'Left Nothing Undone for UK': Media on the Life & Legacy of Queen Elizabeth II

The news of Queen Elizabeth II's death on Thursday, 8 September, shocked the United Kingdom (UK) and much of the world, as it brought to an end an era that helped define modern Britain.

Condolences poured in from across the world, with people from all walks of life paying tribute to the late 96-year-old sovereign.

Here are some opinion pieces that attempt to encapsulate the life and legacy of the Queen, as well as what the future of the UK, already in turmoil, might look like.

The Loss of the Queen Will Test a Divided Britain

Martin Kettle, in a column for The Guardian, speaks of the respect the late Queen Elizabeth II garnered during her 70-year-long reign, and says that it is unlikely that her son and the new king of the United Kingdom (UK), Charles, will ever be able to match up to it.

"She presided over a system of doing monarchy that in some ways felt timeless, but which was in fact adaptive and distinctive. Her staying power and her skill at keeping her distance have bequeathed a model of monarchy that will not be easy for Charles III to replicate, especially if, as is distinctly possible, he fails to earn the breadth of respect that Elizabeth enjoyed."

Martin Kettle

Elizabeth and Philip: A Love That Lasted Seven Decades

In an article for The Guardian, Caroline Davies speaks of the unique relationship shared by Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Phillip, which was full of ups and downs, but braved through the storms that afflicted the monarchy and occasionally shook the foundations of their marriage itself.

Speaking of their loving bond, Davies writes:

"Photographers would notice, even in the couple’s twilight years, that Philip could conjure a girlish twinkle in her eye, whether excitedly cheering him on at his carriage-driving competitions or watching him chatting to crowds on walkabout. During public engagements, she was often seen waiting for him to catch up. 'Where’s Philip?' she would ask, her face lighting up as she then caught sight of him walking towards her."

Caroline Davies

Davies also says that the Phillip was perhaps the only man who treated Elizabeth like a human being, instead of a supernatural figure that the world had come to revere.

"Her former private secretary Lord Charteris once said: 'Prince Philip is the only man in the world who treats the Queen simply as another human being. He’s the only man who can. Strange as it may seem, I believe she values that.'”

Caroline Davies

Mourn the Queen, Not Her Empire

Maya Jasanoff writes in an article for The New York Times that one should mourn the passing of of Queen Elizabeth II, but not the empire that she came to preside over, which was built on the foundations of racial discrimination and violence, among others.

"By design as much as by the accident of her (the Queen's) long life, her presence as head of state and head of the Commonwealth, an association of Britain and its former colonies, put a stolid traditionalist front over decades of violent upheaval. As such, the queen helped obscure a bloody history of decolonisation whose proportions and legacies have yet to be adequately acknowledged."

Maya Jasanoff

A Woman Who Embodied the Myth of the Good Monarch

In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Serge Schemann says that despite several scandals, divorces, and controversies having afflicted the British royal family over the years, Queen Elizabeth II was able to maintain her "stoicism" through them all and maintain herself as a symbol of stability during tumultuous times.

"In a curious way, the many peccadilloes of 'the firm,' as the royal clan has been facetiously called, seemed only to bolster the queen’s royal standing. However greatly she must have suffered from the escapades of her kith and kin, she never dropped the stoicism and fortitude that the British like to think of as their trademark stiff upper lip. For the most part, while tabloids around the world mucked gleefully around through the dramas of her sister, children and grandchildren, the queen seemed to hover above it all."

Serge Schemann

For Britain, Queen Elizabeth Left Nothing Undone

In an article for CNN, Laura Beers says that the Queen was someone who was liked by most, if not all, regardless of whether they were pro-monarchy or against it. She enjoyed wide acclaim due to her decades in service to the nation.

"Just over 60 percent of Britons profess to support the British monarchy. Yet, a recent YouGov poll found that 75 percent percent of Britons liked the Queen, while only 8 percent disliked her. She had much higher approval ratings than her eldest son who will succeed her on the throne. Only 42 percent of Britons professed to like Charles, while 24 percent disliked him. Even self-professed republicans (anti-monarchists, not conservatives), are willing to acknowledge that the Queen lived up to the obligations conferred by her hereditary privilege and served honorably as head of state. And they like her for it."

Laura Beers