Miles Windsor, Senior Manager for Strategy and Campaigns with RFI’s Middle East Action Team, authored an article published today at RealClearReligion titled, “God Saved the Queen” in which he reflects on the life, legacy, and abiding faith of Queen Elizabeth II. Windsor writes:  

In the morning after we received news of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s passing, it was as if a blanket of bewilderment and sorrow had been thrown over the little Berkshire town in which she spent her latter years in residence. There was a sense that the ambience was befitting of the circumstances. Through the gray, muted, mizzled streets, still festooned with fading Union Flag bunting from the Platinum Jubilee in June, the melancholic multitudes, young and old, trod with heavy steps. Barely noticing the cameras and reporters, they came to the places around Windsor Castle at which they could stand in prayer and contemplation, lay floral tributes, or just be present at a historic moment. Royal staff, with uniforms still emblazoned with the gilt “E.R.” of Elizabeth Regina, quietly guided and informed the public. I laid flowers at the gates of the castle, surrounded by those who cannot remember a time before Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by my little boy who will grow up with no memory of his brief spell as a subject of Her Late Majesty. 

In this time of national mourning, so much of the conversation amongst commentators continues to revolve around the overwhelming respect and affection that so many had for the Queen. She was admired and adored by people from all walks of life. She was cherished both at home by her own citizens and around the world. She was the mother of a nation, a constant and consistent source of reassurance. Her absence this week is heartbreaking and, in some ways, unimaginable. Such words have been so oft repeated during the past week they are becoming clichéd.

If we are to apply the logic of the zeitgeist of our age, Queen Elizabeth II was the worst and most contemptable remnant of a historic system of privilege. In her unelected hands sat immense power and wealth. Deference, obedience, and reverence on the part of her subjects were mandated by custom. Birth rights, unearned. During her long reign, innumerable dynastic, political, military, and corporate leaders have risen around the world, only to be quickly despised and deposed. But not her.

It is so unlikely, so extraordinary, for a person of such high station who lived in the public glare for such a length of years to be held in such remarkably high esteem. Even those ideologically opposed to the monarchy respected her, if begrudgingly. So, what is it about Her Majesty that was different? What is it that she had that even the most earnest posturing, prostrating populist politicians of our time lack? It is simply this: that she lived in accordance with her faith.

Read the full article: God Saved the Queen.