Published: 13 September 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
The Queen has been eulogised for her constancy, but it was her capacity to change that made her influential, writes RALPH GENENDE.
I woke up on Friday to the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth 2. Curiously, it felt like a personal loss. It was as if a dear and revered elderly aunt or close family member had died.
On reflection, my reaction was probably not unusual and will surely be shared by so many across so many borders.For this was surely the magic and magnetism of this remarkable woman. She had an awesome ability to connect people in a disconnected age. When she spoke you wanted to listen, you want to get a little closer to a human being who had achieved so much in her time on earth.
As she aged, she seem to finesse her capacity to connect to ordinary people despite her regal position and ease in the corridors of power. She achieved that remarkable humility that is the true mark of greatness.
Just last week we read of the only reference in the Torah about the appointment of a king. The text goes to great lengths to limit the power of the monarch and concludes with the most telling of lines ‘The heart of the King should not be arrogant over his brothers, so he will not stray away from even the smallest commandment… In order that he will reign for a long time over his kingdom.’(Deuteronomy 17:20).
The king or queen are called on to be part of the life of their brothers and sisters. They are even appointed by them and not by some Divine right. They are not called the father or mother of the nation but the brother or sister. This, says Micah Goodman, is a remarkable insight into the perils of power and the temptation to place yourself above others because you have an elevated position or, in the more popular way of putting it, to become up yourself.
In contemporary times, kings and queens no longer hold power but they do have the potential to exercise something even stronger than power, which is influence. Queen Elizabeth with her remarkable sense of duty and ability to put aside her ego and her own opinions to serve others, was the perfect exemplar of a royal presence and impeccable influence.
