RIP Betts
The second Elizabethan Age drew to a close abruptly if a little unexpectedly. She did seem to have the genes and environment to get her to 100 years old and perhaps write herself a congratulation note. I don't want to be too flippant because there are plenty of royalists about and they are as sensitive as the bunch that complain that Disney Star Wars is too woke.
Royalty is a weird business. There have been some harsh commentary to the effect that she didn't have such a difficult job given all the trappings. They ignore that she worked her job until the day she died at age 96. You wouldn't want that fate. With a lot of famous and successful people their defining qualities can be said to be either a gift or serendipity thrust upon them, or that they worked hard. And the joke goes there are the people who have their circumstances thrust upon them. It would be no joke to be thrust in to the role figurehead to the Commonwealth of nations with 35 countries all calling you their head of state. It would be a rather boring calling, even if you found much to be interested about in the world.
To then do it for 70 years is seriously unfathomable for the common Joe that wants to complain about their lousy job. Most people in short, do not have the imagination to understand just how tricky being the Queen might have been. In that light, Her Majesty Elizabeth II get s a high distinction from me. Even if one is born to the job, the demands of the job are off the charts abnormal. And she made it look like it was all just fine.
The Era As It Will Be Remembered
If the first Elizabethan Age is marked with the rousing win at The Battle of Gravelines and William Shakespeare putting on wonderful plays at the Globe, then the second Elizabethan Age will be remembered for the squib in at the Falklands and maybe Harold Pinter. Did we do badly? Absolutely not.
Actually, at 70 years, the second Elizabethan Age had a tremendous amount of cultural output that dwarfs the first. If you just took Rock music alone, there is a tremendous volume of cultural output that could be attached in time to Elizabeth II. In many respects, not only was it the longest reign, it was also a reign that saw sustained prosperity for many. Even if you hated the monarchy - and by the way I don't but if you did - you still have to say that in history books, it is going to be written as a tremendous era in British history that encompasses the second half of the 20th Century and the early part of the 21st century. All the blemishes like the death of Princes Di and the underage sex trafficking of Jeffrey Epstein snaring Prince Andrew will become a footnote 400years from now.
I am a little surprised nobody's stuck a mic under John Lydon's nose for his comment. He does seem conspicuously absent in all the wailing and eulogising and backbiting.
All Hail King Chucky III, God Save the King
This is going to be Child's Play.
Now that she's gone, we're left with King Charles III. 'Charles' is sort of inauspicious as King's names go in the UK. One got decapitated and the other was more a rogue than king. I would have thought he'd rather be a George VII than a Charles III, but I guess at 73, he can't be bothered changing his name. Given the history of kings in England, it sort of surprises me that Elizabeth II thought Charles was the go to name for the future king.
A lot has been made of Charles' thing about architecture and concern for the environmental cause, but he's also told us he's abandoning those pursuits as king. This is disappointing because the world really could do with an environmentally active king. I guess it's all a discussion for another day.