Lori Falce: Queen Elizabeth's legacy is a measurement of history

Sep. 9—On Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth formally accepted Liz Truss as the new prime minister of the United Kingdom and gave her the authority to form a government in her name.

Two days later, Truss returned the favor, acknowledging the queen's death and formally naming Charles III as king.

There may never be so obvious a passing of the torch again, from one Elizabeth to another and one monarch to the next.

The queen's passing might seem to mean little in America. Why should it? We have been divorced from our English roots for more than 200 years.

But recent years should have taught us our planet is remarkably small, and our impacts on each other are greater than we think.

Aside from that, however, there is how we can measure history in the life of one 5-foot, 4-inch woman whose omnipresent hat and handbag always made her look vaguely like she was on her way to church. (That impression isn't misplaced as she was the head of the Church of England.)

Almost every story you read about the queen's passing will mention the fact she was the oldest living monarch; she was 96 when she died. She also was the second-longest reigning, following Louis XIV of France. He was 4 when he took the throne, making his 72-year reign a little less impressive.

But Elizabeth's lifetime spanned and defined conflict and innovation the likes of which are hard to fathom.

She was born in 1926 — the same year Emperor Hirohito was crowned in Japan. He was 25, the same age Elizabeth would be when she became queen.

She was 10 when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry American socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson, making Elizabeth the heir presumptive to her father, George VI. It isn't hyperbole to say her childhood ended that day, and her preparation for the job of her lifetime began.

That moment didn't just define her life. It defined the coming war. Edward, who would become the Duke of Windsor, was a Nazi sympathizer, if not a straight-up Nazi. Elizabeth stayed with her parents while other children were evacuated from London. At 14, she was making speeches to those children. At 18, she was serving as a mechanic in a women's branch of the British army.

She saw the way women were treated in the world change radically over the course of her lifetime. So did the U.K.'s place, as it evolved from crown jewel of an empire to elder statesman of a confederation of affiliated states.

She saw technology advance. She saw nations rise and fall. She was 7 when the Soviet Union was admitted to the League of Nations. She was 65 when it fell and President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned. He died Aug. 31 at 91. She survived him by nine days — and five years.

Elizabeth watched her father hold the nation together after the crisis of abdication, and with classic stiff-upper-lip Britishness, she held the monarchy through other scandals: Charles' affair with now-consort Queen Camilla. Princess Diana's death in a car crash after her divorce from Charles, leading to conspiracy theories for years. The allegations of sex crimes involving her second son, Prince Andrew, an associate of the late Jeffrey Epstein. The rampant speculation of racism following grandson Prince Harry's marriage to African-American actress Meghan Markle.

But whether you are fascinated by the monarchy or have disdain for it, what cannot be questioned is the queen's place in it.

She was the yardstick against which future royals — and other world leaders — have been and will be measured for years to come.

Lori Falce is a Tribune-Review community engagement editor. You can contact Lori at lfalce@triblive.com.