October 3, 2022
By: Maggie Whitman

CVU- Where were you when you found out Princess Diana died? The death of Queen Elizabeth seems to be the equivalent to our generation. Ally Clos, 17, said she was in advisory when the news broke, just like the majority of the CVU student body in school that day. I, myself, will always remember getting the notification on my watch around 1pm on the eighth of September.

Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor II of the United Kingdom died of old age at 96, at her Scottish estate in the late afternoon of September 8th. The royal family entered 10 days of official mourning.

Did Queen Elizabeth’s life really affect the lives of Americans, or are we just being dramatic? I personally was very curious and wanted to see what people in my community felt, so I went to talk to them. In a general consensus, members of the CVU community have always been aware of the Queen, but don’t really know who she is.

James, 15, said, “I feel like I’ve always known the Queen from a young age, maybe five or six. I’m not really sure what she does, or did, I’ve just always been aware of her”. Most agreed. Not many could really tell me, in detail, what the Queen actually did.

The job of the Queen is shown rather vaguely in various TV and movie shows, but a large part of the global population doesn’t completely know what she did. The Royal family is a gray area in the average CVU student point of view.

Could you describe her job? I realized I certainly couldn’t, so here’s what I learned: from further research on Royal UK, the Queen in the Head of State, meaning she has the power to make and pass legislation that resides with Parliament. She also would undertake constitutional and representational duties, those that have developed over a thousand years of British history.

Lacey Richards, Social Studies teacher at CVU, explained her in-depth views on the Queen. “I think that largely the Queen’s role was symbolic rather than substantive. But she was a symbol of a very problematic time period in world history that saw the decolonization of many empires throughout the world, empires that did terrible things to people and the environment, and that she was closely related to, and became incredibly wealthy as a result of”.

According to BBC news, Elizabeth served a total of 70 years on the throne. She was married young to her distant cousin Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten of the Royal Navy. She later gave birth to 4 kids, Charles, Ann, Andrew, and Edward and her legacy will live on through them, and even her grandkids. Queen Elizabeth was a progressive face for the United Kingdom and was able to accomplish.

The colonial legacies she created are due for some eventual adjustments as King Charles III takes her place. But what will change right away? According to a Business Standard article dated September 9, 2022, “following the monarch’s death, the banknotes and coins will be replaced with alternatives, featuring the head of the new monarch, King Charles III, in this case. However, the replacement will likely take two years before the old currency is phased out.” Other adjustments will be their National Anthem, flags, royal warrants, etc. This will be a culture shift throughout the world.

The Queen was a large public figure we all looked up to, even though we most likely didn’t have enough information on her, or her duties, to begin with. How will you recognize her life?