The Passing of a Monarch

On Friday morning in Australia, we woke to the news that Queen Elizabeth died in Scotland on Thursday 8 September 2022. 

Queen Elizabeth II was a model of duty and service. She fulfilled her role as monarch over seven decades with surety and dignity.

Queen Elizabeth II was the Queen of Australia. Australia’s constitutional monarchy is one of many formative institutions we have inherited from Britain, adapting aspects over time to suit our nation’s needs. Declaring one’s allegiance to the monarch as a sovereign institution is the means by which we swear allegiance to Australia as our nation.

The ESU’s objective of promoting relationships between the English-speaking peoples rely on these shared formative institutions. Our Anglosphere relationships are rooted in a mighty inheritance: a society founded on the rule of law, freedom of speech and association, the English language, parliamentary democracy, the common law, individual rights and our shared origins and identity.

We acknowledge the Queen’s decades of service and the passing of the baton to King Charles III. The new King now assumes the role of his predecessor, representing the continuity of our relationships with English-speaking peoples across the seas.


This page was posted on 12 September 2022.

Click HERE to watch the Royal Collection Trust's compilation of photographs illustrating the Queen's life, 21 April 1926 - 8 September 2022.

Australia's National Film and Sound Archive holds a unique and valuable collection of material on the Queen, with a particular focus on her 16 visits to Australia. Some of their footage was filmed by Sir Robert Menzies. Click HERE to explore, view and listen.