The Royal Burgh Of Rutherglen - Regulars at the Old Quarry Bar gather to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II: Moving funeral service honoured a woman who was the epitome of a constitutional monarch – Scotsman comment
With a deeply moving and befittingly grand funeral service, the UK marked the passing of the much-loved Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch who triumphed in a democratic age.
For all the apparent contradiction, her reign was the epitome of what a constitutional monarchy should be. For decades, she set the tone for the rest of society, provided continuity of leadership, while allowing her ministers to govern, and won over the hearts and minds of generation after generation. In doing so, she fulfilled an important function that an elected president would struggle to emulate.
The pressure of being crowned Queen and becoming head of state at just 25 is hard for any of us to imagine. It was a most unusual life and one that she was, obviously, born into. But when thinking about her life, we should remember that, unlike most of us, she did not really have the freedom to choose her own path.
Yet she put her shoulder to the task and did this extremely difficult job extraordinarily well for more than 70 years. Even critics of the idea of monarchy tend to admit this.
For the staunchest of royalists, Queen Elizabeth was the centre of the world, but even for less passionate supporters, she acted as a largely unseen steadying force, like the ballast of a ship in a storm, which is one reason why the days since her death may have seemed slightly disconcerting for some.
In an article on the Conversation website about why people who did not know the Queen shed tears for her, Professor Stephen Coleman wrote of “the value of emotionally resonant shared narratives”, adding “… it is only by creating and sustaining them that we can hope to have any control over what the world means to us and we to it”.
It is not overly sentimental to become emotional about the death of our sovereign. For many people, the Royal Family has become almost an extended family whose highs and lows they follow with keen interest. And while some dismissively regard this as a form of reality TV entertainment and gossip, it is more than that.
The monarch’s role as an apolitical leader appointed in accordance with historic practices, who speaks to us through the good times and the bad, providing calm reassurance when necessary, gave her a unique power, almost like a little bit of magic.
As Archbishop Justin Welby highlighted in his sermon, the Queen’s address to the nation in April 2020, after the Covid pandemic took hold, was an example of her talent for leadership.
“Together we are tackling this disease and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it,” she said. “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our fa
Queen Elizabeth II: Moving funeral service honoured a woman who was the epitome of a constitutional monarch – Scotsman comment
With a deeply moving and befittingly grand funeral service, the UK marked the passing of the much-loved Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch who triumphed in a democratic age.
For all the apparent contradiction, her reign was the epitome of what a constitutional monarchy should be. For decades, she set the tone for the rest of society, provided continuity of leadership, while allowing her ministers to govern, and won over the hearts and minds of generation after generation. In doing so, she fulfilled an important function that an elected president would struggle to emulate.
The pressure of being crowned Queen and becoming head of state at just 25 is hard for any of us to imagine. It was a most unusual life and one that she was, obviously, born into. But when thinking about her life, we should remember that, unlike most of us, she did not really have the freedom to choose her own path.
Yet she put her shoulder to the task and did this extremely difficult job extraordinarily well for more than 70 years. Even critics of the idea of monarchy tend to admit this.
For the staunchest of royalists, Queen Elizabeth was the centre of the world, but even for less passionate supporters, she acted as a largely unseen steadying force, like the ballast of a ship in a storm, which is one reason why the days since her death may have seemed slightly disconcerting for some.
In an article on the Conversation website about why people who did not know the Queen shed tears for her, Professor Stephen Coleman wrote of “the value of emotionally resonant shared narratives”, adding “… it is only by creating and sustaining them that we can hope to have any control over what the world means to us and we to it”.
It is not overly sentimental to become emotional about the death of our sovereign. For many people, the Royal Family has become almost an extended family whose highs and lows they follow with keen interest. And while some dismissively regard this as a form of reality TV entertainment and gossip, it is more than that.
The monarch’s role as an apolitical leader appointed in accordance with historic practices, who speaks to us through the good times and the bad, providing calm reassurance when necessary, gave her a unique power, almost like a little bit of magic.
As Archbishop Justin Welby highlighted in his sermon, the Queen’s address to the nation in April 2020, after the Covid pandemic took hold, was an example of her talent for leadership.
“Together we are tackling this disease and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it,” she said. “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our fa
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