The KCLCA Remembers: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II: 1926-2022

There were few lodestones more steadfast and guiding than that of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In her seven decades of unwavering dedication, she oversaw 15 prime ministers and 13 presidents with a royal tenure that included a world war, and three assassination attempts. Through her reign, she conquered trials and tribulations, weaving charity with diplomacy, and was boundless in her loyalty to a nation she so loved serving. In a world struck by plagues and war, her messages of optimism and hope kept the home fires in our hearts burning evermore.

No words could ever express the extraordinary effect she and the values she embodied, have had on our nation, our world, and countless individuals. With her passing she leaves us with nothing but sombre thoughts. Gone is the figurehead of our nation, and with it the wartime mechanic, diplomat and mother.

Although her devotion to faith and family has long been etched into the annals of history, so too will the more pedestrian ways in which we shall remember her. To think of the dresses, exuding a striking panoply of colour, or of her support at the races will always bring a smile, to say nothing of the thousands of charities and institutions to which she lent her reputation. It is also with a particular poignancy that we remember Her Majesty’s special relationship to King’s College London.

HM The Queen and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge at the opening of Bush House

But most of all, Her Majesty will be remembered for being the collective grandmother of the nation. Never has a monarch so fittingly championed the spirits of a nation and the beliefs of a generation that when fate demanded, fought the good fight that was asked of them.

For most of us, Her Majesty will be the only female monarch in our lifetimes. Fitting then, that she occupied a great deal of ours - as the undeniable bedrock of British culture.