Queen Elizabeth reflected on history during last visit to the commonwealth

Queen Elizabeth II, who died today at the age of 96 in Scotland, visited the commonwealth several times during her reign.

She traveled to Jamestown in 1957 to mark the 350th anniversary of its founding. And in 2007, the queen addressed members of the General Assembly. She tied together the two visits during her 10-minute speech. 

“[F]ifty years on we are now in a position to reflect more candidly on the Jamestown legacy. Human progress rarely comes without cost. And those early years in Jamestown, when three great civilizations came together for the first time — Western European, Native American and African — released a train of events which continues to have a profound social impact, not only in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom and Europe,” she said.

Sen. Tim Kaine was the governor at the time of the queen’s last visit to the commonwealth. In a Thursday statement he said that “[h]er kindness and grace will be missed in the United Kingdom, in Virginia, and across the world.”