Queen had life of unimaginable privilege but was one of us – it is impossible to overstate how important she has been
THIS country will be haunted for ever by the image of Queen Elizabeth II greeting her 15th Prime Minister.
It is all there, isn’t it? Her Majesty’s stoicism, her quiet courage, her decency, restraint and good manners, the amused glint in her eye.
In that image of the Queen shaking hands with Liz Truss we are witness to an entire lifetime devoted to service to her country.
We are looking at history.
Her first Prime Minister was Winston Churchill and her last was our — and her — third female Prime Minister.
She embodied such a huge part of our national story.
Read More On The Queen's Death
Most of her subjects had no memory of when she was not on the throne.
Now our country without her is unimaginable.
In that photograph you see a life dedicated to doing what was expected of her.
At 96, and in fast-failing health, what other head of state in the world would have made the time to do the right thing and officially meet her new Prime Minister?
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Answer — none.
Because the Queen could have quietly delegated saying goodbye to Boris Johnson and saying hello to Liz Truss.
This courageous woman — almost 20 years older than doddery old US President Joe Biden — could have asked her son Charles or her grandson William, those future kings, to do the honours.
Nobody would have raised an eyebrow. Nobody would have thought any the less of her. But it was not her way. And it was not the way of her generation.
For Queen Elizabeth was the last of the line, the last of the generation who were children at the start of the last war and young adults by the end.
My parents were exactly the same generation.
They both died in the last century, but every time I looked at this Queen I was reminded of my folks and reminded of what the best of us looked like — the generation who bought our freedom, who raised us in peace and prosperity, who showed us the true meaning of sacrificing all for what we love.
Our country. Our family. And each other.
In the days and weeks ahead we will be bombarded by images of the Queen, the most famous person in the world, a face more familiar to us than any other.
We will see her in jest and we will see her in her darkest hours, alone and masked, a tiny figure in the black of mourning at Prince Philip’s funeral.
Despite a life of unimaginable privilege, full of palaces, carriages and country estates, this Queen was one of us.
When she buried her husband during the pandemic she did what almost all of us did during Covid — she followed the rules.
Queen Elizabeth was loved. And she spent a lifetime earning that love.
Tony Parsons
While Tory toffs bent the regulations so they could party at No 10 Downing Street or conduct affairs with their staff, the Queen did what her people did. The right thing.
It is impossible to overstate how important this Queen has been to this country.
And it is this Queen who has been important, rather than the institution of the monarchy itself.
For I believe that in their bolshy, sceptical hearts, the British are actually quite neutral on the subject of a hereditary monarchy.
Could the monarchy survive a King Andrew, or a Queen Meghan?
I suspect not. But Queen Elizabeth was loved. And she spent a lifetime earning that love.
The end of this second Elizabethan era is a momentous time for our country.
And — beyond the sadness of seeing a much-loved figure leave us — it is strangely unsettling.
I can’t recall one word that any politician or celebrity said during Covid.
But I remember with total clarity when the Queen said: “Our streets are not empty, they are filled with love.”
And I remember when she told us that we were unchanged from the generation who fought the Second World War at such a devastating cost.
She gave two TV speeches within a few weeks of each other in 2020 — an address about coronavirus, in April, and another to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, in May.
The end of this second Elizabethan era is a momentous time for our country.
Tony Parsons
They were both brief speeches, each just four minutes long, but the softly spoken words seared themselves into the soul of the nation.
And the Queen’s understated courage, her unfussy fortitude, her optimism against the odds, gave us hope when, God knows, we needed it most.
“When I look at our country today, and see what we are willing to do to protect one another, I say with pride that we are still a nation those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen would recognise and admire,” she said, telling the descendants of those long-gone Second World War heroes that they are made of exactly the same stuff.
This is what future historians will find most remarkable about Elizabeth II’s unprecedented reign — she became more important to us as time went by.
When she gave those two speeches at the height of Covid, the Queen was well into her nineties.
Yet who else could have spoken to us with such warmth, authority and truth?
Who else could have found words that meant so much?
Because — with her hats and her handbags and her careful hairdos — she reminded so many of us of our mothers or grandmothers or great grandmothers, it was easy to believe that she was an uncomplicated and simple woman.
But the truth is that she saw and knew more great historical figures than anyone who ever lived.
Winston Churchill, her first PM, doted on her.
John F. Kennedy was a contemporary and she exchanged letters with the handsome young American President until his assassination.
When The Beatles received their MBEs and Bobby Moore the World Cup she — young, radiant, smiling — made the presentations.
She shared our joys and our sorrows. She was a constant presence in sunshine and in shadow.
Tony Parsons
She came early to the throne — aged 25 — and stayed on it longer than even she could have imagined.
Her image is burned into the national consciousness.
You saw her face on coins and stamps, you saw great actresses trying to capture her essence in film and on TV.
It was the most famous face in the world.
And yet she remained a mystery, for she was the very opposite of the modern celebrity.
The Queen had no need to “share her truth”.
She never whined. She never felt the need to have an Oprah Winfrey grovel at her feet.
And how they would have all loved that world-beating scoop.
But she never complained, never explained and never, ever whined.
She made monarchists of us all.
And although there was always the sense that she was holding something back — it is entirely typical that she should have fought her last health battles without making them public — we always responded to her humility, her humanity and quiet good humour. It will never be the same again.
Not this country, nor the world.
We say goodbye to the Queen, in awe that she fulfilled the promise that she made to her country all those years ago.
Tony Parsons
We say goodbye to the Queen, in awe that she fulfilled the promise that she made to her country all those years ago.
“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service,” she said on her 21st birthday in 1947.
Who could deny that she kept her promise?
She has been there, from who we were a lifetime ago to who we are today.
From a country still ravaged by world war, to the worst health emergency in a century, to the uncertain world of today.
Through it all, the Queen was our still centre of stability and goodness.
She has been the grandmother to a nation, and she will be mourned like a family member.
There were so many tears, unexpected and unbidden tears.
They will be shed by people who do not think of themselves as monarchists, and those that do.
Because whatever your beliefs, she was our Queen.
And who can deny that she was one of us?
She shared our joys and our sorrows. She was a constant presence in sunshine and in shadow.
Let the sadness we feel when a loved one departs be measured with thanks for a long life, a life lived well and in constant service to the nation that loved her.
Tony Parsons
“We will meet again,” she said in one of those short, devastating 2020 speeches — and this line from a Second World War song was exactly the right thing to say to people ravenous for hope.
What will we do without her?
We return to the image of the Queen shaking hands with her new Prime Minister, Liz Truss.
No matter how old, no matter how unwell, she always did the right thing.
From masking herself at her husband’s funeral to taking tea with Paddington Bear at the Platinum Jubilee, from taking her corgis for a walk with James Bond in 2012 to pointing out that our streets were never empty during Covid, because they were full of love, she did her duty.
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So let the grief be balanced by gratitude.
Let the sadness we feel when a loved one departs be measured with thanks for a long life, a life lived well and in constant service to the nation that loved her.
