25 C
Guwahati
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Queen Death: End Of An Era

It is hard to think now of England without Queen Elizabeth II. She had been there for as long as anyone could remember. A reign of seventy years. This moment would have been somewhat similar to when Queen Empress Victoria died in 1901. She had begun when England was still an important world power, in the aftermath of the glow of victory in the Second World War.

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

It is hard to think now of England without Queen Elizabeth II. She had been there for as long as anyone could remember. A reign of seventy years. This moment would have been somewhat similar to when Queen Empress Victoria died in 1901. She had begun when England was still an important world power, in the aftermath of the glow of victory in the Second World War. Those were the days of certainty. Britain’s population was young, as you can make out seeing any of her pictures of her visiting her subjects with plenty of children milling around. After the Second War, the global economy was on a path to recovery. Employment was slowly rising and so were the incomes of people. There was spring in the air and a sense of hope for the future. As for their old empire, the political concept had vanished and colonies were getting independent. But a vestigial sense of imperial togetherness had not deserted. The Commonwealth was active, both in spirit and in action.

Not long after her coronation, the Queen had undertaken a royal visit to former colonies, including to India. As a child, this writer still remembers her motorcade and its way through the green Calcutta Maidan lined with people waving at her. That wintry day in the early ‘Fifties, she had done what she had always endeared to do.’ Be at the horse races. Royal Calcutta Turf Club — better known as the RCTC — was in its heyday. The Calcutta Race Course was marked out by a typical English border — a low wooden fence painted white amid the lush green of the Race Course and adjoining roads. The RCTC had flown its standards at the top of the imposing off-white Grand Stand. Being the headquarters of all British investments in India, the great companies had their ‘burrashahibs’ congregating in their numbers at the Queen’s events in Calcutta. Their Rolls Royce and large American Chevrolets were parked thick alongside the Race Course Road.

- Advertisement -

If Queen Elizabeth II had begun her reign in an age of confidence, she had ended it in times of great uncertainty. Her Great Britain of the late Forties is on course to become the Little England of the future. All that remains of the empire is a shrivelled Commonwealth, which survives mainly as a sporting forum. England today is an aged nation, devoid of any clout in international affairs. Her decision to heave herself away from the European Union had served the last blow. The former empire is now striking back. Immigration had changed the colours of England. Even political acumen is missing from English politicians, so much so that the Queen’s former foreign secretary was snubbed by her Russian counterpart as being deaf. The royal family had not been ever far from controversies and downright embarrassments. Not to mention, the unbelievably saddening Diana affair. To maintain dignity and high standards of royalty rectitude through such tribulations was the chief mark of distinction of Queen Elizabeth. Her silence in many affairs and her stoic endurance marked her great achievement. Through such stoicism and refusal to be cowed down by adversities, she provided the anchor that Britain needed to survive as a nation. Her country should be paying her homage for that sense of stability and security amidst tribulations.

 

- Advertisement -
The Hills Times
The Hills Timeshttps://www.thehillstimes.in/
The Hills Times, a largely circulated English daily published from Diphu and printed in Guwahati, having vast readership in hills districts of Assam, and neighbouring Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
Latest news
- Advertisement -
Related news
- Advertisement -