Phil C. W. Chan

Opinion | Commonwealth and global grief are testament to Queen Elizabeth’s enduring legacy

The queen was a symbol of constancy and stability amid 70 years of change, and Hongkongers join the rest of the world in mourning her passing

The challenges facing the Commonwealth in optimising its relevance and sustaining its unity will go some way to determining whether King Charles’ reign is a success

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People gather next to flowers placed as a tribute for Queen Elizabeth outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong on September 10. Photo: AFP

Phil C. W. Chan

Published: 1:50pm, 11 Sep 2022

“Grief is the price we pay for love”, said Queen Elizabeth, who died last Thursday at the age of 96 after more than 70 years of reign.

There is little doubt Hongkongers around the world join the peoples of the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth in mourning the death of our “boss lady”. The long, close bond between Hong Kong and the UK has endured after Hong Kong ceased to be a Crown colony in July 1997, even if Beijing and its new regime at Tamar say it never was one.

In mourning the loss of another person, we also mourn the loss of those parts of ourselves that person embodied. We mourn the loss of parts of our identity, of our sense of continuity with the past and an altogether uncertain future.

The queen was one constant, a bastion of stability, in the lives of billions of people amid the sea change in the past 70 years. She was queen of 15 British prime ministers, starting with Winston Churchill. During her reign, 14 US presidents and seven popes came and went.

It was just five years before she acceded to the throne that India attained independence from the British Empire, on which the sun had never set for more than three centuries. At the time of her coronation, the empire included more than 70 overseas territories, even though its decline and the eventual process of decolonisation were already in motion.

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Hongkongers remember Queen Elizabeth

In an age where “look at me”, “my truth” and “me, me, me” reign supreme, the queen was the personification of what public service should be. She was one female leader her peoples considered their mother, grandmother or great-grandmother without ever declaring herself as such. A queen who pledged her allegiance to her peoples on her 21st birthday, and never swayed. A queen who had no airs, united her peoples during her life and in her passing, and knew how to use her Oyster card.