An Auspicious Anniversary

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Accession of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second.
For a monarch to reign for sixty years is, by any standard of measurement, an exceptional achievement. Although George III almost managed it but not quite, the only other British monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee was Queen Victoria in 1897.


Queen Elizabeth II's reign has been not only longer than most, but has been more remarkable in other ways too. She has travelled the world, been a first rate ambassador for Great Britain and the Commonwealth, and advised no fewer than twelve Prime Ministers. Her own role has necessarily evolved over the years and, through informal walkabouts on public engagements, She has come to meet the many rather than just a privileged few.


During Her Majesty's long reign, much has changed and the world of today is a far cry from that of 1952. Most remarkable of all have been the scientific and technological changes of the past sixty years. If they were lucky a family in 1952 possessed a wireless, a small black and white television set and, perhaps, had a landline telephone of their own. Few, outside the professional classes, owned a car. Nowadays colour television has, for all practical purposes, replaced black and white, few don't have access to a mobile phone, and those of us who don't drive or own a car are very much in the minority. Medical breakthroughs have meant than illnesses which sixty years ago were almost invariably terminal can now, if detected early enough, often be successfully treated and cured. E-mail, Instant messaging and the Internet have provided men and women with new ways of communicating and earning their daily bread. Information on any subject we may care to mention and significant entertainment can now be accessed easily by tapping a few keys. Men have gone to the moon and space exploration is taken for granted. Sixty years ago the scientific and technological realities which nowadays we take for granted were, if they were even contemplated, the stuff of science fiction.


Less happily, some of the old certainties can no longer be taken for granted. The British Empire, on which the sun was supposed not to set, has long since gone to its rest as countries have sought – and been granted – independence. In 1952 we knew who our friends and, with equal certainty, who our enemies were. The collapse of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe, the reunification of Germany, the rise of religious extremism (and with it terrorism) have all conspired to make the world a far less certain place than it once was. Recent decades have seen our armed forces engaged in new and previously unimagined theatres of conflict.


Happily we are much less a class obsessed society than we once were and many of the old social distinctions have become blurred. It is perhaps an unmixed blessing that old understandings of what constitutes marriage and family life can no longer be taken for granted. People are as likely, if not likelier, to have unmarried partners rather than spouses nowadays and it is by no means uncommon for children to be born and raised within such partnerships. Same sex couples can now enter into Civil Partnerships and, forty five years after consensual homosexual acts were decriminalised, there is now talk of gay marriage. Rightly or wrongly, I think it will come to pass.


Ours is a world which has seen more change, much of it unimaginable, in the past sixty years than during the previous four hundred. Of itself, change is not a thing to be feared, so long as it is managed properly. Our Queen has, during the past sixty years, represented continuity and stability in an ever changing world. She has also led by example, demonstrating how to manage change as Her own office and the monarchy itself has evolved.


The anniversary of an Accession is always a bittersweet occasion, commemorating as it does not only the beginning of a reign but the death of a monarch. Certainly those familiar with the old adage, “the King is dead, long live the Queen” know that it cannot be a day of unqualified celebration. Of course there must and will be celebrations to mark the Diamond Jubilee, but they are for later in the year. Today, if it is anything, must be a day of quiet reflection, contemplation and thanksgiving for the services of a good Queen. Amen.

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