To tune into the events in London today is to tune into an historical event the magnitude of which we will not see again in our lifetime and in many lifetimes to come.
With scores of world leaders gathered there, and before the eyes of billions around the world, the late Queen Elizabeth II will be given final rites at Westminster Abbey before being laid to rest at the King George VI Memorial Chapel which is located inside the St George’s Chapel.
As Britain’s longest-ever reigning monarch and second longest reigning monarch in the world (two years fewer than Louis XIV of France), Queen Elizabeth II earned her place in the premiere pages of history as over the last 70 years she remained a popular figure in just about every corner of the globe.
And while we recognise that many alive today have had good reasons to hate the monarchy, it is also a fact that they find also themselves digging a little deeper to find sufficient reasons to hate the late monarch.
Her reign, few would argue, placed her at the centre, standing for the most part irreproachably, even when the monarchy as an institution was being viewed dismally.
The Queen raised a standard to the throne that is almost impossible to replace and stayed a working royal all the way into her nineties until her passing just over a week ago.
Throughout wars, conflicts and family controversies, she kept good to her promise to the commonwealth of nations which she made at the age of 21 in 1947: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
For a person who was never in the direct line of succession to rule Britain to begin with, it was never meant to be easy taking the throne at age 25, particularly as the first person to hold the title of Queen since the great Queen Victoria.
Yet, growing with the times, she found ways into the hearts of the young and old alike and became endeared by people of various races, classes and cultures around the world, billions of whom she never met.
The tens of thousands who spent upward of 12 hours each for just a few seconds at her casket over the last 11 days, simply reflected the types of tribute that hundreds of millions across the world would have readily paid to her for her years of sacrifice.
As President Paula-Mae Weekes represents T&T at the funeral today, she too will be standing in the place of thousands here who loved the late monarch, even after this country parted ways with the crown in 1976.
We know that there are those here who are not as readily keen to sing Her Majesty’s praises as thousands have been doing.
To dismiss the concerns of those who believe the British empire must account to descendants of slaves for the atrocities enforced by the crown, is to indeed dismiss the realities of the histories of our two nations.
But to recognise the years of service that Queen Elizabeth II gave in seeking to build bridges between the former colonies and their ruler, is also an acknowledgement of our mutual history.
What no one on either side of the debate could take away from today’s event though, is that Queen Elizabeth II has made the kind of mark on the world that few would ever forget and that the history being written in London today will be the final chapter of story that will be told for hundreds of years to come.
