Helena López-Casares Pertusa
PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience / European University
Almost a century of life goes a long way. Elizabeth II, the iron and imperishable monarch of the United Kingdom, has witnessed many of the keys that are now essential to understand the 21st century. From the reconstruction of a continent after the Second World War to the uncertain scenario facing the United Kingdom after Brexit, the dissolution of colonial empires, the Vietnam War, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War as it was known, the Gulf Wars, the Yugoslav War and the creation of new European countries as a result of both this war and the division of the former USSR and the formation of the European Union are some of the most important milestones that took place during the 20th century, the last century of the second millennium.
The death of Elizabeth II means the loss of a connecting link and an integrating element for the British people. The British people and the Crown form an indissoluble union. This symbiotic cohesion is one of the characteristics that make the United Kingdom special, endowing the country with a peculiarity, idiosyncrasy and identity that is very different from the rest of Europe. The insularity and geographical arrangement of the UK, which seems to look sideways at the continent of which it is a part, is a metaphor for the character that defines its inhabitants and shapes its distinctive elements.
An intergenerational reign
The monarchy in the UK is the mother institution that acts as a protective umbrella and shield against external threats and instabilities. The British people feel it and live it.
In a world and a Europe full of challenges such as the rise of populism, separatist threats, the loss of identity and territorial uniqueness due to the growing phenomenon of globalisation, the emergence of new economic models in other parts of the world that shake the foundations of Western capitalism, and the threat to the survival of traditions, it is perhaps necessary to have unifying elements that generate a spirit of belonging and act as a glue for collective affections.
Elizabeth II has been the spearhead and emblem that has kept the British people together. The departed figure played the role of an enveloping bond and a link between different generations. The sense of loss and emptiness is evident and is expressed through the various demonstrations that have been taking place since the monarch’s death.
The longest reigning Queen to wear the crown means that she has been the monarch of at least three generations of Britons, and is therefore a common point of reference for children, parents and grandparents. This common reference point has favoured the union between generations, something that is unusual in Europe and which does not happen in any other kingdom, where different generations have known different monarchs. These generations of Britons now experience the same feeling and participate in a unifying sentiment that brings people together, breaking down intergenerational distances in terms of age and ways of seeing the world.
Collective empathy
From a neuroscientific point of view, when people have something to share, discrepancies are forgotten because they converge towards a common place, towards a shared destiny and towards a known reference point, which form a scenario in which all people vibrate in unison, although they may experience it with different intensities.
This is the reason why, when the stability of a country and the unity of a citizenry are undermined, the consolidated, historical, common institutions that represent a similar idea for all are attacked. As soon as these institutions are dynamited and challenged, the population becomes more vulnerable because it is orphaned and weakened. This is when populism, separatist, pro-independence or secessionist ideas and disintegrative movements of any kind proliferate.
The death of the monarch has activated the collective imagery circuit. Elizabeth II represented the life story of virtually all Britons. In this way, the population is experiencing emotions related to loss, sadness, despondency and helplessness. The citizens concentrated around the emblematic places such as Buckingham Palace or Balmoral Palace, united in mourning, make these emotions and feelings are heightened due to the generation of collective empathy, by the effect of mirror neurons, which in these cases is definitive in creating the same feeling and a single vibration.
From here, we will see how the collective emotions and feelings are transformed through the different events that take place. Thus, from the sadness of the Queen’s farewell, the British will go through the emotions related to the reassurance of continuity when Charles III’s first moves begin to take place, which will have a multiplying effect and bring a halo of hope for the future when his son William, already Duke of Cornwall, becomes Prince of Wales. That continuity, that security and that extension of the royal legacy will act as an anchor among the British people and bring them into a calming illusion.
The UK is currently trying to reposition itself in the post-Brexit world and to strengthen its trade policy by shifting aggressively from Europe to the countries of the commonwealth it forms with Commonwealth partners. There are many question marks over this change of era in the United Kingdom, with a new prime minister, Liz Truss, inexperienced and at the head of a broken party, and with a new monarch, Charles III, who enjoys a lower level of popularity than his son William, heir to the throne.
However, what is beyond doubt is that diligence, duty, commitment, respect and honour are the hallmarks of Elizabeth II, an eternal monarch, who is imprinted and fixed even more strongly on the pages of the great book of the History of Humanity.
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