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Queen Elizabeth II has died

(www.bbc.com)
2827 points xd | 6 comments | 08 Sep 22 17:33 UTC | HN request time: 0.485s | source | bottom
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saberience ◴[08 Sep 22 17:52 UTC] No.32769157[source]▶
It's weird, I've never considered myself a "royalist" but this news has affected me quite strongly. I just burst into tears unexpectedly on hearing this news and I don't quite understand why I feel so very sad. I guess I have grown up and lived my whole life (as a Brit) seeing and hearing the Queen, singing "God save the Queen" etc, and this news made me suddenly feel very old, very nostalgic, with the sense that all things pass in time, which makes my heart ache deeply.
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BoxOfRain ◴[08 Sep 22 18:33 UTC] No.32769929[source]▶
The words 'God save the King' in the national anthem are going to feel very alien for a while I think, I feel a genuine sense of loss with the Queen's death. I think it comes from a place of national identity in general rather than royalism specifically, royalist or republican it can't be denied that Queen Elizabeth played a significant role in how the UK sees itself and to an extent how the rest of the world sees us and now she's suddenly not there.
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throwaway894345 ◴[08 Sep 22 18:40 UTC] No.32770059[source]▶
Honestly even the phrase from the article "In a statement, His Majesty the King said" struck me as unfamiliar.
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jesuscript ◴[08 Sep 22 18:50 UTC] No.32770219[source]▶
In most of our lifetimes we will also utter “The King and Queen of England” since Charles is already 76. British seem to treasure this tradition, where as we Americans definitely got rid of a Jefferson stature somewhere recently.

struck me as unfamiliar.

Nope, it’s been quite familiar to even someone several hundred years ago.

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amachefe ◴[08 Sep 22 19:39 UTC] No.32770943[source]▶
There are many things (more than monarchy) that sets Americans and UK apart... even Europe generally.

Europeans civilization are 1000s of years old, America is a baby compared to them, the history and memory are very different.

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1. worik ◴[08 Sep 22 20:56 UTC] No.32771980[source]▶
> Europeans civilization are 1000s of years old

Not really. The Greeks, the Arabs, yes. But 2,000 years ago the Europeans were were not "civilised" in the sense that we think of.

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2. umanwizard ◴[08 Sep 22 23:17 UTC] No.32773344[source]▶
Sure it wasn’t modern but the Roman Empire, which did exist 2,000 years ago, was in many ways the prototype for European law, culture, politics, etc.
3. throwaway894345 ◴[08 Sep 22 23:20 UTC] No.32773366[source]▶
There were still lots of tribal federations, but the Roman Empire was still in full swing.
4. arinlen ◴[09 Sep 22 00:15 UTC] No.32773793[source]▶
> * But 2,000 years ago the Europeans were were not "civilised" in the sense that we think of.*

That really depends on what's your definition of "Europeans" and "civilized". The Catholic church exists for around 2 thousand years,is still alive and well, has its capital in Italy, and has defined western society for centuries.

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5. Lio ◴[09 Sep 22 08:25 UTC] No.32776761[source]▶
There’s a Roman town near where I live that’s roughly 2000 years old.

The Romans built roads, aqueducts, houses with central heating and massive great walls across the landscape.

They might have been violent but it’s hard to claim they weren’t a civilisation.

6. morelisp ◴[09 Sep 22 11:17 UTC] No.32777828[source]▶
> The Catholic church exists for around 2 thousand years

And even by the most forgiving measure, took three centuries to become anything you might historically call "European".