Each Sunday, I take a step away from daily politics and focus on someone who has done extraordinary things or who we may need to know a little better. This week’s focus is on Queen Elizabeth.

I need to take a moment to be transparent. I have not been a fan of the royalty arrangement. I think the royal family is the most significant welfare situation in England. They are compensated dearly, for life, with no actual power or authority in the governmental doings of the state. But, the more I have read and seen about the Queen, the more I am enamored with who and what she is. The Queen has changed my mind.

The Queen is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this week. England shows this woman how much she has meant to the Empire for the last 70 years. They are doing it with the pomp and circumstance we expect from London and England. Elizabeth has been on the throne since 1952. Dwight Eisenhower was elected to his first term that same year. She has reigned through twelve United States Presidencies. She has been a constant through seven decades of change. That quality is her value to her country. That is why she puts God and her country ahead of her family. The Queen has been the rock that her people can look to regardless of the situation and know that there is the other side of the matter. That puts infinite value on her and her station.

A specific timeframe and global event may have defined Queen Elizabeth value to the world. In the eighties, Ronald Reagan was facing down the Evil Empire, Russia. A group of powerful leaders brought down the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall without firing a shot. It was a perfect alignment of the stars that Reagan had Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, Pope John Paul II, and the Queen in his corner.

The last few years have not been good for Her Majesty. She lost her husband, and Harry and Andrew have done their best to tarnish the family. She has quietly managed the defiant members of her family and mourned her loss with the visible strength that she is known. The reality of her fragility and mortality is her inability to participate in the Jubilee celebration. Her people and the world know that she would be present if her body would allow it. It has not.

Unfortunately, I believe that Elizabeth is more important to the world than the concept of the Royal Family. The heir to the throne, Charles has assumed some of the roles previously held by his mother, The Queen. It is a pragmatic sign of the transition that the world wishes would not arrive. At 94, the Queen certainly has more yesterdays than tomorrows, and she should be celebrated while she is with us.

Charles will not hold the same place in his people’s heart. The two most popular people in England are Dianna and the Queen. Though England may accept Camilla, she is not Dianna and will always be in her shadow. There are difficult times ahead for the Empire as Scotland and Ireland are hinting at claiming their independence. These will not be comfortable negotiations for a newly crowned King. Charles will have a significant hill to climb to create his image as he follows an icon of the last seventy-plus years.

That hill is symbolic of the bar set by this woman who has been England for her entire life. Her family lives a good life because of the Royal label, but the Queen has given her life for that label. That is something there is not enough gratitude for but certainly is deserving of our respect and admiration.