For those of us who grew up watching Queen Elizabeth on the news, it is hard to imagine the British monarchy without her. She reigned for 70 years, longer than most of us have been paying attention to world events.
Now, more than two years after her 2022 death, royal expert Ingrid Seward says the royal family is still finding its footing. Seward shared her thoughts in a piece for The Sun, and her words paint a vivid picture of just how much has changed.
A Presence Unlike Any Other
Elizabeth became queen in 1952 at just 25 years old, following the death of her father, King George VI. Her coronation came the following year, in 1953. From that moment on, she was a constant.
Seward described her as;
“tiny, reticent and dignified.”
and called her
“a smudge of vivid color on a stormy day.”
For millions of people around the world, seeing her wave from the Buckingham Palace balcony meant everything was going to be all right. Seward wrote that she represented
“commitment, not only to the British people, but to everything that was good about Britain to a global audience.”
A Gap That Is Hard to Fill
Seward did not mince words about what had been lost. She wrote that the staff who visited Elizabeth in her private rooms spoke of
“going into the presence.”
— a phrase that says everything about the kind of gravity she carried.
“We knew it would be the end of an era when we lost Queen Elizabeth, but the chasm she has left in public life is vast.”
Seward wrote.
The royal family, she says, is still dealing with public scrutiny, internal divisions, and questions about what the monarchy means in modern Britain.
King Charles Faces a Harder Road
Seward believes King Charles commands respect, but his path has been far rockier. She pointed to the very public collapse of his marriage to Princess Diana and to the intimate telephone recording with Camilla Parker Bowles that was published in January 1993, both of which she says caused lasting damage to his reputation.
Since becoming king, Charles has also faced serious personal challenges. He has dealt with his own cancer diagnosis and the cancer diagnosis of his daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton. He has also navigated the ongoing difficulties surrounding his son, Prince Harry.
Seward wrote that Charles has
“watched on worried that his beloved country could lose, or destroy, so many of the things that made it great over the years.”
The United Kingdom will mark what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 100th birthday on April 21, 2026. It is sure to bring back a flood of memories for those of us who watched her reign unfold across seven remarkable decades.