'A servant queen': World pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

Across the globe, the death of Queen Elizabeth II has prompted reflections on the historic sweep of her reign and how she succeeded in presiding over the end of Britain's colonial empire and embracing the independence of her former dominions.

- Andrew Meldrum

Tributes to the Queen's life have poured in, from world leaders to rock stars to ordinary people — along with some criticism of the monarchy.

It was in Cape Town, marking her 21st birthday in 1947, that the then-Princess Elizabeth pledged that her "whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."

The British empire soon crumbled, but Elizabeth, managed to maintain a regal — if ceremonial — position as the head of the Commonwealth, the 54 nations of mostly previous British colonies.

"The Queen lived a long and consequential life, fulfilling her pledge to serve until her very last breath at the age of 96," Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, said Friday. "She was an exemplary leader of the kind seldom seen in the modern era."

As Queen, Elizabeth was seen as endorsing the birth of democracies in former colonies in Africa where Black citizens previously had been denied basic rights, including the vote. When in glittering tiaras, she danced with new African leaders in the 1960s and visited their capitals; she burnished their new institutions.

When white-minority rule finally fell in South Africa in 1994, Elizabeth welcomed Nelson Mandela as a world leader. Her warm friendship with Mandela gave her a new relevance.

"In the years after his release from prison, (Mandela) cultivated a close relationship with the Queen. He hosted her in South Africa and visited her in England, taking particular delight in exploring Buckingham Palace. They also talked on the phone frequently, using their first names with each other as a sign of mutual respect as well as affection," the Nelson Mandela Foundation said Friday.