zlacker

>>xd+(OP)
It's weird, I've never considered myself a "royalist" but this news has affected me quite strongly. I just burst into tears unexpectedly on hearing this news and I don't quite understand why I feel so very sad. I guess I have grown up and lived my whole life (as a Brit) seeing and hearing the Queen, singing "God save the Queen" etc, and this news made me suddenly feel very old, very nostalgic, with the sense that all things pass in time, which makes my heart ache deeply.

>>saberi+d5
Fellow Brit here. I share this sentiment.

I've never had strong views for or against the royal family but always felt genuine respect towards the Queen herself.

She always appeared to be a morally strong character who tried to do the right thing.

I always expected this would feel like a very strange moment when it finally arrived. I wasn't wrong.

>>tailsp+Ll
I'm am American, but with a substantial Commonwealth connection. I am vigorously, vocally, unapologetically antiroyal. (I'm going to take this to an absurd extreme to make point, not to be incendiary.) I despise the whole cosplay, exploitative embrace of what is effectively an echo of dictatorship.

But...

Elizabeth was a remarkable person, filled with evident curiosity and willingness to connect with people despite being a reserved personality. She was a bit mischievous. She wasn't defined by her job, she defined it.

And beyond that, there are just so many constants that are about to change. I keep thinking how lucky we are that we have cashless transactions, because the abrupt switch from the ubiquity of Elizabeth's face would have been much more noticeable 15 years ago (which sounds like a non sequitur, but ... her face is everywhere on money).