Our Queen. Changing with the times, ever just the same. There are no soldiers left who swore an oath of loyalty to a King. Four of the last five prime ministers were born after her accession.
The longest-reigning monarch. The face that launched a billion bank notes, the stamp on every letter, the silhouette of the national self.
Our Queen. Did we come to believe she was immortal? (Maybe, but only because the alternative was unthinkable.) We can’t quite imagine life without her.
To be honest, we aren’t absolutely certain who we are without her. For the best part of a century, if anyone asked, ‘What kind of country is this?’ there was no need to search for an answer, for there she was.
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