"I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
—Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth, in a speech aired across the British Commonwealth by BBC Radio on her 21st birthday, 21 April 1947
"I shall never abdicate.... It is not our tradition. Although, I suppose if I became completely gaga, one would have to do something."
—Her stance on abdication as quoted by former Canadian governor general Adrienne Clarkson, 19 September 2022
"To you, she was your queen. To us, she was the Queen."
— French President Emmanuel Macron to the British people upon Queen Elizabeth's death
In times when nothing stood
but worsened, or grew strange,
there was one constant good:
she did not change.
but worsened, or grew strange,
there was one constant good:
she did not change.
— Philip Larkin, poem for the Queen's Silver Jubilee
