The death of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland has drawn global mourning.
The location of the Queen's death is also particularly reminiscent of the future of the United Kingdom at a time when the UK is facing the uncertainty of changing prime ministers, an energy crisis, and the Russian-Ukrainian war: the Scottish National Party (SNP) is planning another independence referendum, according to legend. Will Balmoral Castle, where Queen Elizabeth II and her husband have a lifetime promise, still be located on British soil in the future?
Queen Elizabeth II, from dress, accent to personal interests (riding, horse racing) also belongs to another era gone by, symbolizing the British traditions that the royal family should preserve.
When she took office in 1952, the United Kingdom was still in the afterglow of the great power that had won the Second World War. The first Prime Minister the Queen received was Winston Churchill, the hero of World War II, and the fourteenth Prime Minister appointed by Queen Elizabeth, named after Churchill. Boris Johnson, who set an example but used the king's power to illegally suspend Congress, has a different hierarchy.
The transformation of these seventy years is not an accident of the hero creating the current situation, but the necessity of the current situation creating the hero.
The two world wars, the decline of colonialism, and the bipolar pattern of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union all determined that the glory of the British Empire would inevitably die out.
In the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956, Britain, France, and Israel attempted to create a crisis, trying to regain the Suez Canal from Egypt, which was eventually stopped by the United States and the Soviet Union.
Since then, Britain has had to face up to the end of the "empire on which the sun never sets" and its status as a medium-sized regional power.
Elizabeth II was only 30 years old at the time.
Under the irreversible situation of the world, Queen Elizabeth, with the convenience of modern transportation, almost visited the former British colonies, maintaining the British Commonwealth of 56 countries to a certain extent. The glorious mark of history can still be maintained today.
This is an adaptation to the changing times.
In 2018, the Queen also left her legacy on Prince Charles, persuading former British colonies to hand over the position of leader of the Commonwealth to what is now King Charles III. in the hands of the eldest son.
The picture shows on March 25, 2022, British Crown Prince Charles (right) and his wife Camilla (left) visited Cashel Rock, Ireland.
(Getty)
Although many people think that Queen Elizabeth II created the model of the modern royal family, but looking around the world, from Japan to the ceremonial kingship of the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc., Queen Elizabeth II is actually unique.
Although these royal families without actual political power have survived, they have not been "republished", but they are far from the cultural influence of the Queen of England.
At the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries, the British royal family was still in a mysterious era.
The members of the royal family believed that to maintain the nominally divine monarchy and anachronistic lineage, the royal family had to keep a distance from the common people, making the royal magic unbreakable.
Walter Bagehot, a British constitutionalist in the 19th century, once pointed out that the mystery of the royal family is its life, and people cannot let the sun shine on magic.
This is an anachronistic insistence at a time when modern video media is becoming more and more popular.
Queen Elizabeth II may have understood from day one the irreversible transformation of technology in society and culture, so her coronation in 1953 became the first televised king coronation in British history.
During his reign, every time Queen Elizabeth II attended any event, she was bound to wear bright colors, often wearing a hat that ordinary people regarded as incredible, so that the photographer's lens could capture it in an instant.
Her motto is: "I need to be seen to be believed."
Compared with the British ruling class that wanders among the political and economic elites in London, the Queen of England has more frequent contact with ordinary people, often visiting small towns, factories, and schools, and is directly seen by ordinary people.
During her tenure, she also launched a large-scale ceremony, inviting citizens of different classes and industries to the palace to participate in the ceremony. She herself will learn about each person's background in advance, and express her concern for these ordinary people in the ceremony.
The queen who has no real power has gathered the hearts and minds of the whole country.
In the past 70 years under the spotlight of the media, the prudent Queen of England is still a mysterious existence, and no outsider can really understand her thoughts and thoughts.
The descriptions of her personal character are often circulated in the form of hearsay stories.
The mystery, not to mention anything interesting, has given people an interest in the royal family that has not been frayed for more than half a century, and attention to royal news is not limited to the UK, but globally.
Leaders from all over the world are also proud of being received by the Queen of England in person, and being able to meet the Queen in private seems to be contaminated with some royal mysteries.
The construction of this kind of royal image reflects the change of British international power.
Except for some British politicians who reminisce about the past, probably no one in the world will think that Britain is still a world power, but no one will deny that Britain is also a cultural power to this day.
Queen Elizabeth II was a communicator of this cultural power.
In this sense, her music and the Beatles' music are actually just playing the same role in different ways.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II: The picture shows on September 8, 2022, after the Queen's death, a large number of people came to Buckingham Palace to leave bouquets of flowers.
Buckingham Palace announced earlier on the 8th that the Queen was in a worrying condition and was under medical supervision, and many of her relatives rushed to Scotland.
In the evening, the royal staff hung an obituary on the railing in front of Buckingham Palace, a large number of people went to express their condolences in the rain, and many people laid flowers outside Windsor Castle.
(AP)
Of course, there are times when the Queen's PR goes wrong.
When Princess Diana died in a car accident in 1997, Queen Elizabeth II stayed in Scotland as the nation mourned, failing to show the emotions people expected.
However, the Queen soon realized her mistake and ordered Buckingham Palace to fly at half-mast after returning to London, and to face the crowd in person with Princess Diana's sons.
This underscores the Queen's PR wisdom.
Under the epidemic, the husband passed away, and the queen abide by the epidemic prevention rules and attended the funeral alone, which shows that Queen Elizabeth II is not harsh and consistent in maintaining the image of the royal family.
While the Queen of England understood the changing situation in the United Kingdom decades ago and established a unique modern royal family in response to it, today's Brexiteers in Britain still fail to accept the fact that the empire has fallen, thinking that the United Kingdom still remains It is a world power that can fight alone on the global ocean.
The day before the Queen's death, she sent off an ex-Brexit prime minister who had stepped down due to an opposition scandal, only to welcome a new Brexit leader who was more ill-informed. historical irony.
As the so-called "do nothing without being in position", the political future of the United Kingdom is the responsibility of the British rulers, and the Queen can only watch from the sidelines.
The queen who witnessed the decline of the British Empire, with her tentacles of the times, directed and acted the modern drama of the British royal family, turning the glory of the empire from the hard power of guns to a cultural halo.
Today, the Queen, who was still closely related to the British Empire, passed away, and Crown Prince Charles finally took the throne after a long wait.
No one knows whether the young man whose marriage to Princess Diana once plunged the royal family into a rare scandal under the Queen's rule can still play the royal script handed down by Queen Elizabeth II.
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