The turning of the coin
Flags are flying at half-mast across the United Kingdom and much of the world following the death late Thursday of Queen Elizabeth II, who was 96. “She was a queen to all of us,” said President Yair Bolsonaro, declaring three days of national mourning in faraway Brazil. You have to be able to remember when Truman and Eisenhower were presidents to remember a world where Her Majesty did not reign.
Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair said in a statement: “We have lost not just our monarch but the matriarch of our nation, the figure who more than any other brought our country together, kept us in touch with our better nature, personified everything which makes us proud to be British.”
With her death, coins that for most of a century have featured the monarch, her profile facing left, will transition to the new king, Charles III, facing right. Her seal and visage will gradually disappear from UK postage stamps, and even ketchup. And as Brits gathered in church services to remember her Thursday night, they ended with an anthem most had never sung, “God Save the King.”
Welcome to this September 9 edition of Globe Trot. C.S. Lewis wrote of watching the Queen’s coronation in 1953: “The pressing of that huge, heavy crown on that small, young head becomes a sort of symbol of the situation of humanity itself: humanity called by God to be his vice-regent and high priest on earth, yet feeling so inadequate.”
Britain now enters a 10-day period of mourning, with a national service this evening at St. Paul’s Church in London and an address today by King Charles III. The late Queen’s coffin will lie at rest in St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh following her death in Scotland before moving to London to lie in state.
Less than a week ago, the Queen planned to travel to London from her residence at Balmoral Castle in Scotland to appoint the next prime minister, but doctors overruled. Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss on Monday traveled to Balmoral for the transition of power. In Britain’s parliamentary system, the prime minister is head of government while the monarch is head of state.
The appointment of Truss marked the Queen’s last public appearance before her death. In her first speech as prime minister on Tuesday, Truss promised to lead Britain out of its “storm” with a historic package of subsidies and tax cuts. Barely 48 hours later she appeared outside 10 Downing Street, dressed in black, to announce the monarch’s death: “Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which modern Britain was built.”
“We cannot understand the Queen without reference to her Christian faith,” said the British Bible Society in a statement. She attended church “more than weekly,” it said. Beginning with her first Christmas message in 1952, notes author Dudley Delffs, she spoke frequently about her personal faith.
“For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life,” she said in 2000. “I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ’s words and example.”
United States: Queen Elizabeth’s passing brings a symbolic end to the steadfast leadership that created frameworks for Western-led order following World War II, that brought an end to the Cold War and Communist dominance over much of the world. Those alliances and their frameworks, now stressed, will be tested further next week: World leaders gather in New York starting September 13 for the UN General Assembly.
Besides formal business, President Joe Biden is expected to hold bilateral sessions on the sidelines with Prime Minister Truss and other key leaders. Topping the agenda will be Europe’s looming energy crisis, war in Ukraine, Iran’s nuclear advancement, and China.
Ukraine: Ukrainian forces have punched through lines around Kharkiv, taking back key towns occupied by Russia. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped a day in Kyiv, meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday and announcing $2.8 billion in additional U.S. military assistance. The funds further underwrite a war effort Blinken said showed “clear and real progress.”
Don’t miss: George Packer’s ground-level reporting on the people fighting the war.
Fun fact: Ukraine registered a record-breaking number of marriages—103,903—in the first half of 2022, a 21% increase over the same period in 2021. The country’s divorce rate over the same period fell by nearly half.
Russia: Seven lawmakers have been summoned by police in St. Petersburg after sending an official letter to the State Duma charging President Vladimir Putin with high treason over his decision to launch the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Iran: A showdown in New York looms between UN watchdog agency IAEA and Western leaders who want to complete a new nuclear deal with Tehran. The IAEA has said it will not close a probe into traces of enriched uranium found at three undeclared sites, while Iran has made ending the probe a condition of signing a new pact.
Last week’s report by the IAEA concluded Iran has enriched uranium sufficiently to produce material for a nuclear bomb within three to four weeks. Under the existing joint agreement with European powers (that the United States exited in 2018), that enrichment grade could soon trigger “snapback” provisions, restrictive measures likely called only by European parties to the agreement—leaders already squeezed by energy shortfalls and nuclear threat over Russia’s control at one of Europe’s largest nuclear plants, Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine.
On a call with reporters yesterday, Richard Goldberg, Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior advisor, said Western leaders are “slow-walking a military confrontation between Iran and the United States or Israel.”
Pakistan: Record flooding continues to submerge much of Pakistan, with half a million people living in tents under open sky, at least $10 billion in damages, and 1,391 deaths.
The U.S.-based Cross Connecting Network is coordinating aid and relief among local churches and aid groups like Samaritan’s Purse and Water Mission. Together they are providing water filtration systems, health and hygiene material, and food. Local church leaders also purchased waders, said Jerry Miner, U.S. coordinator for the network, so they could deliver on foot hot meals to submerged areas. Miner said, “This is a country always on the brink, and this could be the economic event that kicks Pakistan down the final stair.”
I’m watching … The Rings of Power.
Another excellent Globe Trot.
How do you like the Rings of Power?