It was on her first official overseas visit, to South Africa in 1947, that the future Queen Elizabeth II pledged in a radio broadcast to devote her life to the service of her people, “whether it be long or short”. She would fulfil that vow to the end of a reign that proved the second-longest by any monarch in world history. Yet the Queen was far more than a servant of her people. She became an enduring symbol of identity, a pivot around which her country changed perhaps even more profoundly than during the reign of her long-lived great-great-grandmother, Victoria.
As one of the most recognised faces on the planet in an era when celebrity is so often assumed to bestow a right to opine, the Queen respected the convention that British monarchs keep their counsel on political issues. In an age of unprecedented media intrusion, she began to open up the institution, but not so much as to banish the monarchy’s mystique. Yet her own stoic weathering of familial misfortunes made her, for the public, a human and relatable figure. Her passing, 17 months after her husband Philip, is a moment of profound sorrow for those around the world whose lives she touched.
The affection in which she was held reflected, above all, a sense of duty that seemed innate. The experience of the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, to marry the divorcee Wallis Simpson — elevating her father, George VI, reluctantly to the throne — reinforced the young Elizabeth’s resolve to uphold the responsibilities that had been thrust upon her.