A life of service
On her 21st birthday, the 21st of April 1947, then Princess Elizabeth was with her parents and younger sister on a tour of South Africa. During this visit, she made a speech which outlined her dedication to a lifetime of service for all people of the Commonwealth.
“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
By her 25th birthday, Queen Elizabeth II would ascend to the throne upon the death of her father King George VI. Following her elevation as sovereign and throughout her life, she upheld to that commitment she made in 1947.
In her seven decades on the throne, she led our country, and the Commonwealth both through the darkest of days and through our greatest of successes.
Her reign spanned 16 Australian Prime Ministers, 12 Canadian Prime Ministers, 16 New Zealand Prime Ministers and 15 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, throughout all these leadership changes her authority as Queen provided her people a constant measure of stability.
Queen Elizabeth II receives flowers from waiting school children after the Commonwealth Day Service in Sydney on March 13, 2006.
The admiration Australians had for the Queen has always been strong, in the 16 times she visited Australia, including visiting every State and Territory, crowds of Australians cheered and welcomed her wherever she went.
On her first such occasion visiting Australia, just eight months after her coronation, an estimated 70 per cent of Australians turned out to see our monarch in person. This marked the first time a sitting monarch had visited Australia and secured its place as one of the most defining moments in Australia’s modern history.
It was noted during this first visit, and her subsequent visits to Australia, as well as throughout her life of service as Queen, that she possessed an extraordinary humility – greeting and engaging with all those she met, listening to the stories of their lives, and despite her Royalty and status, treating all as equals.
The personal admiration and love of our Queen was near universal, but perhaps her most significant contribution was sometimes overlooked. The Queen was not just a great stabilising force for our nation, but also a force for democracy and a deterrent to absolute power, autocracy or worse. We do not have to look far outside Australia’s borders to see the risks that alternative systems of government can bring.
It is our monarchy, which the Queen embodied in her life, through the authority of the Australian constitution that provided a comforting, non-political presence for our nation’s contemporary history since Federation. The Queen, as head of our nation, was a non-partisan actor, who rose above the daily political fodder and acted solely in the interest of all Australians, and our brothers and sisters in Her Other Realms and Territories.
It is fitting for one whose life has been dedicated to public service, that one of her final acts was also one of her most important duties as sovereign, the swearing in of a new Prime Minister, which was undertaken just two days before her death. To the end, our Queen was committed to the service of her people.
Australians will mourn the loss of our Queen. Our memories of her service to our country, our Commonwealth and its people will forever remain a central part of our shared history.
Clark Cooley is the Federal President of the Young Liberal Movement of Australia