During the last 64 years there have been 12 US presidents and 12 UK prime ministers. The world has seen around 200 coups and revolutions, and unprecedented social change from space exploration to the internet explosion.
Througout it all, Queen Elizabeth II has been there. Her record-breaking reign, marked by peace and stability, is truly remarkable in these tumultuous times. As well as seeing international conflicts come and go, she has witnessed plenty of personal ones too. There have been scandals and divorces, tragedies and traumas. And yet she remains calm and consistent, humble and dignified, as she represents the country oversees, provides a ceremonial and consultative role to the government and fulfils royal duties supporting and commending projects around the UK.
She also remains as popular today as ever she was. This incredible feat of leadership is not only astounding but somewhat of a conundrum.
Whatever your views on an unelected, hereditary monarchy, there is much we can learn from the Queen's personal values.
First, she displays diligence. Although Her Majesty is well past the normal retirement age she still works a 40-hour week. Apparently over the course of her reign she has answered 3.5 million items of correspondence including more than 175,000 telegrams sent to citizens on their hundredth birthday.
Second, she displays benevolence. She has conferred some 400,000 honours and awards and raised more than £1.4 billion for charity. She is the patron of more than 600 charities.
Third, she displays graciousness. Journalist Andrew Marr states that "there are no reliable recorded incidents of the Queen ever losing her temper".
It seems that the Queen's spiritual life goes far deeper than just her public position as head of the Church of England. In her Christmas speech in 2012 she quotes the Bible regarding Jesus' instruction on the nature of true leadership: "God sent his son to serve, not to be served."
These words of Jesus are recorded just after a rather awkward episode with Jesus' disciples. I often think that, like the recruiters for the TV show The Apprentice, Jesus has deliberately gone out of his way to find the most obtuse, incompetent people as his followers. But this is not to draw media attention, or provide entertainment for millions of churchgoers. It is supposed to show us and encourage us what God can do with the most unlikely of people.
Muhammad Ali once said: "If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread they can sure make something out of you." If God can make saints out of the bickering and argumentative disciples he can do something amazing with you.
On this occasion, the disciples were fighting over who would get to be Jesus' number one and number two leaders in the kingdom of heaven. It was a pretty ironic conversation considering that Jesus had just been predicting his death. But Jesus explains that true leadership is not about how much power or influence you exert, it is about whom you serve. This is the line that the Queen quoted, from Mark 10.45: "God sent his son to serve, not to be served."
In a time where political life is both awkward and argumentative, and Clinton and Trump as well as Johnson and Cameron are fighting for number one position, these are surely words that we all need to hear again.
Sacrificial service
But for the Queen, they are more than just words. From the beginning of her reign, indeed from the coronation ceremony itself, she has asked for God's help in serving her people. We have been privileged to have a Queen who has tried to put that into practice in her following of Jesus. She sees her role in life as being to discharge the duties of her office and to serve others. She has done that faithfully and sacrificially.
But the Queen only quoted half the verse from Mark 10. The second part reads: "And to give his life as a ransom for many." The ultimate and unique way that Jesus served not just Queens and Kings but all of us was to lay down his life in order to rescue, ransom and redeem us, forgive us and free us and fit us for eternal life.
Though the Queen omitted that part of the verse, it is clear she understands that it is through the death of Jesus that he was able to secure for us the opportunity of being reconciled with God. She once said: "History teaches us we...need saving from ourselves, from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person, neither a philosopher or a general, important as they are, but a saviour with the power to forgive."
Perhaps the Queen knows something about the temptation to recklessness or greed. She has certainly seen over her lifetime the devastating effects of those two problems. But wherever those temptations have led us in our lives, there is forgiveness. Jesus took the punishment that was due for us and volunteered to be punished in our place.
From her words and from her life it is clear that Jesus is the Queen's King. She speaks up for his words and she tries to put into practice his actions. Paradoxically it seems that the secret to the Queen's leadership is that she is first and foremost a servant of the Great King. On her 90th birthday it is worth us remembering that our Queen wants the world to know her King. I close with a prayer the Queen prayed in 2011 on national television with an audience of many millions: "It is my prayer that we all may find room in our lives for the love of God through Christ our Lord."
Rev Dr Krish Kandiah is founder and director of Home for Good and a contributing editor to Christian Today.
