by Anonymous

Hamlet, Act I, Part V
“So the whole ear of Denmark
Is, by a forgèd process of my death,
Rankly abused.”

Throughout her long reign, the late Queen Elizabeth II was heralded as a symbol of continuity, permanence, stoicism and unity. After all, what is the point of a British monarch if not to be an ambulatory synecdoche? And if this synecdoche remained enigmatic and silent, all the better for her to serve as a vessel filled with whatever her people chose.