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By Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) – Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday, broke report after report as monarch, changing into an everlasting image of the nation over which she reigned for 70 years even because it modified past recognition, dropping its empire and present process social upheaval.
Some commentators describe her reign as a “golden age” paying homage to that of her namesake Elizabeth I, who dominated England 400 years ago throughout a interval of rising energy and cultural flourishing.
“I believe that we’re partly considered by the prism of the queen: the consistency, the knowledge that she has proven, all of that has been obvious in the best way that folks view Britain,” mentioned Valerie Amos, a former politician and the primary Black particular person appointed by the monarch to the traditional “Order of the Garter”.
Others say the 96-year-old’s affect on the nation was much less profound than that of her illustrious forebear, the monarch’s powers having shrunk for the reason that first Elizabethan age.
Some critics argue she leaves no tangible mark, solely an establishment unfit for goal in a world of egalitarian aspirations, irreverent social media commentary and scrutiny by round the clock media retailers.
But her legacy remains to be outstanding: making certain the monarchy survived an period of fast change.
Elizabeth ascended the throne aged 25 on Feb. 6, 1952, on the loss of life of her father George VI, when Britain was rising from the ravages of World Warfare Two. Rationing was nonetheless in place and Winston Churchill was prime minister.
Since then, presidents, popes and prime ministers have come and gone, the Soviet Union has collapsed and Britain’s empire has gone, changed by a Commonwealth of 56 nations which Elizabeth was instrumental in creating.
“Not one of the different imperial powers have achieved that … and in Britain, enormous social and financial modifications have been carried by on the entire peacefully and consensually,” mentioned Professor Vernon Bogdanor, an knowledgeable in British constitutional historical past. “That is very outstanding.”
SECOND ELIZABETHAN AGE?
Elizabeth I spent 44 years on the throne within the sixteenth Century, a interval thought to be England’s Golden Age when the economic system grew, the nation’s affect expanded and William Shakespeare wrote his performs – nonetheless carried out all around the world and thought to be among the most influential in any language.
“Some folks have expressed the hope that my reign could mark a brand new Elizabethan age,” the queen mentioned in her 1953 Christmas broadcast. “Frankly, I don’t myself really feel in any respect like my nice Tudor forebear.”
Having by no means given an interview or made her private views on political points identified, her personal evaluation of her reign – the longest in British historical past – is difficult to establish. A senior royal aide instructed Reuters she would regard her legacy as a matter for others to guage.
Constitutional historian David Starkey has mentioned the queen didn’t regard her position as embodying a historic interval, however merely doing a job.
“She has carried out and mentioned nothing that anyone will bear in mind. She is not going to give her identify to her age. Or, I believe, to anything,” he wrote in 2015.
“I say this not as criticism however merely as a press release of reality. Whilst a form of praise. And, I believe, the queen would take it as such. For she got here to the throne with one thought solely: to maintain the royal present on the highway.”
Different historians and biographers say Starkey’s views don’t do justice to how she has carried out her position and moved with the occasions.
“In an more and more chaotic world, she has given a way of stability,” mentioned Andrew Morton, whose 1992 biography of Princess Diana induced ructions within the royal household.
The queen’s dedication to carry out her position in addition to she might and restraint from voicing any views that may trigger offence gave her an ethical authority past something she commanded merely by her place as queen, some say.
“What the queen’s managed to do is … to carry the monarchy into the twenty first century as greatest as she will,” grandson Prince William mentioned in a 2012 documentary.
“Each organisation wants to have a look at itself plenty of the time and the monarchy is a continuing evolving machine and I believe it actually needs to mirror society, it needs to maneuver with the occasions and it is essential that it does for its personal survival.”
SOFT POWER
Constitutionally, the British sovereign has few sensible powers and is predicted to be non-partisan.
Nevertheless, historians say Elizabeth has wielded “comfortable” energy and made the monarchy a unifying, focus for the nation amid nice societal divisions, exemplified by her broadcast to reassure the general public at first of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whereas above the political fray herself, she nonetheless meets the prime minister for a personal weekly viewers.
“They unburden themselves or they inform me what is going on on or if they have any issues and generally one might help in that method too,” she mentioned in a 1992 documentary.
“They know that one might be neutral, so to talk. I believe it is relatively good to really feel that one’s a form of sponge.”
Former leaders have mentioned her years of expertise have proved of nice assist, permitting them to talk candidly with out worry of their conversations ever being made public.
“You might be totally, completely frank, even indiscreet with the queen,” John Main, the British chief from 1990 to 1997, mentioned.
Tony Blair, who changed Main and was prime minister for a decade, mentioned: “She’s going to assess conditions and difficulties and may describe them with out ever … giving any clue as to political desire or something like that. It is fairly outstanding to see.”
Some historians say the queen can be regarded upon because the final of her type, a monarch from a time of when elites commanded unquestioned respect. However she would nonetheless, maybe, be one of many nation’s biggest.
“There is not any doubt that she can be up there as one of many biggest monarchs not only for her longevity, however for the interval of change which she has witnessed,” Anna Whitelock, Professor of the Historical past of Monarchy at London’s Metropolis College, mentioned.
“And like Elizabeth I … equally seminal for Britain and in addition Britain’s place on the planet.”