I never met Queen Elizabeth

but she was an influence on my life.

One of my early memories is of sitting on the Senior Cat's shoulders and waving a small flag. Then there was the big car and the person who waved to us.

"That's the Queen," the Senior Cat explained. I don't know how much of that I understood at the time. It was probably not a great deal.

But I went through school "saluting the flag and honouring the Queen" at assemblies on Fridays. As a Brownie and then as a Guide I made and renewed promises to do the same. 

They are the sort of promises that many have made...and broken. I have tried to keep those promises because my paternal grandfather did meet the Queen and he tried to make all of us understand that the role she played was not the glamorous one it appeared to be. He succeeded in that. Her job was possibly one of the most boring, tedious and yet responsible jobs ever created. All those speeches she had to make, all those she had to sit through, all the hands she had to shake and the polite meaningless conversation are not something I would ever want to do. I never envied her. 

I went on to meet first her husband. I met Prince Philip twice - both times it was never intended to happen. On both occasions I know I thought of the time they needed to spend apart because of their roles. Even marriage for the Queen was necessarily different. 

I met and got to know her daughter-in-law Diana before she married into the family. I often wonder what the Queen made of Diana. I suspect Diana was treated with kindness by a woman who was well aware of how difficult the role was that she was expected to play. 

Certainly the Queen Mother was there in the background ready to support them both. When I met her she was a delight. She was thoughtful enough to ask Diana to come to afternoon tea as well and now I can lay claim to having nursed a future King of England. He was a very young baby at the time. If by some extraordinary chance I ever meet him again will I dare to tell him about this? Probably not... and it is not likely to happen anyway.  

I say none of this out of any wish to boast, rather to say that these people are just that - people. They are doing a job. It is a job which many believe is unnecessary. It is a job ardent republicans would like to see thrown into the dust bin of history never to be recycled. At the same time others see the monarchy as having a role to play, the role of bringing a nation together. Governments can change, disintegrate, make poor decisions and more but a monarch in the background, especially one who is so highly respected, is a steadying influence.

It is said that a monarch has a right to be consulted, to advise and to warn. The Queen knew that. She informed herself and became, according to my late lecturer in Constitutional Law, an outstanding constitutional lawyer. The formal qualification may not have been there but she knew an enormous amount and used that knowledge. Her Privy Council listened to her. Prime Ministers came and went. Her loyalty to her country was absolute. It is said that her power lay in having no power at all.  It is a contradiction which seems to work.

My generation will miss the Queen whatever our views on monarchies.