After ruling the British commonwealth for more than 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II died on Sept. 8, 2022. Hillsdale faculty and staff said they shared a variety of reactions to the queen’s death, including sadness and gratitude for her dedication to the British people.

“I think anybody that is from England or the United Kingdom will say that she’s somebody that we have known all our lives,” said Penny Arnn, wife of Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn. “She was certainly queen before I was born, and we’ve tended to think of her as a fixture. We took it for granted that she would always be there.”

Multiple students and staff agreed that while they felt sorrow over Queen Elizabeth’s death, she led an accomplished life and left behind an inspiring legacy.

“It’s a bit like watching a cricket match in which a batsman’s had a great inning and finally gets balled out, and he raises his bat to the crowd on his way to the pavilion and everyone gives him a standing ovation,” said Samuel Negus, director of program review and accreditation. “Nobody bats forever. Eventually you’re going to get out, but you had a good inning. Queen Elizabeth had the best inning.”

Negus, who was born and raised in Britain, said he witnessed deep respect for members of the royal family when he was growing up.

“My mother and my nana loved the queen. I was drying dishes on a Diana and Charles wedding tea towel well into the late ’80s,” Negus said. “I love Elizabeth. I could not care less about the rest of the Windsors, but I will run uphill into machine gun fire for Queen Elizabeth.”

For some, the death of Elizabeth symbolizes more than a transfer of political power.

“In the ideal world, we wouldn’t care as much, but I think she was one of the last residual figures of power and of a time well before all of the stuff we see today,” senior Patrick Rhode said. “In a way, it’s a signal that things are changing, and we have to get ready for it.”

While some people may feel confused about what Elizabeth’s death means from a political standpoint, both Arnn and Negus said the process is straightforward.

“I’ve had people say, ‘Do you think Charles is going to be king or will they just pass over him and go to William?’ And I’m always like, ‘Do you even monarchy, bro?’ That’s not how this works. Yes, he’s going to be king. They don’t have a popular referendum on who’s the next one,” Negus said.

Arnn said she thought the Queen’s death did not bear a greater cultural message—it was simply her time to pass on.

“I think it’d be easy to read too much into that,” Arnn said. “We all have our time, which is limited. She lived more than a lifetime and she lived more than a full life.”

Since most people have only ever associated the British crown with Queen Elizabeth, many people will have to reimagine their idea of the crown, according to Assistant Director of Alumni Relations Braden VanDyke, who is British by heritage.

 “We’ll probably have to rethink what a modern monarch looks like because, outside of the queen of England for 70 years, we haven’t had a monarch that the world really respects,” VanDyke said. “All we will ever know for the rest of our lives will be a king of England, whether that be Charles, William, or George.”

Many agreed Elizabeth was more than a queen—to many, she represented propriety and integrity, drawing admiration from people of many different backgrounds. Junior Michael Hoggatt, who studied in Britain over the summer, said he grew in appreciation of Queen Elizabeth after going to the Platinum Jubilee, the parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the queen’s coronation.

“A lot of people don’t realize how much she is loved by the people,” Hoggatt said. “When she was crowned queen, she gave a speech saying, ‘I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.’ She really fulfilled that promise.”

The Queen’s Jubilee even attracted one family of Ukrainian refugees, according to Negus, whose sister is currently hosting two Ukrainian children along with their mother at her home in Britain. Shortly after arriving at her house, the family asked to go to the Jubilee.

“Hopefully those kids will grow up to live long and happy lives, and they’ll have this memory,” Negus said. “She has become this outsized person in the moral imagination of people around the world, not just English speakers. Everybody reveres her, apparently including middle class refugees from Kiev.”

With Charles III’s coronation approaching, Arnn said she feels grateful for the respect shown both to Elizabeth and to her legacy as a monarch. 

“It must make my generation really proud to see the proper ceremonies being addressed and carried out in a very traditional and dignified and decent way,” Arnn said. “I’m sad, but I’m optimistic too that King Charles III will carry his mother’s legacy with great seriousness. I’m optimistic that all will be well.”