From the LinkedIn page of Robin Horsfall. Sept 17.

A constitutional monarch is bewildering to republicans. Most fail to comprehend the term ‘constitutional’. The British monarch carries no political power and is forbidden to voice political opinion. The British monarch and the heirs to the throne are the only citizens of the UK who do not have freedom of speech. Their role is symbolic, the monarch is the head of state and so represents us and our nation.

In the distant past that representation has been good and bad but no one, no matter how bigoted, can dispute that Queen Elizabeth II was close to perfect as a representation of what is good and desirable from a symbolic leader.

Democracy is an adversarial system in a constant state of dispute. We raise our politicians up and then drag them down and trample them. Our monarchy rises above the abuse of politics, above the disputes, they let the people fight and then carry out the wishes of the majority.

I was born five years after Queen Elizabeth came to the throne. I saluted her as a child when the national anthem played at Saturday morning ‘pictures’. As a young adult, I questioned her situation and resented her wealth, as a soldier I swore allegiance to her, not understanding the value of that oath. Now, at the end of her life I understand the tremendous value of her life and position.

She represented me in the very best possible light to the whole world, wherever I travelled she was the image that people knew and the image that told other people what to expect of the British – fair play, decency, honesty, rule of law. We can dispute those items as politics, but not her.

She has gone but the monarchy continues as it has continued in Britain for more than a thousand years. King Charles III will carry that great burden on his shoulders now, – the burden of representing us, all of us, in the best possible light.

Losing our monarch is like losing a great grandparent. It is only when they have gone forever that we can truly appreciate what they gave us.

On Monday 19th September 2022 many of us will cry for a grandmother, not a monarch.

Robin Horsfall