I write with the shock of the news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II still fresh in my mind and heart. She was 96 years old, of course. But, like most of the people of this country, she was the only monarch I’d ever known, so much so that she seemed immutable, fixed, that the very prospect of her not being is so very alien a concept. Prime Ministers come and go, we’re all used to that (especially more recently…), but we’d been tempted to think that she was somehow almost eternal.

If ever there was a model monarch, an individual who embodied the qualities that make a truly great leader, it was her. She wasn’t born to reign at all; yes, she was born into a Royal Family, but the role of monarch wasn’t dreamt of for her. However, she proved to be a stellar monarch without equal in our history. I never had the privilege of meeting her, yet at the same time the loss we feel is that of everyone’s grandma. Her dedication to duty is epitomised in the last photographs taken of her – standing ready to meet the old and new prime ministers. Dutiful to the last, and so it’s right and fitting to pay tribute to her.

How was she raised up to be such a good sovereign? How could she be so constant?

She may have seemed perfect for the most part (something you don’t need me to tell you is rare amongst figures in the public eye), yet she was also a sinner, a fallen human being in a world of pain, death, sin and suffering. In my church, we’ve been working our way through 1 and 2 Kings – the pattern there is clear for all to see: one failure of a king after another. Even the best ones still fail to root out the sins that so polluted the nation. So the books of the kings point to a greater king to come, one perfect in every way, who would fulfil the promises of God that one would come to crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15 NIV) and so save humanity.

Her late majesty recognised that she was a sinner in need of a Saviour:

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.

Queen Elizabeth II, 2011

I’m thankful for our Queen and her life well-lived – all the more so, because of how she spoke of her own faith in God and how she redirected our attentions to the Saviour King. Whether we mourn the loss of our Queen or not, her life and role points to the One Who is the King of kings: the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One we must worship, the One before Whom ‘every knee must bow’ (Philippians 2:10). Elizabeth truly bows the knee before Him now.