The Queen is dead.” First disbelief. Then confusion. And then, the internet exploded. Let’s be real, we all thought the Queen was immortal.
Videos about the Queen never dying have become common jokes on social media for a long time now. Everybody thought she was going to live to one hundred years and then some. So when she died at ninety six, no one could believe it. Now, good or bad, videos about her death are going viral. Old scandals and drama with the Royal family are being dug up. Questions of the future are being asked and debates about the heir to the throne are being discussed. The opinions of those who are glad, in mourning, or simply don’t care have all coerced into a big heap of internet mess. So then, what are the opinions of those in our school? Some people gave short answers like “I’m glad,” “it depends,” or “I’m proud of her,” but the most common of responses was “I don’t really care.” It’s understandable of course, since the Queen was, to most people, a symbol of the British monarchy. So as Americans, most of us don’t really care about the politics of the United Kingdom anymore. However, I think that it runs a bit deeper than that. Instead of “the Queen is dead” why don’t we say “Elizabeth is dead”? She wasn’t our Queen, so are we just saying this out of respect? Or is it because we only see her as the Queen, and not as Elizabeth? Either way, she was a ruler who carried out her duty, through the good and the bad, and a loving grandmother who will be missed.