The grief is still raw and the news has barely sunk in. I feel quite heartbroken. But I know that many the world over feel the same. The death of Queen Elizabeth II has special resonance here in this country, in the Realms and in the Commonwealth. Yet there is barely a corner of the world that her smile did not touch.
There is quote in The Great Gatsby I have always liked, and now it makes me think of her. For she ‘had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself’. The Queen’s smile brought to me, and to so many others, comfort and reassurance, courage and determination.
That smile travelled to more countries than any monarch before. She touched more hearts than any person on Earth. Abroad, she was our greatest diplomat. She showed us at our best, for she was the best of us.
I joined Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service because I believed in diplomacy’s ability to make the world a better place. Perhaps above all I joined because I believed in her
I joined Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service because I believed in diplomacy’s ability to make the world a better place. Of course I had an interest in foreign policy and foreign cultures. But perhaps above all I joined because I believed in her. Being guided by her values, and having the opportunity to serve in her name, was for me – as for so many others – the most powerful spur to public service.
Patriotism is a complex thing. We all feel connection to our fellow citizens, to the sights and sounds of the place we call home, ‘dreams happy as her day’. But when, on occasion, people asked me what it was about my country that I so admired and sought to serve, it was always her image that swam into my mind’s eye. Duty, self-discipline and grace. Stoicism, conscientiousness and kindness. That is what I wanted to serve. All that I believed Britain was and all that I wanted it to be was somehow contained in her portrait.
She managed to be at the same time both ethereal and so very real. She reminded me of my dear late grandmother. She felt like family. Often she did not need to say anything at all. Just seeing her on the television screen, quietly carrying out her duty, uncomplainingly and with warmth in her heart, brought tranquillity to mine.
In a world of science and reason, she allowed us to believe in magic. For what else could it be when this little lady standing so small could tower so magnificently over us all – yet never make us feel small; in fact make us feel somehow larger, somehow greater.
She was indefatigable and indomitable. She, like her father, and in Winston Churchill’s words, was sustained not only by her natural buoyancy, but by the sincerity of her Christian faith. And like her father she left us with an heir behind whom we all can rally, who will follow her glorious example and carry the monarchy onwards, forever onwards.
She blessed us with her participation in the Platinum Jubilee. It was for us, for it gave us our chance to say goodbye. We may not have voiced it, but somewhere in the deepest recesses of our hearts we felt it; that this great coming together in neighbourliness and joy was the final farewell.
I feel some awkwardness, even some embarrassment, at my grief. I cannot claim to have known her personally. Would she have wanted this public emoting? Stiff upper lip and all that. But the sadness is there and cannot be wished away.
She was part of Christmas Day; she was part of my working day. All my life has existed within her orbit. All of my family have grown up in her beloved Commonwealth. We could not have hoped for a better sovereign. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
God save the King.
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