Jeremy Stubbs is president of the Association of British Curators in Paris and deputy editor of the journal
Causeur
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FIGAROVOX. - After 70 years of reign, what did Elizabeth II represent for the British people? And for the world?
Jeremy Stubbs. -
Elizabeth II shows that one can both be a man or a woman of power and be truly at the service of others, by putting oneself above one's personal interests, those of a group, even of a class.
His longevity would mean little if not accompanied by exceptional constancy and devotion in the discharge of his many duties in the fields of politics, diplomacy, charitable works, as well as in the religious and military spheres.
Queen Victoria has given her name to a medal which represents the highest decoration a soldier can earn for courage on the battlefield.
Elizabeth II gave hers to a medal awarded to the relative of a member of the armed forces who died on the field of honor or in a terrorist attack.
This symbolizes that empathy she felt for the least of her subjects.
When we look at those last photographs today of her standing, smiling but frail, in front of Liz Truss, whose nomination she is in the process of accepting as Prime Minister, we see someone who is making a supreme effort to accomplish his very last duty.
Does the stability it has demonstrated belong to a bygone era? Does it contrast with a turbulent political life?
The stability embodied so well by the Queen is a quality that we need more than ever.
The United Kingdom is seeking to rebuild itself and find a new role after Brexit and the pandemic, and facing the risk of the dissolution of the Union (the possible separation between Scotland and England), in a world in war where energy is scarce and expensive, where environmental disasters are more frequent than in the past, and where traditional notions of family and education are challenged or even trampled on by supposedly progressive ideologues.
In this context, we need clear benchmarks, a sense of continuity.
The Queen personified this continuity both by her particular character, so faithful, so stoic, and by the perfect harmony between this character and the secular institution which she represented.
During her coronation, she had to wear the crown of Saint Edward the Confessor which weighs 2.23 kg.
For practice in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, she kept it on her head when writing her letters.
The private person devoted to his family and other duties, by force of will and by the humblest diligence, knew how to transform himself into this public figure capable of carrying and supporting the weight of centuries and that of the joys and sorrows of a whole people.
Bigger enemy of racism than all these wokist ideologues who brag about themselves in our time, she exerted discreet pressure so that South Africa, a member of the Commonwealth, put an end to apartheid.
Jeremy Stubbs
She has seen 15 prime ministers pass during her lifetime. Did she have an influence on the political life of her country?
The influence of the Queen on political life has been discreet but real - or rather real because discreet.
She is bound by a duty of reserve in politics and cannot, for example, give instructions to her Prime Minister.
But she gave the politicians of her country - and elsewhere - a lesson in dignity by her calm in the midst of the storms that we have all known, by her simplicity even in the midst of all the tinsel of power.
At the same time, she worked behind the scenes to advance important causes.
It forced the British government to consider the Commonwealth as a serious institution capable of bringing together a large number of nations and encouraging a high level of cooperation between them.
Bigger enemy of racism than all these wokist ideologues who brag about themselves in our time,
Does English conservatism have its source in the monarchy? Will he disappear with the queen?
By conservatism, I assume you mean the general attachment of the British to the past, an attachment which distinguishes them from other European nations to which the United Kingdom is nevertheless so close.
Often - and hastily - we think that to move forward in life we must cut ties with the past.
In fact, it is not.
To know where we are going, we must remember where we come from.
Precisely, Elizabeth II, by the links with the past that the monarchy represents in a visible and tangible way, and by her own longevity, reminded us that we, citizens of today, we did not invent ourselves.
We are the product of a long historical process, and of a heritage transmitted from generation to generation - certainly not without modifications.
How to succeed such a long and symbolic reign
?
The new King, Charles III, will have to imitate and recall his mother's example in a very calculated way.
At the same time, and always like her, he must adapt to the changes that our society is experiencing without giving in to transitional modes and without wanting to impose his own ideas on politicians in an explicit way.
Charles, like Prince Albert, Victoria's husband, who was one of his own models, is more intellectual than the rest of his family.
During the long years he lived in his mother's shadow, he sought to exist by expressing his own views on matters touching politics.
He will now be forced to show more reserve.
However, his favorite subjects - the environment, architecture on a human scale, food and