Comment: Her Majesty ‘was always reliable and a reassuring aspect of British life’ – Gulf Digital News

Comment: Her Majesty ‘was always reliable and a reassuring aspect of British life’ – Gulf Digital News

It is extraordinary to me that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne for as long as I have lived. As such she was very much part of the stable backdrop to one’s life – always present; always reliable and always a reassuring aspect of British life. She was a model of selfless devotion to duty. What a contrast to the great majority of British politicians that we endured over the same period!

Counter-intuitively perhaps, I think long-term expatriates – I was in Bahrain from 1984 to 2018 – with a couple of years in Qatar in the middle – have a clearer understanding than people within the UK, of the value of the monarchy and the nature of British life in general.

Although we can never know the substance of Prime Ministers’ audiences with the Queen, I believe that, although rightly restricted by the constitution, Her Majesty was a moderating and calming influence on the UK’s political leaders – this was but just one aspect of her contribution to our country over 70 years.

We expats know too the high regard that people in foreign realms held for the Queen and we hope that King Charles III can earn the