Imperfectly Perfect

This week has been one if the saddest weeks in British History, we lost our longest reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II aged 96 years old. Queen Elizabeth II had reigned for over 70 years.

For most of us, she was the only reigning monarch we had ever known, the face we were guaranteed to see daily on our TV’s, newspapers, stamps, coins and notes.

As impossible as it would be, I think a lot of us believed she would be around forever. We never imagined a country without her.

Not only was she a British Queen, she was adored all over the world and since her passing on Thursday, people have travelled from all over the globe to visit Buckingham Palace to pay their respects.

Over the years, I’ve come to realise that us Brits have a difference of opinion on our royal family, however, royalists or not, we have all felt the sadness and great loss of our Queen.

I for one, appreciate the grace, poise, and dedication our Queen put into reigning our country for the majority of her life. Can you imagine at the age of 25 being given the responsibility of ruling a country on your own so soon after the death of your father, the King?

Growing up and even now, the Queen always reminded me of my Grandmother, polite, elegant, graceful and poised. I think the nation can relate and a lot of us related to her in one way or another. She was a constant in all of our lives. A matriarch.

We all felt that we knew her, even though we had never met her, she was the connection that made the country feel like one big family.

During the height go Covid, we held our breaths, awaiting the Queen to make a speech, and when she did, we all felt comfort, love and reassurance when, in the words of Vera Lynn she said “we will meet again“.

I will never forget the image of the Queen at her husband, Prince Phillips funeral just 18 months ago, sat alone in adherence to Covid restrictions. it became an iconic photo, for all of the wrong reasons. regardless of her status, many of us felt that she was an elderly lady mourning the loss of her husband alone, with nobody to comfort her.

On Thursday, I was at work in the office when news broke that there were concerns for the Queen’s health. We all started to fear the worst when we heard that her family had started the journey to Balmoral to be by her side. The fear became worse when TV channels started to cancel all of their schedules for the rest of the day and new presenters changed into black attire.

I had only arrived home less than 10 minutes before the news broke that the Queen had passed away. For the rest of the evening, I felt shock and disbelief.

Only 2 days before her death, the Queen was still working, she was pictured appointing our new Prime Minister, Liz Truss. The pictures showed a healthy 96 year old woman, yes, she had started to look frail and she had needed to slow down a little but what other 96 year old would still be working at that age? She looked wonderful, elegant, smiling and happy.

I woke up yesterday morning, whilst sat having a coffee watching the news, that’s when it hit me properly. The news had replayed the speech that the Queen had made during covid, with the phrase “we will meet again“. They also replayed the Paddington Bear scene from the Queen’s platinum jubilee this year, when Paddington Bear said to the Queen “Thank you Ma’am, for everything” that scene broke me, it hit me that this was real, we were at the end of an era. The lady we all loved and knew as the nations Grandmother was no longer with us. The Queen who had nations hearts. Quite literally, the Queen of Hearts.

Today, we have witnessed and been a part of a significant and momentous piece of history. Queen Elizabeth’s eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales has been officially proclaimed King Charles III. For the first time in British history has the proclamation of the new reigning monarch been broadcast on British TV. I think I speak for the majority of the nation when I say it was bittersweet, still mourning such a recent loss of such an important idol, yet celebrating our new monarch.

I’m proud to say that I’m British and that the majority of the nation, regardless of their beliefs and thoughts on our Royal family have shared an outpouring of respect and dignity.

My thoughts are with the Queen’s family. I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to continue working and being pictured for the world to see, so soon after the loss of a mother, sister, grand-mother. The dignity and grace they continue to show in the public eye is impeccable.

We will dearly miss Queen Elizabeth’s (Lizzie, Lillibet’s) grace, poise, warmth, honour, kindness, dedication, love, support and great humour.

Although I’m not a religious person, I deeply hope that there is a heaven and our Queen gets to meet her beloved husband Prince Phillip again. I hope that she is finally at rest after serving her country for over 70 years.

Rest in peace our beautiful Queen, Queen of hearts, Queen of our hearts. As Paddington Bear said “Thank you, Ma’am, for everything”.

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