RIP Queen Elizabeth, woman of character

 

I have been trying to articulate how I have been feeling about the death of Queen Elizabeth.  I miss the opportunity to discuss this with my dear friend Steve Horwitz. He would, I suspect, not be completely sympathetic. He was critical of the monarchy as an irrelevant state funded institution.  In principle I agree. And, to be sure, historically speaking monarchies and monarchs were mostly evil - self serving, ruthless and power-hungry. But, the UK was perhaps the first to completely transform this institution into a symbolic one. The monarch became the symbolic head of state charged with carrying out and preserving age-old traditions. I suppose one of the purposes of this is to create a sense of continuity in a confusingly changing world. And, after all, in terms of state expenditure, relative to the massive government budget, it is a matter of pennies.  As a symbolic figure, the monarch's contribution must then be one of character. She must project the personality and the values that enrich the moral fiber of the nation. Queen Elizabeth did this superbly. Like all of us, save for very few, I did not know her as a person. We cannot really know if, as an individual, she was generous, compassionate, empathetic, tolerant or always kept her promises to her loved ones. We know only what we saw, what we were meant to see. And what we saw was a woman of impeccable dignity, of profound eloquence, of great strength of character, someone who presented as an "internationalist" who extolled the values of "the parliamentary system and the rights of man" for all citizens of the world, of all faiths, of all origins.  She valued her role as the head of the British Commonwealth, the legacy of an often violent and grasping Empire, and strove to make it into a voluntary international association of peaceful nations dedicated to those British values and institutions that made large sections of the world prosperous. That the reality did not match up was not owing to anything she did or said.  Thus, I justify the sadness I feel at her passing. She was a symbol during my parents generation, and during all of my life. Her passing is the passing of that world. It is unsettling.  In the meantime we celebrate her amazing life. She did not ask for the monarchy - personally or as an institution. But, being thrust into it she held fast for over 70 years to what she firmly believed was her duty. How many people could do that?