When I was awoken by a phone call to learn of The Queen’s death, I felt an immediate numbness. Left without words, my grief was profound. And yet Her late Majesty the Queen Elizabeth was not someone I knew personally. Nor was she a woman whom the billions mourning around the Commonwealth knew personally. So why then do so many of us feel this overwhelming loss? I consider the reason to be that her death is rather an allegorical loss. We have heard of how our Queen was a “constant” in an ever-changing world. I fondly say she was our “strength and stay”. Allegorically, the loss of our Queen is felt spiritually and communally. The Queen Elizabeth was Supreme Governor of the Church of England to which we here today belong. Her faith was strong across 96 years, proving the power of a life led in God’s image to be principled and prosperous. And through the anointing of holy oil at her coronation, the Queen shared an inviolable
As the Queen said in her Christmas broadcast of 1997: “Being united is the glue that bonds together the members of a family, a country, a Commonwealth. Without it, the parts are only fragments of a whole. With it, we can be much more than the sum of those fragments.” In her humility, she refers not to the source of unity as Herself. However, we understand that the longevity of her reign brought us together as a Commonwealth unfragmented; prosperous as one. Therefore, it is in mourning The Queen that we feel a communal loss, for her late Majesty was an allegory of unity. Acknowledging the allegorical loss perceives that our grief is rooted not simply in the loss of our beloved Queen, but greater in the loss of our spiritual touchstone and source of togetherness. Nevertheless, we cannot forget the woman – wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend – whose service meant so much personal sacrifice. Queen Elizabeth’s whole life – as she promised aged just 21 – was “devoted to the service of our great imperial family”. Across 70 years, Queen Elizabeth reigned with her life geared foremost to duty. Testament to those words of lifelong service made by the 21-year-old Princess are the images from two days before her passing, when the Queen formally appointed the new United Kingdom prime minister. I ask that you now consider the incredible devotion required for 70 unbroken years in one job. Doubtless her service was remarkable. Moreover, it was aspirational – her personal sacrifice exemplary virtue to us all. To conclude, I refer to more of her late Majesty’s own words: “Grief is the price we pay for love.” While many of us struggle with the loss of our Queen in her passing’s allegorical significance, we can reflect on the knowledge that this grief is testament to our love for the world created under the gracious reign of Elizabeth II. We thus mourn with thanksgiving for Elizabeth Regina. The Queen is dead, long live The King.
religious bond with God as his most high servant on Earth. In her passing, a new divine mortal is lost. For many, the loss is allegorical, for Queen Elizabeth, as the tangible representative of God, formed in part their spirituality. The loss of our most gracious Queen is spiritual in effect. What is more than our late Queen’s title as Defender of the Faith, however, was her presence as Head of the Commonwealth of Nations. In this role, her continuity was commonly acknowledged in lieu of vast constitutional power. The latter did exist, keeping politicians in line and giving certainty to voters that while governments come and go – Queen Elizabeth having 16 New Zealand prime ministers – the legislative framework was secure under one enduring monarch. This continuity binds most of the Commonwealth who were born during Her late Majesty’s reign.
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