{"id":62323,"date":"2022-09-09T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T10:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=62323"},"modified":"2022-09-09T08:07:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T12:07:24","slug":"the-death-of-the-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/09\/the-death-of-the-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death of Queen Elizabeth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth II has died at age 96,<\/a> the longest-ruling monarch in British history.<\/p>\n

She was the head of state<\/a> of not only the United Kingdom but also 14 other countries: Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, St Christopher and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu.\u00a0 In addition to these \u201ccommonwealth realms,\u201d she was the head of the Commonwealth that includes 56 independent countries.<\/p>\n

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Queen Elizabeth mastered the balancing act of being a constitutional monarch in a democracy, staying out of politics while serving as not only a symbol but an exemplar of national unity.\u00a0 Much changed since she ascended the throne in 1952, but she was a constant.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I find myself strangely saddened and moved by this, and I\u2019m not sure why.\u00a0 I\u2019m certainly not a monarchist, but is it that I am feeling some primal ties to our rightful monarch after all?\u00a0 Is it because she ascended to the throne in 1952, the year after I was born, and that she has been in the background of the news all of my life?\u00a0 Is it because I watched The Crown<\/em>?\u00a0 I suppose I am something of an Anglophile, due to my academic specialty in the literature of that country, my BritBox and Acorn subscriptions, and my family and friends in Australia.<\/p>\n

Part of it may be that I envy nations that keep their head of state and their political chief executive separate from each other.\u00a0 They may be on to something.<\/p>\n

Here in the United States, our head of state is the same as our chief executive.\u00a0 Thus, our political polarization affects our patriotism, with the party out of power always despising the head of state\u2013Democrats not standing Trump and Republicans not standing Biden\u2013at the expense of our unity as a nation. Whereas Queen Elizabeth presided over and was honored by both the Conservative and the Labour parties, and installed 15 Prime Ministers over the course of her reign, including the new one, Liz Truss, just two days before she died.\u00a0 Brits can take out their ire on those chief executives, like we do our presidents\u2013that\u2019s the privilege of citizens in a democracy\u2013while still being loyal to their Queen.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Queen Elizabeth made that work.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see if King Charles III can do as well.\u00a0 For an interesting summary of what is next for him\u2013all of the traditions, ceremonies, and solemnities that will be unfolding and that Great Britain performs so well\u2013see this<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tributes, of course, are pouring in.\u00a0 Here is an especially good one from fellow Patheos blogger Adrian Warnock,<\/a> a British evangelical, launching off from the rainbows that appeared over Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle just after she died and discussing the Queen\u2019s Christian faith.\u00a0 I appreciate\u00a0 Serge Schmemann<\/a>\u00a0in the New York Times <\/em>for quoting Shakespeare, reflecting on the death of another Queen: \u201cIt is well done, and fitting for a princess\/Descended of so many royal kings\u201d\u00a0 (Antony and Cleopatra<\/em>, V, ii, 326-327).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photograph:\u00a0 Queen Elizabeth II by Library and Archives Canada, CC BY 2.0 <https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queen Elizabeth II has died at age 96, the longest-ruling monarch in British history. I find myself strangely saddened and moved by this, and I’m not sure why, American that I am. 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