The 1920’s were known as the “Roaring Twenties”. Is our present decade is set to become the Turbulent Twenties?
As far back as 2017, I had a sense that the coming decade would be challenging for us all. The 2020’s would bring extraordinary changes played out with shocking rapidity both in Britain and the world at large.
Sure enough, we had barely entered 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The effects of this “one-in-a-hundred-year” event are still with us, with much more to come.
Since then, we have seen extreme weather conditions with fires, floods, droughts on a truly global scale. The Russian war in Ukraine has been horrific in itself, but the seismic effects are now being felt across the nations, with food shortages, stratospheric rises in fuel costs, and the dawn of a new precarious era of East-West political tensions.
We in Britain, have also seen the fall of a Prime Minister and the death of our longest-serving Monarch, HM Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II.
To many people, her death came as something sudden and unexpected, despite her age and recent failing health. I guess people just didn’t believe it would ever happen. Understandable given her 70-year long, prosperous and influential reign which just seemed to go on and on, performing her duty two days before her death. As her final act of public service, reportedly against advice, the Queen fulfilled her constitutional role in inviting Liz Truss as the New British Prime Minister to form a new government. Serving with full mental and royal, if not physical strength, until the very end.
The death of the Queen, triggered an outpouring of grief (the “price one pays for love”) not just from within the UK but also from across the world. Nations paid tribute through the words of their Heads of State and their presence at the spectacular, yet intimate, State Funeral on 19 September 2022. Sadness at her passing and celebration of her life went side by side.
THE TIMES respectfully lowered their headline to the bottom of the front page featuring a photo of the funeral procession entering Westminster Abbey: “CARRIED TO HER REST”.
THE SUN similarly positioned their headline, “We sent her victorious”.
THE MIRROR also, with “…until we meet again.”
THE TELEGRAPH headlined, “An outpouring of love” with a picture of King Charles III placing the colours of the Grenadier Guards on the Queen’s coffin at the end of the service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES printed “People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer”, a quote from Archbishop Justin Welby’s sermon delivered during the State Funeral.
THE INDEPENDENT announced, “The end of the Elizabethan age”.
The implications of the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession to throne of King Charles III remain to be seen. Certainly, the likelihood of repeating the last 70 years and what the Queen brought to Britain and the Commonwealth remains remote, perhaps never again in British history.
In future blogs, I will dip deeper into issues facing King Charles III at the beginning of his reign and the possible prophetic significance of contemporary events.