THE Queen has been “the only stable influence in my whole life”, said the ’60s star Lulu, summing up the sentiments of a host of celebrities in the BBC’s moving tribute, The Queen: 70 glorious years. “For me, the Queen is always a comforting presence in a world of fear and uncertainty,” the singer said.

The story of the Queen’s reign is the story of our times. The BBC told it through the recollections of an array of national figures, ranging from Sir David Attenborough and Sir Paul McCartney to Sir Trevor McDonald and Alesha Dixon. In this second Elizabethan era, Empire gave way to Commonwealth, post-war austerity became an age of affluence, and a series of revolutions took place in technology, medicine, and social relationships, before the pandemic confounded our confident certainties. Throughout all that, the Queen has stood — quiet, consistent, reliable — a steadfast constant in all our lives.

The paradox is that this most public of figures has drawn her own strength from the most private of places: her family and her faith.

It was striking that, for her, last Sunday was not primarily the anniversary of her accession, but, rather, the anniversary of her father’s death. She began her very first televised Christmas message in 1957 by revealing that “my own family often gather round to watch television, as they are this moment, and that is how I imagine you now.” In her latest message, she has spoken of her late husband’s “unselfishly making the sacrifices that go with” being her consort — and she entreated the nation to support Prince Charles’s wife when he ascends to the throne “in the fullness of time”. She reminds us that we are a nation of families.

Her faith has always been a guiding light. Her Christmas broadcasts are among the few occasions when she does not speak on government advice. Over the years, her Christianity has come more and more to the fore. Early on, she confined herself to remarks such as “Christmas comes, and once again we are reminded that people matter, and it is our relationship with one another that is most important.” She knew that she was speaking to people of all faiths and none.

But, over the years, that changed. “Whether we believe in God or not, I think most of us have a sense of the spiritual, that recognition of a deeper meaning and purpose in our lives, and I believe that this sense flourishes despite the pressures of our world,” she said at the Millennium. “For me, the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life.”

This week, she signed her message to the people with the words “Your servant, Elizabeth R.” Theologians and preachers make much of the concept of the servant leader, since that is what Christ called us all to be. Most of us pay only lip service to the concept.

The Queen, who chose to mark her Platinum Jubilee not among “the great and the good”, but with volunteers from the community in Sandringham, has no such difficulty. For seven decades, she has been the embodiment of the servant leader to us all.


Read Gillean Craig’s review of The Queen: 70 glorious years in this week’s TV column