Piers Akerman: Queen’s sense of duty matched only by her sense of humour

Queen Elizabeth II reigned over the Commonwealth with dignity, poise and a sense of duty forged in the fires of war. But Piers Akerman most fondly remembers her wicked sense of humour

There seems to be no end to the praiseworthy virtues displayed by Queen Elizabeth II, but the one I esteem, apart from her awesome sense of duty, is the one I suspect made her beloved of many — her wicked sense of humour.

Whether monarchist or republican, most mature Australians understood the importance of the Queen as a constant steadying influence not only in British politics and the Commonwealth but around the world throughout her reign.

There is a reason tens of thousands of refugees try to reach Britain illegally each year and do not seek to find a home in Russia, China, Iran, or any of the Middle Eastern nations — or South American or African nations, for that matter.

As much as multiculturalists may wish to dilute the Anglosphere, even drown the “old, stale and pale” culture, there is no doubt that the golden threads of the Magna Carta and common law, the conventions of civility and liberalism that run through the constitutions of the Western democracies, owe more to Britain than any other nation.

For as long as she sat on the throne, the Queen embodied the spirit of the great cultural reforms, despite the ill-mannered attempts by some since her death to tarnish her legacy with the perceived sins of long-dead forebears. The trans-Atlantic slave trade wasn’t her family’s fault and was not brought to an end by any African or any Middle Eastern country (indeed it still persists in parts of Africa and the Gulf) — it was brought to an end by British parliamentarians and the Royal Navy.

Throughout her 70-plus years on the throne, the Queen maintained her sense of humour. Picture: Getty Images

The two world wars fought in the last century may have been brought to an end by the interventions of America but, in both, Great Britain was the only European country the Germans attempted to attack but failed to conquer.

The late Queen spent her teenage years in this crucible of fire, an experience which endowed her with an unmatchable resoluteness of spirit and universal empathy that endured to her end.

The “keep calm and carry on” tradition of her parents throughout the Luftwaffe’s blitz bombings of London, when Hitler’s Nazis rained terror on the city night after night, gave her the fortitude to maintain her poise and dignity through crisis after crisis — the IRA bombings in London, the assassination of her cousin Lord Mountbatten in Ireland, the mass strikes which crippled Britain until Margaret Thatcher tamed the militant trade unions, Brexit, and her own family’s domestic upheavals.

Wits today like to claim that the Royal Family is dysfunctional, but which family or extended family has not experienced a degree of stressful torment brought about by some maladjusted member?

The Queen was no stranger to bizarre familial circumstances with the elevation of her father to king upon the abdication of his brother when she was aged 10, becoming heir to the throne, followed by her own coronation when aged just 27, and a young mother.

The occasional outbreaks of disharmony within the young Commonwealth she inherited from her father were treated with the same maternal regard as arguments within her own family.

That Commonwealth, a grouping originally of just eight nations in 1949, received its two newest members in June, with the admission of Gabon and Togo as its 55th and 56th members respectively at the closing session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, in June.

It is worth noting that both countries are former French colonies, signifying the continuing importance of the Commonwealth to disparate nations of varying races and vastly different economies and political structures 73 years after its formation.

Seventy and a half years is a long time to rule, the longest reign of anyone who has ever ascended to a throne as a mature person in the history of the world.

As one of the generations of reporters who covered royal tours in Australia and elsewhere, it was always a pleasure to meet her at receptions she and other family members held for the working press. Invariably, no matter where we were, she would ask me and my News colleagues: “And how is Mr Murdoch?”

I last met her in 2002 during her Golden Jubilee tour at a reception at Admiralty House overlooking Sydney Harbour.

On my arrival, I was asked by an equerry to stand beside a particular window in the drawing room with the late Red Harrison, the mahogany-voiced BBC correspondent and presenter of the ABC’s flagship AM program.

We were in position when the Queen entered and made a beeline toward us.

After pleasantries, she fixed on Harrison and said how she turned to the BBC each morning and much appreciated his reports from Australia before smiling wickedly and adding: “I look forward to my Red in bed every morning.”

God bless you, Ma’am, rest in the peace you deserve.