For now, let us sit with the memories of this special monarch and feel the warmth of them. What comes next is a very different question.
Still, as with the loss of a parent or grandparent, we think they’ll go on forever because the alternative feels unbearable. The end of the second Elizabethan era will catch us out in moments of unguarded emotion. It will hit us harder than we may expect. It will feel hard to believe.Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
It is a small example of how much Elizabeth II was part of the fabric of all our lives. Almost four generations have known no other monarch. On our currency. On the titles of almost everything government-related. In the words of our national anthems. We’ve watched her grow older and frailer, particularly in the last year. We felt her loss when the Duke of Edinburgh, her husband of 73 years, died last year. We saluted her stoicism in laying him to rest, virtually alone, under strict COVID rules.
Many of us will grieve. Grief takes its own time. Thus, there are those who would say it’s too soon to start talking about, or even thinking about, the implications for the future of the monarchy as a Canadian institution. Jarring as it may be, however, the future is here. Charles is our King now. Camilla is Queen Consort. It is an ascendanceThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.