Goodbye to a most loyal and trusted friend of America

During her 96 years of life and 70 years on the British throne, the queen received 15 different prime ministers. The first was Winston Churchill. Only this Tuesday did Elizabeth ask Liz Truss to form a new government and thus become her final prime minister.

So also did Elizabeth’s reign coincide with that of 14 U.S. presidents. This long list of names reaches all the way back to Harry Truman. Elizabeth met all but Lyndon B. Johnson during her time in office. Britain’s longest-reigning monarch served an extraordinary saga of history. As a 14-year-old princess, Elizabeth comforted fellow children during the darkest days of 1940 amid the Second World War. The queen then consolidated Britain through the turbulent postwar period. She again offered stability during the challenging but much-needed economic reforms of Margaret Thatcher’s 1970s and 1980s premiership. The queen and Thatcher had difficult moments in their relationship, but it speaks volumes about Elizabeth that Thatcher was one of only two prime ministers whose funerals she attended, along with Churchill’s.

To truly grasp the history that Elizabeth’s reign witnessed, consider that she ruled for all but the first six years of the Cold War and for 32 years after the Cold War ended. No wonder so many foreign leaders treasured their meetings with this leader. As the head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service observed, she was the “longest-running reader of intelligence reports.”

So it is understandable that so many Americans share sadness at Elizabeth’s death. The queen, after all, was a true friend of the United States.

Whether in her unprecedented order to have “The Star-Spangled Banner” played at Buckingham Palace after 9/11 (a major breach of the royal family’s normal obsession with protocol) or her hosting of numerous presidents as honored guests, Elizabeth left no doubt of her commitment to the special relationship between the U.S. and the United Kingdom. The queen was heroic in her embrace of America — including her valiant if not entirely successful navigation of Trump through a military honor guard. Obama was so enamored as to attempt to continue his toast to the queen even as the British national anthem began. Bush once quipped that his inadvertent description of the queen’s age as more than 200 years old provoked a “look that only a mother could give a child.” Bush later received a friendly royal retort.

Still, testifying to the common warmth of presidential language she receives in death, the queen never gave a public hint of which various Democratic or Republican presidents she preferred. The queen’s affection extended to first ladies — most notably Michelle Obama. But whichever American dignitary the queen met, she showed the kindness of a leader with an abiding affection for America. In turn, Elizabeth proved the power and portent of history, making erstwhile enemies into the very closest of friends.

There was a particular best-of-Britain quality about Elizabeth. Her unflinching class and dignity brought a sense of order to a chaotic and unpredictable era. Her sharp wit and observations underlined the cheekiness that permeates British humor. Once introduced to a police officer responsible for protecting Chinese President Xi Jinping during a state visit to Britain, for example, the queen quickly responded, “Bad luck.” This was not an example of imperial disdain but rather of the queen’s disappointment that one of her subjects had been made to deal with “very rude” Chinese protocol officers.

The reverence with which Britons and the British military, in particular, viewed the queen was always apparent. Even many of those Britons who, like Americans, oppose the politics of monarchy had a deep respect for Elizabeth. We hope and trust that Biden will represent America at the forthcoming funeral of our most loyal royal friend.

Rest in peace, your most Britannic Majesty.