I’ve actually been in the UK over the week for a vacation. It was a strange for me to say I’m going on a vacation in London because there was really nothing so relaxing about the city. Probably especially since I had already spent three years in London during my undergraduate days. Yet, the timing for my first overseas break since the beginning of the pandemic could not be better.
So many things happened in the UK whilst I am here, with the change of the Prime Minister and then the passing of the Queen. This truly marked the end of an era for not just the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the world. The times Elizabeth II had gone through were not just one of unprecedented changes; the pace of changes in the world, the diversity of trends, sheer number of world leaders whom she had experienced or at least met with.
United Kingdom itself has been in a state of flux and some would say decline since Elizabeth II took the throne. And it would be hard to tell if that trajectory will change with the monarch and political leadership changing at almost the same time. The death of the queen is likely to help galvanize the people; and depending on the direction the new King Charles wants to take, it could mean formation of further republics, splintering of the Kingdom.
To a certain extent, history is being made every single day as we operate. These events just makes us a little more conscious about it.