihilation of the Church of England. Only 14% of Britons identified CofE in 2018 -- before Covid. It may not be double digits anymore.
QEII did not personally enact these changes, but alas, they belong to her nonetheless.
Bring me my bow of burning gold
bring me my arrows of desire
bring me my spear, oh clouds unfold
bring me my chariots of fire.
I will not cease from mental fight
nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
til we have built Jerusalem
on England's green and pleasant land.
Land of poets.
Never forget - the Monarchy murdered Princess Diana.
@914 - what a schmuck. Where do you think all of those Jamaicans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Indians, etc. that now live in London came from? Oh yeah, the former British colonies!
Dear Monday, September 12, 2022 10:31:00 AM;
I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
England is the land of oppressors; to find poets, sail east.
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