Queen Elizabeth II

The Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Queen Elizabeth II is over.
There are probably few people in the world who did not see at least a bit of it: those who live in countries where TV is still tightly controlled, or those who have no access to electricity and therefore lack a TV somewhere in their neighborhood or village.
Elizabeth II, born in 1926, crowned in 1952, is the living memory of the past 70 years - even though she was not Queen until 60 years ago, she was a teenager during World War II, lived through the London Blitz, and was aided in her early period as Queen by Winston Churchill. From 1952, she has met every US president, every European president or prime minister, every Commonwealth leader, everyone really.
And, there she was, at 86, standing for four hours in a cold pouring rain on a barge in the Thames to watch her navy and her people glide past. The ordeal sent her husband, Prince Phillip to hospital, but the Queen is a tough old lady, make no mistake.
The next day, she was ready for a rock concert and fireworks, and then, today, a parade through London, a banquet at Westminster Hall, a church service of thanksgiving for her reign, and a fly-over with a sea of well-wishers crowding the area around Buckingham Palace and down the Mall and spilling over into many of the adjacent streets - a million or more every day for four days. Even Her Majesty, when she appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the finale seemed to mouth the words, “This is extraordinary.”
It was. Extraordinary and fitting.
Elizabeth is a unique symbol of duty. She was born to be the daughter of a prince, but his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated and when her father took the crown, Elizabeth’s fate was sealed. She has never publicly had anything but a smile and the courage to go on to the next festival, meeting, parade, hospital, church service, marriage, funeral, country. She presided over the collapse of the British Empire, or what was left of it after WWII, but she glued the Commonwealth together with her own “blood, sweat and tears.” She has never let go of the countries that make up the Anglo-Saxon world.
The United States, I might add, although not a Commonwealth country, is as Anglo-Saxon as any in its collective respect for and love of the Queen.
And that is fitting, too.
Because Queen Elizabeth II is the symbol of Anglo-Saxon civilization, of the English-speaking world and its culture and unique form of citizen-led law and insistence on duty, honor and courage in the face of whatever may appear.
England - Great Britain - is no longer the center of the world, but it is the repository of all that Anglo-Saxons admire in people - grace under fire, determination to prevail, justice, courtesy and, yes, personal honor and duty.
We flock to London to see the changing of the Guard, we watch every royal wedding and funeral, we follow the royal family through thick and thin.
In short, we are the Queen’s own, whatever passport we hold, if it is written in English.
And, sad would be the day when Britain is no longer the standard bearer, with its 1500 years of forging a history of free people bound by language, custom and equal-handed law.
Queen Elizabeth’s reign will end, but it will be followed by Charles and William, and then the next generation. And all of them will be duty-bound to do the same work, the immensely important work of holding the English-speaking world together as the beacon to the rest of the world who look to us as the sturdy, tough, patriotic Anglo-Saxons who will see that everyone muddles through somehow.