“…because my heart is pure”

“My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure.” Alfred, Lord Tennyson, (Queen Victoria’s Poet Laureate)

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022, age 96.

She retained her mental vigor until the very end of her life.

For a relentlessly private woman, she was extraordinarily public.

Photographs track her entire life almost from the date of birth to her last official act, asking now Prime Minister Liz Truss to form a new government.

Although she had physically declined, her smile was bright and engaged.

It is the last image we have of her.

How did she do it? How did overcome challenges, losses, deaths?

Alfred, Lord Tennyson understood.

Queen Elizabeth never veered from her sworn path of service, undertaken upon the death of her father and her ascendancy to the throne.

She had an innate dignity and the kindness of an individual with strong moral values.

Thinking of the Queen’s passing reminds me of my own mother’s passing.

It is likely that hundreds of millions across the globe feel the same sense of loss today.