In an interview with yours truly after leaving office, Harper recalled Queen Elizabeth’s special celebrations.

“It was one of those rare times where I could be part of all those things, but the focus wasn’t on me,” the 22nd PM told me. “I wasn’t having to worry about holding press conferences. I could take part in everything at kind of the highest level, but actually enjoy just being part of the gallery.”

“What was really moving, and I recall mentioning this to my cabinet afterwards, and I found it quite emotional, was the concert at Buckingham Palace,” he continued. “After performances by Sir Paul McCartney and others, they showed a film of the Queen’s life as a young girl and becoming a princess, becoming Queen, and then her own family growing up. It really struck me; it was really a demonstration of the power of monarchy, in the modern world, that properly constructed still and can very much matter.”

“As you saw the Queen’s life played out on the large screens, particularly going from granddaughter to daughter, to Queen and to grandmother, they the British audience in particular were seeing their own life story in that,” Harper concluded. “So, it really was a metaphor for everybody’s family and for the nation’s family, and there’s a poetry to monarchy too that even the best constructed republics don’t have. You could see how deeply woven that institution is in Britain, not just in the government, but in the very fabric of its society.”