Queen Elizabeth II, 1952 - 2022

I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service,” young princess Elizabeth declared her commitment before becoming the Queen. Who would have imagined at the time that it would be so long? She was the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking seventy years of service to the people of the United Kingdom. We can learn from her example how to stand by our words and maintain a tough role with genuine devotion, even when surrounded by storms.

For seven decades this strong and beautiful woman has ruled Britain, while dealing gracefully with the contrasts between the British empire and modern multiculturalism. She has demonstrated incredible resilience when intimate and embarrassing details of her family were splashed across the global media - many, many times, especially over the last few decades.

Even though she was a slightly fragile at 96, she continued to provide stability in our turbulent modern society. There is no other leader like her, and we'll probably not see another like her in our lifetime —a woman who recognized and assumed the power of her role with unparalleled commitment, always acted with a determined spirit and impressive willpower, knowing exactly what to do to provide the world with the steadiness it needed.

I always admired her love of animals and the outdoors. Probably a great escape from all the responsibility she carried on her shoulders. She continued to be active right up till the end; receiving the new Prime Minister Liz Truss a day before her passing, receiving guests, attending ceremonies, even going hunting in Scotland —which she didn't do for her own pleasure, but as part of the royal protocol.

Elizabeth II seems to be the last of the great queens. Things have changed in our time and and all the descendants of the crown exhibit a shallowness that doesn't suit the throne. True kings or queens are not allowed to function according to their private will, according to their desires and gut feelings. They have to act according to what's best for their role, meaning what's best for the collective.

Her long marriage of seven decades to Prince Philip is another good example she set, but there seems to have been something lacking in how their children were raised. It's easy to see how they are mostly devoted to their personal desires more than anything else, and how much damage that continues to cause the monarchy. And she won't be around anymore to clean up their messes.

As I'm always saying, we're going through a transformation from indulging endlessly in our egoistic/individualistic tendencies, to being more concerned with the collective. Queen Elizabeth may be the last great royal to give us a taste of what that looks like.

A lot of people here on LinkedIn are saying that we need to be sensitive to people in the UK in the coming weeks, as they start processing the magnitude of this great loss. Every man and woman, boy and girl associated with the British Crown, whether in the UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, has a special attitude towards Queen Elizabeth. She will definitely be missed. But her exceptional contribution to the world will be remembered.