Elizabeth, the Global Queen

“Grief is the price we pay for love.” Those were Queen Elizabeth’s words when the terrorists deliberately crashed their plane into the World Trade Center in New York, resulting in countless deaths.

Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, there have been demonstrations of grief all over the world beyond the shores of the United Kingdom, her native land. There have been genuine sentiments of grief in the British Commonwealth, an association of nations composed of former colonies of the British empire.

I have always thought that the existence of the Commonwealth was a bit of an anomaly. It would seem that these former colonies would harbor resentment towards their old colonial masters. In many of these nations, the struggle for independence was not peaceful. And yet, they have voluntarily agreed to group themselves into a Commonwealth of nations. Perhaps the reason for this is that the British Empire did spread some good things throughout their colonies, like the English language and the parliamentary democracy. The largest democracy in the world is India, which inherited this idea from its former colonial master, Great Britain.

Much has been written that in South Africa, another former British colony, its great liberator Nelson Mandela became good friends with Queen Elizabeth II. Among the most vibrant democracies around the world are those countries whose original settlers came from England, like Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand.

It is interesting to note that the Philippines almost became a British colony when the city of Manila and the port of Cavite were occupied by the British for 20 months from 1762 to 1764. The occupation was because of the Seven Years’ War between Britain and France, which Spain entered on the side of the French. The British wanted to use Manila as a trading center, especially with their trade with China. The Spaniards agreed in exchange for Manila being spared from further sacking.

The Seven Years’ War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on Feb. 10, 1763.  However, at the time of the signing, the signatories were not aware that Manila had been captured by the British and thus, Manila fell under the general provision that all other lands not otherwise provided for be returned to the Spanish Crown.

At that time, the British Empire was a much stronger nation in terms of military and naval strength than the Spanish Empire, then already in steep decline as a world power. I have often wondered what would the repercussions be to our history if the British had decided to retain the Philippines as part of its colony. Perhaps we can see indications or clues from the history of Malaysia, which is the former British colony closest to the Philippines, also a Malay nation.

Our country would never have become an American colony because the British and the Americans never waged wars against each other. Our democracy would have been a parliamentary democracy. Modern-day Malaysia has a very significant Chinese minority because it had to resort to importing labor from China because of its lack of population. Perhaps the British would have encouraged bringing Filipino laborers to Malaysia and Singapore, rather than the Chinese. I also think there would have been a distinct possibility that Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and the Philippines would have been merged into a single colony and become a single independent country.

The most interesting facet of British history is that its global expansion and economic progress came during three specific periods in its history. By coincidence the times were when the British monarch was a woman:  Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth I reigned from 1558 to 1603. This has been called the Elizabethan Age when England became a world power when it defeated the Spanish Armada which was supposed to conquer England. This signaled the end of Spain as the dominant naval power, to be replaced by England which began its worldwide exploration and expansion. It was also the age of the flowering of English literature, when Shakespeare wrote his plays. Poet Sir Walter Raleigh was said to be a favorite courtier. Queen Elizabeth I became ruler of England because there were no male heirs available. It was therefore an accident of history that produced one of the world’s greatest monarchs.

Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901. It was during her 63-year reign that Great Britain became the center of the Industrial Revolution of the world. The British Empire reached its zenith so that it was said that the sun never set on it. During this era, it could be rightfully said that England was the superpower of the world and its nation’s anthem was “Rule, Britannia” because its navy dominated all the oceans of the world. This era also saw the flourishing again of English literature with writers like Charles Dickens, the Brontës, George Eliot and the Brownings.

Elizabeth II reigned from 1952 to 2022 which saw the colonies of its empire become independent one by one.  However, Britain remained a global power and the Queen was the personification of Global Britain. Her reign began in the aftermath of the destruction of the second world war and ended in the midst of a technological revolution. Like the first Elizabeth, she was also an accident of history and was not meant to ascend the throne. But she has proven a most worthy successor to the two other great female monarchs in British history.

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Our September writing dates via Zoom: Sept. 17: Writing in Challenging Times, for our Adult series with award-winning novelist Glenn Diaz, 2-3:30 pm.  His first novel “The Quiet Ones” (Ateneo University Press) won the Palanca Grand Prize and the National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle.

Sept. 24: Young Writers’ Hangout with facilitator Sofi Bernedo, 2-3 pm.

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