It's complicated. That's how a couple might explain a relationship that's closer than its history would suggest it should be. It also could describe the relationship between the United States and Britain. Witness the admiration for Queen Elizabeth II expressed by many Americans after her death Thursday.
The leader of a country that didn't want our nation to exist was mourned as if she were an American, too. "She stood in solidarity with the United States during our darkest days after 9/11, when she poignantly reminded us that 'Grief is the price we pay for love,'" said President Biden, one of 13 American presidents who met with Elizabeth during her 70-year reign. He was quoting Elizabeth's words of support to America after the 9/11 attack.
Philadelphia has a cherished memory of Elizabeth of when she visited our city in 1976 and left a 10-ton replica of the Liberty Bell to commemorate this country's Bicentennial. She said Britons should also celebrate Independence Day because the American Revolution taught her country a valuable lesson.
"We lost the American colonies because we lacked the statesmanship to know the right time and the manner of yielding, what is impossible to keep," the queen said. She didn't mention the War of 1812, which showed that lesson wasn't learned quickly. But after World War II, Elizabeth successfully guided her country's transition from a colonial power to a trusted world leader.
More than 40 countries, many of them in the Caribbean or Africa, gained their independence from Britain after Elizabeth became queen in 1952, including the Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cyprus, Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Malta, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Upon Elizabeth's death, her eldest son immediately became King Charles III. His challenge — as titular leader of a nation that clings to the pomp and circumstance of royalty even as it questions its monarchy's continuation — will be great. Charles must be the public face that reassures Britons when Parliament seems to be failing them, especially with Russia's Vladimir Putin seemingly pushing Europe toward another world war with his invasion of Ukraine.
For now, he and his family will be given time to mourn his mother, who will long be remembered not only by them but the world. At age 25, Elizabeth immediately became queen upon the death on Feb. 26, 1952, of her father, King George VI, who died in his sleep at the royal family's Sandringham estate. Elizabeth, 4,000 miles away on safari in Kenya, was said to be perched in a tree watching rhinoceroses when she received word that she was queen.
Who knew then that the length of her reign would surpass that of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who died at age 81 after being Britain's monarch for 63 years, from 1837 to 1901? Elizabeth suffered from health issues associated with being 96, which prepared the public for her death. "As you can see, I can't move," she told visitors to Windsor Castle for her Platinum Jubilee celebration in February. She shuffled her feet while leaning on a cane.
Despite her age, millions hoped Elizabeth would be with us longer. After 70 years as queen, she — more than any other person or symbol — represented what England has stood for in the world: small but mighty, a presence to be respected, an ally that can be counted on, a spirit that dares to soar when the odds are against it. Without Elizabeth, another page turns. What it will say is a mystery.
