Regardless of my feelings about the British monarchy as an institution, I am saddened to learn of the passing of Queen Elizabeth, an institution herself. She was an extraordinary figure – and, if you’re from that part of the world, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I talk about the ways in which she was “there” for us.

She looked like the nation’s gran, a symbol of reassurance and constancy, with her handbag and her gloves; her silhouette on our pennies and our pound notes; her corgis and her pearls and her annual televised message to her subjects every year after Christmas dinner.

Queen Elizabeth II understood duty, and, as head of state, she understood the power of symbolism. From her bowed head at Diana’s funeral to her headline-making handshake with Martin McGuinness in Belfast – resplendent in the brightest of greens – and her flawless unforgettable visit, the first of a reigning British monarch to an independent Ireland, as she greeted those gathered at Dublin Castle surprising them in Irish with “A Uachtaráin agus a chairde” prompting a spontaneous standing ovation. Perhaps most poignant, as the Irish national anthem played, she laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance, Ireland’s monument to those who died resisting British rule

I think anyone who understands Irish history will understand what we have just seen.

Former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern

I think so.

Your Majesty, you were some woman for one woman.

London bridge is down. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis

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