Queen Elizabeth’s legacy is a lesson for all of us— even in America

Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 | 2 a.m.

After seven decades on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s longest reigning monarch, died Thursday.

At 96 years old and recently in poor health, her death shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. And yet, her permanence and longevity as the figurehead who reigned over what was once the world’s greatest empire and had become one of the United States’ greatest allies, is shocking nonetheless. Even half a world away, in the red rocks of the Mojave Desert, it is hard to imagine a United Kingdom without the only queen that most of us have ever known.

But it was not simply her longevity that instilled the permanent image of Elizabeth in our mind’s eye. While any comparison between the unlikely queen and Britain’s historic prime ministers must be measured, given the clear differences in duties, responsibilities, and legal authority, Elizabeth stood out in the crowd for her measured dignity. Unlike Winston Churchill, the prime minister who dominated most of Elizabeth’s early reign; or Boris Johnson, who blustered through Downing Street at the end of her reign, Elizabeth II carried herself always with a sense of dignity, duty and virtuousness that allowed her to escape the scandalous headlines that so often followed the rest of the royal family, including previous monarchs.

By staying above the fray, she successfully helped the UK navigate the treacherous waters of a post-colonial empire in decline and through the emotional turmoil of a difficult divorce from the European Union.

While Queen Elizabeth always maintained a certain sense of decorum, part of the love and loyalty younger generations now feel for her was due to her willingness to participate, at least to some extent, in youth and pop culture.

In 1963, she invited the Beatles, a band of boisterous mop-top rock and rollers who were, at the time, largely unknown outside of Britain, to play at the Queen’s Royal Variety Performance. Paul McCartney made a second appearance in front of the matriarch of Windsor in 1997, when she knighted him and kicked off a new tradition of honoring the UK’s best and brightest musical artists.

Other forays into pop culture include her 2008 public embrace of the Nintendo Wii, a 2012 purchase of Andy Warhol’s famous pop-culture portraits of her for the Royal Collection — just in time for her Diamond Jubilee — and her 2012 skydiving stunt with Daniel Craig’s James Bond to kick off the London Olympics.

In addition to her attempts to connect to youth, Elizabeth also embraced her role as a feminist of sorts. While she inherited a monarchical system that favored men and treated women as the exception, she regularly broke with gender-based stereotypes. This is not to say she was without flaws or even that she would have described herself using the term “feminist.” Yet she regularly broke gender norms and expectations, especially within the context of the decades in which she reigned.

When she ascended to the throne, she kept her own family name rather than taking her husband’s. Despite having the legal authority to change the orders of precedence, she always required her husband to walk behind her. She was the only female member of the royal family to enter the armed services. And was, until Thursday, the only living head of state to serve in World War II.

Having served as an army driver during the war, she developed a love for driving and continued this interest late into her life. She was known to get behind the wheel of her royal land rover and take visiting heads of state on a tour of the castle grounds.

A British ambassador even suggested that the queen went out of her way to drive more aggressively along the narrow roads of Balmoral, Scotland, when then Saudi crown prince (and future king) Abdullah bin Abdulaziz paid a visit in 1997. According to the Ambassador, the Queen was motivated to lead the tour herself, in part by Saudi law that prohibits women from driving.

While these moments are fun to remember and are part of the complex tapestry that was Queen Elizabeth II, they are also the moments that we hope will most powerfully define what Britain becomes now that Elizabeth has passed.

In just two days, the UK has experienced the departure of its political leader — Johnson, who resigned — and now, its ceremonial leader, Queen Elizabeth. The result is that for the first time since 1952, a woman will not sit upon the throne of Buckingham Palace (that honor now falls to Charles III), and for only the third time in history, a woman, Liz Truss, will sit in the office of the Prime Minister. Joining Truss will be her deputy prime minister, Theresa Coffey, and the new chief Tory whip, Wendy Morton.

That means more women will be in government high offices than ever before, and the average age of the most important positions in British government will drop by more than a decade. This transformation is less certain to have occurred in the absence of seven decades of stable, respected leadership by an unlikely queen, adored by many citizens of the empire across multiple generations.

While there are many fair critiques of her leadership and actions, Queen Elizabeth II modeled how a symbolic leader can shape society by balancing the interests of stability and conservative tradition, with the need to evolve and improve to meet current realities. She recognized that fulfilling her duties might sometimes mean following tradition, while at other times might mean getting behind the wheel of a Land Rover and taking a foreign head of state for a woman-led joyride.

These are lessons the U.S. could benefit from. There is a time for tradition and decorum. There is a time for non-conformity and breaking with tradition. But in all things, we should carry ourselves with dignity and steady composure.

Other lessons from the empire under the reign of Elizabeth are less positive. We have written critiques of her in the past, and are likely to do so in the future, as her legacy will extend even beyond her death. But there can be no question that she was a largely beloved leader whose legacy will endure well into the future. May she rest in peace.