OPINION
Well, Friday a week ago was one of those defining moments when you remember where you were when you heard the news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
I was up in Auckland at a conference and turned on the TVNZ Breakfast programme at 6am to hear the news. Interestingly enough, my co-workers and I had been having a discussion about her the day prior and I'd said, "I don't think the Queen is going to last much longer". I'm not quite sure why I thought this (her being 96 could have had something to do with it) because, up until that point when I said that, there just seemed to be an unwritten rule that she would go on until she was at least 100 and could give herself a telegram.
I still found it sad, mostly because she represented values such as hard work, loyalty and service. But mostly she represented consistency. She was Queen for the whole of my life. I just found it amazing that she was meeting the new prime minister one day and then she was just – gone.
Imagine working right until your dying day. I think she was mightily ripped off because most people can hang up their tool belt and retire at 65 and, while there will be some that say what she did hardly required that much effort and she led a life of luxury, there were elements of her role that would have been damned hard.
Could you imagine the Herculean effort it must have taken not to bop Andrew over the head with her handbag when yet another scandal erupted? A massive effort I'd say.