By Colleen O’Connor
Seriously, why are people prepared to wait in line for “thirty hours” at Buckingham Palace to view the Queen’s coffin?
Such reverence, not heard of since the death of FDR’s coffin moved by train from Warm Springs, Georgia back to the nation’s capital to lie in rest.
So, why the outpouring of respect, grief, and yes, a bit of fear, at the prospect of life without this Queen. Granted there are the just curious, the selfie-photographers, and the wannabe influencers.
However, the honest outpouring of admiration trumps all the above. Why?
Her namesake, the Tudor Queen Elizabeth I, was also formidable. This daughter of Henry VIII managed to rouse a bankrupt nation, recruit pirates to loot Spanish galleons ladened with gold, then (with the help of a blinding fog) defeated the once invincible Spanish Armada and reigned longer than any Monarch before.
Yet, ”The Virgin Queen,” died without heirs. Thus, the patriarchal line of succession changed to the Stuarts and weakness.
Yet, though QEI was grieved and feared, her passing caused no such international outpouring of emotions (not counting the in-house fighting and European intrigue for power).
So, why the outpouring for Queen Elizabeth II? Granted her face is on the currency, but she holds no real political or economic power.
Some call her mere presence “soft power.” Quiet, but steady on.
Here is a woman (factoid #1) that held most of her once far-flung Commonwealth in check and managed it in through seven decades of once unimaginable chaos. World Wars, epidemics, scandals, tragedies, secession attempts, breakups within her family, Brexit, and non-stop attempts to eliminate the Monarchy itself.
However, that “Commonwealth” is already falling apart and scheduling votes on separation from the now much disdained U.K. leadership.
So, why the near adoration of this monarch, mother, and master of disciplined behavior?
She exuded calm amid the chaos. A sense of stability. A reason to be proud of British behavior.
Elizabeth II was respectful, dutiful, and in possession of a degree of humility rare in contemporary behavior. She made boring remarkable.
Yet, how swiftly she moved when needed, stripping her own son down to status of a commoner amid his Epstein entanglement. Navigating the Charles/Diana/Camilla episodes to award the title “Queen Consort” to the woman now beside King Charles III.
And she supported changes to the Royal Marriage Act to allow for a “female in line of succession” to the Crown. Also, she championed the rights of an Anglican to marry a Catholic.
Her remark,
“Let me be clear, the monarch must be in communion with the Church of England because he or she is the head of that Church. But it is simply wrong they should be denied the chance to marry a Catholic if they wish to do so. After all, they are already quite free to marry someone of any other faith.”
Somethings QEI could not possibly have achieved.
How did QEII cope with these constant, near Shakespearean soap operas?
And why a 30-hour wait to view the late Queen’s coffin?
Perhaps, because she acted as every Monarch should. Duty matters. Carry on with the drudge. The pomp of ceremony matters. Carry on with the trappings. Being a mother matters. Carry on for the sake of her children. Marriage matters. Stay faithful to the husband.
And always, act in a manner befitting a Queen. A wife. A mother. A head of state. A tactician in the most humble and admirable sense. And in between, spare time for the horses, the corgis, and the peace of the English countryside.
Every woman, at some level, knows the gnarly fatigue of weathering private storms, the litany of suppressed emotions, and the cost of silently enduring the drudgery of multiple demands all at once.
The answer to the question of why Queen Elizabeth II is so popular among American women, and dare I say, more popular than almost any American male or female politician is: “it’s visceral.”
Thirty hours of waiting to say good-bye to the Queen that endured (on a grand tabloid-size, public scale) what every woman and most humans understand and endure silently, is but a moment to pay respects to a Monarch that held them together and made them proud
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King Charles III will have difficulty not just with the anti-Monarchists, but the pro-democracy forces in the now rickety Commonwealth countries.
Maybe needs a Royal Commission to help with the transitions and cope better than the Brexit mess.
MSNBC host Ali Velshi in his Sunday show explained the late queen, “Represented an institution that had a long, ugly history of brutal colonialism, violence, theft, and slavery. For many centuries the British robbed other nations of their wealth and power and exploited their people. Even as Queen Elizabeth’s reign largely marks the beginning of the post-colonial era, the horrors that her long line of ancestors inflicted upon many generations of people across the globe continues to be the source of pain. That is now a legacy that her eldest son, King Charles II inherits.”
Colleen, I am a big fan of your writing. I do not have a good opinion of this queen though. I dare say that any woman who had the queen’s wealth, including her 100 horses, would have found it easy to carry her “load.” The British monarchy is a joke and hopefully, it will die with her.
Watched the funeral. Watched the pageantry from Balmoral to London to Windsor. Watched the discipline; the grief; the mourning of those waiting these 30 hours (and more) just to bow their head, cross their hearts, be silent for 10 seconds.
No “show offs.” The drill and solemnity of hundreds of thousands that CHOSE to be lined up for miles and miles (not bused in, and paid, as in U.S. political crowds) would have moved even those who are anti-monarchists.
Stay tuned and watch as the many tentacles of the last Queen to oversee the Commonwealth are severed and receptive to the likes of tyrants, fascists, cartels, and despots.
Then remember QE II’s popularity and the faces lining those miles and miles of her last journey.