HRH QUEEN ELIZABETH II

The country and people around the world are mourning the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who died, 8th September 2022 at Balmoral.

In a reign of 70 years Queen Elizabeth II has seen probably the most remarkable changes of any reigning monarch in history. And her promise to serve both her country and her people has always been at the centre of that reign.

Thrown suddenly into the role of Queen at the age of 25 on the sixth of February 1952 after the passing of her father King George VI, there is little doubt that having been unexpectedly thrown into the role of King himself, after the abdication of his brother the Duke of Windsor, he would have made sure the Princess Elizabeth was better prepared for the role of monarch, a role that she has performed with both dignity and diligence.

The role of course reaches far wider than just being the crowned head of the United Kingdom, it also encompasses being head of the Commonwealth and as such the British Monarchy has retained its presence on a global scale.

That presence has undoubtedly meant that HRH Elizabeth II has been in the public eye for most of her life, and so too have her family. That attention has been intense, watching through both the good times but also the less good, but throughout her entire reign she has reacted with grace and dignity.

It is also important to recognise her dedication to the matters of state and that she never stepped away from those demands on her time, even through illness and recent infirmity, attending each day to her red box of governmental papers. For her the business of being Queen was seen as being the head of “The Firm”.

The pressures of all these roles combined would be way beyond any ordinary human being but it is clear that she was extraordinary, an iconic figure that has clearly earned that status.