The news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, aged 96, was something we’ve been expecting for some time but its suddenness still came as a bit of a shock as she was still attending to her duties, swearing in new Prime Minister Liz Truss, just a couple of days before her health took a quick turn for the worse, and resulted in her sudden demise.
The oldest monarch in British history, reigning for more than 70 years, led a life that spanned the entire history of not just modern Britain, but because humans have more or less the same lifespan, the modern world. When she was born, her country was still a certified empire. She served as a mechanic in World War II, where her country’s greatest enemy, Germany, is now one of the United Kingdom’s strongest allies.
It is interesting to see how the world can change so much and the Queen manage to remain a source of stability, tradition and dignity throughout epochal changes. When she was crowned Queen in 1953, it was the first televised coronation. When she died in 2022, the television set that was the shiny new thing during her coronation, is but one of the many abilities of the ubiquitous device that fits in the pocket and stream all sorts of content from millions of sources all over the planet. The great British empire has become a thing of the past, and Britain’s recent exit from the European Union means Great Britain isn’t even great enough to have a leadership position in its own continent.
Despite all these changes, Queen Elizabeth managed to remain a firm and constant source of dignity and respect, surviving the scandals that beset family members and keeping the monarchy intact, even as it was slowly losing its relevance and appeal, as the world and humanity continued its steadily evolution.
The Queen’s value to her realm was underscored by her loss. Over the past 70 years of her rule, she was a steady presence that everyone assumed would always be there. She represented her kingdom the best way she could, quietly yet firmly, allowing her ministers to do their jobs but always making sure they knew she was watching closely.
If you come to think of it, the monarchy may be turning into a thing of the past, but during times like these when people can just pick up any kind of “leader,” often with dubious values, qualifications or agenda, having a good monarch that can serve as a guiding star or a strict grandparent, can be good for a country. As long as the king or queen has the right values and principles, the people under them are more or less bound to those as well, and that can be good for countries that are always losing their way because of poor quality voters and leadership.
Even in our private life and vocations, it feels like it is still an advantage to have a benevolent monarch around.
In the case of the Visayan DAILY STAR kingdom that also lost its queen less than a month ago, not having our Twinkling star around has also been difficult for those of us left behind as we try to keep the realm together. It turns out that the queen that don’t seem to do so much “real” work and wield awesome power is actually quite important to an organization just by being there. As long as they come from good quality stock, their presence alone makes a kingdom or organization better because of the values, dignity and experience that they exude.
The trouble with kings and queens is that we have become so used to the very few current ones that we no longer know how it feels like to get a new one. In the case of Britain, the rules of succession that are based on an ancient system of hereditary privilege will make sure a replacement is always ready. Whether or not the replacement is capable or even just half-decent, his subjects will never know. All they can hope in is that the royal lineage is enough to give them a good ruler.
For organizations that somehow earned a de facto monarch like the DAILY STAR, finding replacements are unlikely because in our case, there are no rules for succession and the unofficial title has to be earned through hard work, principles, dedication, and living a life worth emulating.
As our perception of “royalty” are sure to evolve further as time goes by, let us hope for good examples that will help keep whatever value of the ancient concept of the monarchy that currently survives.*
