Jonathan Freedland’s article is a minor masterpiece: astute, tactful, with more distance than a simple obituary, a tribute that captures the essence of the place in British society of this distant, little-known, intensely private public person, whose very aloofness inspired affection (The Queen’s death will shake this country deeply – she was a steady centre amid constant flux, 8 September).
Born in 1954, I have only known Elizabeth as sovereign. Living in France, I have chosen a republic in preference to a constitutional monarchy. The British monarchy is, unwittingly, the linchpin of the social conservatism and sense of class that I fled 35 years ago – and that Boris Johnson and that privileged clique, astonishingly, continue to embody in 21st-century Britain.
