and fomenting fear and forever changing the course of history. but they failed spectacularly to kill american democracy. across the country it is a day of somber remembrance including speeches, moments of silence, the readings of the names of those whose lives were lost that day. it is a day to truly think about and remember what it means to be american. it is a day of somber membranous across the atlantic as well, as we ve been discussing through the late queen elizabeth ii. the 98-year-old queen bore witness to so much history and global change during her more than 70 years on the throne. from the rebuilding of the global world order following world war ii through the cold war, and the fall of the berlin wall in communist rush into the new millennium and the 9/11 attacks, and the subsequent war in afghanistan. the fight against backsliding democracy here in the united states and elsewhere. just to name a few of the many changes she has witnessed. let s think back to the 0.21 years ag
winston churchill, who ended up being very much a fan of the queen, respected her a great deal. at the time the chief ascended the throne she was just 25 years old and he remarked that she seemed so very young. and there were questions but whether he would say that if a man was ascending to the throne. but again, she the pearly pulling her into his orbit. also, notable doctor lid scoff, we have in line next, to more male heirs, prince william in prince george. that is three more generations. it might not be that any of us will see another woman on the british throne. it s what does that mean? well, i think it is important i m terms of how changes the psyche. i think professor arianne chernock is completely right there was this against female power when the
queen came to the. throne and she was not a markedly great feminist, she spent her life conceding her. thoughts but her process changed the optics. it made it conceptually possible, i think, for there to be a female prime minister. and now three of them. in a way that has not been conceptually possible in all countries. and i think that if we look ahead to three generations of male heads of state, i feel slightly sad for women that they won t have that example at the head of our society. but i do suspect that we are going to have three men who are feminists. at the head of state. and i hope that that itself will be represented in ways that make a difference. but it is a little bit of a loss. let s be honest. they did change the line of succession to know is the firstborn no matter it is a male or female, which means princess charlotte is going to, be, i now, believe third in
line for the throne. i know they have up to that on the official royal website. her ability to be a soft diplomat, though, doctor live stream, to go to northern island in 2011 and to use her time on the throne in the way she is seen as a woman in that position, she was able to change a lot in very subtle ways. i think that s right. i do not want to be to gender sorry typical but it feels that her policies were important. the fact that the commonwealth came into being very much existing before she came to the throne, but there were nine countries when she came to the throne in the commonwealth, there were 56 at the time of her death. and that creation a of success is a large part because when she was at summit with the commonwealth, leaders she met
provided the very quiet alternative for women since she became queen. what do you mean by very quiet alternative for women since she became queen? so easy to forget because queen elizabeth was very conservative in many ways in her presentation. but there was something incredibly, a right elsewhere, deliciously disruptive about her reign, especially at the outset. because it is really important this week to remember that this was a woman who came to the throne in the early 1950s when there was such profound misogyny still in her culture. in fact when prince charles was born in 1938, they sergeant who was with a he said he had never been so happy to see a male organ and all his life. i think this reminds us of just the kinds of hurdles that elizabeth had to negotiate over her 70 years on the throne. i want to be thinking about those challenges this week as well. remembering her.