On July 29, 1981, my grandma woke my cousin and me up at 4:30 am to watch a special edition of NBC’s The Today Show.
We were nine years old, and did not want to miss the fairy-tale royal wedding of Prince Charles of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
Apparently, neither did 750 million other people around the globe.
Grandma lived a quiet life in the countryside. She only had four stations from which to choose: ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS.
But she was insatiably curious and between what she saw on the television, and what she read in newspapers and countless books, she had a good grip on world events outside her little hearth.
One time as she sat in her recliner, on a lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon, she spoke of what she thought/hoped would happen when we die. In her mind, she envisioned our spirits being “infused with knowledge.”
Grandma was as fascinated as anyone with the pomp and pageantry on display that hot summer morning. It is a mythical world, far removed from the average person’s daily experience.
Those of us old enough to remember sat riveted throughout the ill-fated marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Diana’s face was everywhere. She was a fashion icon, but she was also a humanitarian. She brought a human touch to the institution of the royal family, and was arguably the catalyst for forcing it to grow into the modern world.
When Diana died in a tragic car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997, the world collectively grieved the soul of a woman who had captivated it for more than 16 years. We don’t hear of her as often today, but she lives on in the lives of her two boys, William and Harry, who both have inherited her ability to connect with others on a personal level.
After Diana died, and under pressure from her country and the world, Queen Elizabeth II broadcast a message. Prior to this moment in history, the Queen, and the long line of English royalty from which she descended, kept a stiff upper lip, not daring to navigate into the often-tumultuous waters of human emotion. At least not publicly.
This was the first I had seen and heard the Queen speak. I was a bit surprised at the soft and gentle sound of her voice. Although she still maintained a quiet, unexpressive dignity in her facial expressions, she managed with the apparent sincerity of her words, to begin building a bridge from the perception of the cold traditions of the past, to the reality of life in the modern world.
When the Queen died this week, after 70 years as the British monarch, the world once again stopped and took a breath to honor this woman who held the throne for the longest period in the country’s history.
I wondered to myself: why?
In an era when change moves at lightning speed and cultural mores have relaxed far from the formality the monarchy has traditionally exemplified, what is it that draws us to collectively grieve this other-worldly figure?
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist who studied and taught on archetypes, which are universal, inborn models of people, behaviors, and personalities that play a role in influencing human behavior. Jung’s theory suggested that archetypes are archaic forms of innate human knowledge passed down from our ancestors.
The Queen archetype represents female sovereignty, leadership and loyalty. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor embodied these qualities in all she did.
Although our culture and our world remain male dominated, the feminine spirit is equally powerful, albeit in a different way. Both the masculine and feminine are needed to balance one another. When one dominates another, everyone suffers. We continue to witness the darkness of that reality today.
To me, the collective grief over Diana, and now Queen Elizabeth II, illustrates that deep recognition in the universal psyche of the complexity and intricacy for part of which the feminine spirit was designed.
Sovereignty. Leadership. Royalty.
We grieve the Queen for who she was as a person, but also for those qualities she represented in the role she played while on Earth.
Coincidentally, or not, I dreamt of my grandma last night, the same day the queen’s death had been announced.
In the dream, Grandma was being honored with a prestigious award. But, in typical Grandma fashion, she remained rooted in her spirit of simplicity and humility. I was unsure of how she would receive the award, whether she would have a thank-you speech to offer, or whether she would just quietly and humbly say “thank you” and sit back down.
I was surprised to see that she did, indeed, have prepared remarks, and that those remarks spoke of her gratitude for, and pride in her family and their accomplishments. Like the queen, Grandma did not often share what she thought or felt, but you always knew when she asked about each of them, or diligently picked out personalized Christmas gifts, until she no longer was able.
In our family, Grandma modeled those Queen-like archetypal qualities of sovereignty and leadership, without even realizing it.
And, while she lived a simple life in the country, one where she sought expansion in knowledge using humble means, Grandma was royalty to us, her descendants, whom she irrevocably influenced for the better.
Long live The Queen.
SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact Jerrilyn Zavada at jzblue33@yahoo.com to share how you engage your spirit in your life and community.