Yes, she did an amazing job. She was raised as a daughter of the spare in her earliest years, not as future queen, then came to the throne at such a young age. As you said, she understood her role well, and as the British say, “never put a foot wrong.” She took her duty seriously and fulfilled her role admirab!y.
She was expected to be a guiding light to her country and to the world while keeping her opinions to herself. The only means of guiding allowed her was through her own character, as shown through behavior and actions and within strict limits of allowed speech. She carried forward and lived out the best qualities of her generation.
I feel such a deep sadness now that guiding light has gone out. It’s not exactly the same as when Reagan died, but a similar sense of those qualities that once made us good and whole and stable slipping away.
I have felt the same way today - something in our view of the wider world has changed, a symbol of many very good, old values and ideals is gone from us; and it feels that many things won’t be quite the same.
Some of the posters here don’t seem to realize how profound the ties are between the US - and individual Americans - and Britain.
I know my English lineage going back hundreds of years; I know all the good that I inherited from that, despite being an American and having a different viewpoint. My husband’s mother was born in England, and he and all of us were very attached to his English grandmother, a great old lady who revered her Monarch.
This isn’t a moment for small, bitter minds who can’t seem to recognize a great individual character and her outstanding personal dedication to Country and Duty.