Farewell Queen of Hearts

Queen Elizabeth II’s passing on marks the end of an era.
There is something decidedly awesome about a 70-year reign of a monarch going out at 96, peacefully, in her sleep!
There were many controversies she courted during her seven decade long reign, especially regarding her troubled relationship with Princess Diana . But one has to give it to her – she lived for the throne, taking care to lift a hand in wave or lightly arrange her coiffed hair, just to protect that carefully constructed royal image . In that sense, she was a symbol of all that was magnificent and hoary about the British Golden era.
Some of the numbers related to her are mind boggling. The monarch had, since the age of 25 when she was first anointed as Queen of England in 1952, sworn in 15 UK Prime Ministers.
Winston Churchill was the first and Liz Truss the last .
In the rest of the Commonwealth world. during her 70 year-reign as Queen of England, she had overseen the swearing in of 170 Prime Ministers in her realm with Dudley Senanayake, her first appointee as PM of Ceylon ( as Sri Lanka was known earlier ) .
That is stupendous! The purpose of elaborating on these numbers of premiers appointed by her is to emphasize the steadfastness and constancy of her office and the traditions she upheld.
Even as Britain tussles with recession and economic slowdown among many other setbacks , her death perhaps portends the passing of a golden era .
As tradition goes , the Queen is dead , long live the King . King Charles is all set to take on the royal mantle .
However. Queen Elizabeth II will always be remembered for her role as a woman of principles who stood strongly by her husband , her family and her country through all the crises that rocked the royal throne , throwing open the debate on the relevance of the monarchy. She single-handedly defended it and made it relevant and meaningful by the grace and poise she brought to her office !



Queen Elizabeth : 1926 – 2022