Duty. Honour. Country.

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"Duty, Honour, Country"... They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

– General Douglas MacArthur, 1962


Back when I was studying at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, I kept seeing these three words on the university's bluebooks. Three short words that remind students not to cheat during their examinations. I didn't know where the phrase originated until I read an article featuring General Douglas MacArthur's farewell speech in West Point; if I'm not mistaken, this article was in an old issue of National Geographic.

The three words resonated in my head once again when I learned that Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom had died on September 8th this year, at 96 years old. She gave a sense of continuity and stability to her realms; she was an image of unity and national identity. The Royal Family boosted the morale and community spirit among its subjects during WWII, which proved to be crucial to the survival of the monarchy in the years afterwards. For instance, Queen Elizabeth, then a teenager, was a mechanic during the war. Because of the severe shortage of resources (and the Royal Family not exempted from rationing), she resorted to couponing to be able to pay for her wedding dress. Moreover, the Queen was also seen by a lot of her subjects as their mother or grandmother. This explains the mass disappointment felt about the Queen's silence after Princess Diana's death. However, this is probably only one of those few instances where she prioritised her grandsons over the kingdom; her speech before the princess' funeral seemed to have appeased a nation in grief.

For everyone born after 1952, the Queen has been the only British monarch that he/she has known. The national period of mourning brought forth the pomp and pageantry associated with state funerals; a lot of people all over the world watched on their tellies as the Royal Family bid her farewell. Of course, there were a lot of comments about her shortcomings as Queen, particularly with the persistence of colonialism and her reaction time to disasters and death (like the coal mine accident in Wales). But at the end of the day, she will be remembered as the Queen who remained devoted to the service of her kingdom.

Duty. Honour. Country.

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