How the Queen faced family sadness and public grief
Into every life a little rain will fall. But as with most of us, there were times when Elizabeth II felt surrounded by hurricanes, battered by storms, half drowned by torrents.
As she so happily saw all her children eventually marry, that the first three unions were to end in divorce was a bitter blow not just to the Queen as a mother but as someone who believed in the sanctity of marriage, the value of family life.
She worried most of all for her grandchildren, an emotion shared in a new age with thousands of anxious grannies the world over.
But that was not to be all. The terrible break-up between Charles and Diana in particular, led to one of the worst spells for the Royal Family, with claim and counter claim, TV admissions of adultery, one camp of supporters lining up against the other and all in the glare of the intrusive, modern-day camera.
The Camilla factor, the public questions about whether Charles had ever loved Diana at all and no stone left unturned in the search for other sensational revelations, led to more awful headlines.
The princess’s death in a Paris underpass was to prove a uniquely defining moment in modern royal history.
It led to such an outpouring of both public grief for her and public outrage against the family so many believed had treated her badly, that the Queen emerged both shocked and bruised into a very different world than the one in which her reign began, with her eldest son in particular positively reviled.
A generation later there were to be echoes of those royal troubles. Prince Harry thrilled the nation with his bride, American actress Meghan Markle.
It was another fairytale destined to go off script, with the couple stepping down as senior members of the royal family and moving to California, with a rift between Harry and his brother thrown in for good measure.
And son Andrew attracted the worst sort of headlines through his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Apart from the difficulties within the family, in her later years she also faced major fires at both Hampton Court and then at her beloved Windsor, watched public interrogation and accusation about royal finances, lost the Royal Yacht Britannia and agreed to the summer opening of Buckingham Palace to the people – a highly successful move as it happens.
As with all those who live long, she was destined to endure the sorrow of losing those closest to her. As the 21st century and a new millennium began to unfold she first lost her sister Margaret, followed by her mother.
And in 2021 she lost the most important figure in her whole life, her rock, her support, her confidante, and her friend. The Duke of Edinburgh’s passing at the age of 99 left her surrounded by a supportive family, but more alone than she had ever been. It was the ultimate test for the steadfastness, faith, conviction and inner strength which was the trademark of her reign.
