The Failed Reign of Queen Elizabeth II

I am not a member of the great people that are the British, but I join with mankind the world over in feeling sorrow for the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, is dead. God save the King.

Her qualities were legion and have received due acknowledgement. Many will say that she embodied and represented Britain wonderfully. One could almost go so far as to say that she was Britain and Britain was she, a complementary state of affairs that many monarchs desire but few attain. She acted in a queenly manner for an amazing 70 years.

The extraordinary length of her reign has drawn much attention, but here we find something unusual. Many of the famous monarchs renowned for long reigns accomplished remarkable things. Augustus, Constantine, Justinian, and Louis XIV were responsible for the great things that transpired while they wore the crown. What great things happened in Britain in the past 70 years?

When she became sovereign in 1952, Britain, one of the big three victors of the world war, and could still flatter herself that she was one of the great powers, on a level with the United States and Soviet Union. Her country became a nuclear power in the last year of her father’s reign, putting it in an exclusive club of three. The military force she inherited was the third strongest in the world and had a tradition of glorious victory dating back to Agincourt. When she inherited the throne, the British Empire was still very great, having lost only India, in 1947.

Britain now clings jealously to ordinary-power status, having long ago lost any pretense of greatness. Its nuclear arsenal is now rivaled by what its former subordinates in the Far East possess, and its military ranking keeps falling. The Empire now consists of only a few rocks here and there, and a piece of Antarctica.

In any previous time, Elizabeth II would be judged harshly for such losses. What would her forebears have thought? Her 22nd great grandfather, William of Normandy, conquered England in 1066 and established the royal sovereignty she inherited almost 900 years later. Any of the intervening monarchs would have been scandalized by loss of empire.

Of course, the Queen did not cause this loss, but that is true of the great victories and terrible losses of British history. The defeat of the Spanish Armada, Waterloo, Isandlwana, Gallipoli, the fall of Singapore, are all important events that cannot be credited to the man or woman who sat on the throne.

The loss of the empire, however, will seem like a slight thing compared to the loss of Britain itself. That process began and gained momentum while she was head of state, regardless of the duties of the heads of government who wielded actual power during her realm. That is why hers is a failed reign.

Britain is made up of the British people, but that is ending. Most of the population growth in Britain in the past two decades is due to government sanctioned migration, not Britons having babies. And there is every indication that trend is accelerating.

Such a thing would have been unimaginable to any Briton in the past 1,000 years. In the last year of the Queen’s reign, more immigrants came to Britain than had come during the reigns of all of her predecessors combined, from 1066 to 1952. The English language has not invented the words to describe the magnitude of what is taking place. The future Britain will no longer be British.

What does that mean for us? After the Al-Qaeda attack on September 11, 2001, Queen Elizabeth broke with three and a half centuries of tradition and ordered her guards to play the Star-Spangled Banner at Buckingham Palace. This showed the affection our closest ally felt towards the United States.

However, most countries do not feel so kindly towards America, and many supported the terrorists who attacked us. The British government acknowledges having 1.5 million Pakistanis within its borders. Pakistan is a country where a majority of its citizens grieved the death of Osama Bin Ladin, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Britons’ sympathy for America will last as long as Britain does.

In a thousand years’ time, no one will speak of Britain’s finest hour. I suspect they will not speak of Britain at all. With the dissolution of the nation, the name will be an anachronism. However, should there be even one man who knows the past and has affection for the bygone glories of Britain, he will be unforgiving of those who let Britain fade and disappear.

Until then, God save the King. Long live Britain.