Reflections on Queen Elizabeth II
by Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner, Steady

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, we are forced to confront once again the reality that an era so vibrant to those of us who lived through it is quickly passing into the permanent realm of history. For those of us who were her peers, her loss carries a special poignance.

Whatever one thinks of the institution of the British Monarchy, or monarchies more generally, there is no denying the role the late queen played on the world stage. She was a constant in a sea of chaos. She was the living embodiment — majestic, sure-footed, seeming divinely ordained — of a Great Britain that once had been and is no longer. She provided a sense of steadiness and continuity during her country’s transitions. Her passing carries a significance far greater than her official duties would indicate.

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