This will be more of an update of yesterday’s post than a completely new one.
Of course the Queen died yesterday.
I doubt that it was much of a surprise to anyone after her physicians said they were concerned. Queen Elizabeth II was never the kind of person about whom bulletins were posted, and the last thing I expected was that we would hear that oh, she got better and still might make it to 100.
No, once they said something, the odds were that the Queen’s remaining time would be measured in hours and not weeks or months.
The odds are very good that it may be a very long time till there is another queen as sovereign.
At present, the succession runs through three generations of men, from 73-year-old King Charles III on the throne to 40-year-old Prince William as heir apparent and 9-year-old Prince George behind him. The highest female in the line is 7-year-old Princess Charlotte, who would only ascend to the throne if something prevented her older brother from becoming king.
It’s all very complicated, of course, and as I understand it, if and when George were to become king, his sister would only remain second in line if George had not married and had children of his own.
If I had to gamble on it, I’d say the chance of George ever becoming king is no better than 50-50.
His father has a much better chance, because he is first in line after a King who is already in his seventies. But Charles III has already said he wants to bring the monarchy into the modern world, and with strong republican sentiment in Great Britain, we could be witnessing the final decades of an institution going back more than a thousand years.
That said, Elizabeth did herself and her country proud.
Charles has some big shoes to fill.