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The death of England’s Queen Elizabeth this week sparked a range of emotions – from sadness to glee, and from expressions of a deep sense of loss to howls of “good riddance”.
Staff members at the BBC, for example, wore black, the colour of mourning, in honour and respect for the late royal. A loud counterpoint to this were celebratory, and sometimes downright vulgar, comments and memes posted on so-called black Twitter and Irish Twitter.
This was to be expected. In her 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth proved to be a divisive figure both in the UK and internationally.
Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor in Mayfair in London on April 21 1926, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth), she was only 25 when she acceded the throne.
This was after the death of her father, who had been enthroned in 1936 after the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII.
In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, and their marriage lasted for 73 years – until his death in April last year.
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They had four children: Charles (who is now the king), Anne, Andrew and Edward.
While some saw her as a kindly and generous queen – always smiling and respecting the domestic arrangement where the ruling king or queen does not get involved in politics – she has been criticised for being complicit in the violence that her army visited on the Irish people and the inhabitants of Britain’s many colonies, including South Africa before it struck out on its own path, finally becoming a republic in 1961.
It has been argued that, as head of the Anglican Church, she could have ensured that the expansion of the British empire was conducted in a humane manner.
During her reign, and in the face of the violent oppression of the Irish people and the genocidal excursions of her army in various colonies that tried to resist British rule, she never raised a finger of protest, to say: “Not in my name.”
For decades henceforth, the mention of her name will continue to spark animated debate.
