The Death of Queen Elisabeth II: A Personal Take

It's been more than a week since the death of Queen Elisabeth II of the United Kingdom, and her funeral is right around the corner as I start writing this. Despite her relatively old age, hearing of Her Majesty's death is still a sudden shock as it was not for her platinum jubilee a few months back. I must say, as a man born, raised, and living in a far-flung country 5000 miles away, not a part of the Commonwealth, and would only see the kingdom she reigned over for a short six months; it is a unique personal experience to have referred her as THE Queen as if there was no other queen existed in parallel to her. I must confess I shed some tears upon hearing the news. It was 3 in the morning when the news reached my hemisphere, and it's been a significant period of time to hear about the death of a reigning monarch in this day and age; most would have abdicated for their younger heirs before that day came.

I must say, her death has indeed marked an end of an era, the Elizabethan Era. A period marked by political upheaval, a war of ideologues, constantly shifting cultural waves, fragmentation of empires, and the domination of firebrands, republicans, and practical politics. Her continuous 70-year reign has always been a remarkable feat to achieve at her age; it is almost a miracle, undeniably agreed on by her supporters and detractors alike. The mere existence of such a traditionalist institution within a modern secular government remained an excellent question for all. Indeed, the end of the Second World War can be commonly considered as the death of spectacles, miracles, or even traditions. At the same time of her rise, China was busy with its cultural revolution, burning and taking down all things traditional to dust; the Soviets and Americans were occupied with expanding its ideological influence all over the world, while other monarchies began dismantling its traditional religious undertones or even outright toppled.

It is within this new world order that I have come to be born into, in a republican country that had just overthrown its dictator out of office a few years back. I had my share of such discontentment with the spectacles, the religious, and the traditional. I once considered myself a high and mighty enlightened modern republicanist and atheist who wished to abolish the monarchy of my province. And yet, what else would you replace it with? Upon understanding monarchy, I realized that the thirst for that spectacle, a firm pillar, and a sense of belonging and unity had changed my perception of the institution I sought to destroy. The idea of politics beyond the practical, the menial, and the existence of authority beyond the realm of the materialist. A pillar, unshaken by the stirs of the machination of man. One may say, isn't it just make-believe? Well, I must also say, aren't all forms of legitimacy a question of make-believe? Even a voted government member would not make the difference for their detractors to consider them illegitimate.

The death of Queen Elisabeth II has brought a firm slap on the head, not only for me but also for many others, as continuous lines of people from all over the world pay respect to the deceased monarch, what the modern world had lost upon favoring the so-called "enlightened" methods of governance. The rampant nihilistic sentiments, the thought of all is lost, all for nothing, what is nothing good for, bred the modern weak men of today, a civilization without hope, a country without a future, and a suicidal community, dousted by the facade of secular hopes and dreams and colorful palettes over the grey, soulless, faceless bureaucratic society. Besides, why stay alive if the world will end in thirty years if everyone has not moved on from oil?

In the end, it is indeed a matter of opinion. Her Majesty was not perfect and perhaps far from it. I would have several disagreements with the British Royal Family, and as a Catholic, the very debate on the Anglican Church would be another matter of discussion. Nevertheless, I have respect for the Queen as part of the institution. It is the only glimpse of the old that I felt robbed of by those living before me that I have the privilege to see at my age and the only last few surviving institutions that I would have wished existed in this dire age. A firm rock is standing against the waves of change. A Peter. May time reveals what is in store for her realm in the coming future, and may God save us all.

The Queen is dead!

Long live the King!