Here’s my thinking on this, as someone in their mid-20s. Most of my friends couldn’t care less, other than acknowledging the loss of a life and sympathy for the family. The Queen had an extremely privileged life and died peacefully. When life is relatively all too hard and pressing for the majority of the world in real and tragic ways, her peaceful death almost warrants a celebration of her well-lived life. But that’s me.

For people older than us, especially my parent’s generation, it’s a solemn and sad event because the monarchy, and arguably, the Queen herself, was an immense and steady figure during their upbringing through various wars, recessions, and outsized tragedies in the world at-large. Your childhood stays with you. For example, I remember the media quoting the end of her speech during the midst of pandemic for ages. (“We’ll all meet again” or something like that.) It’s not remarkable in anyway, but it offers comfort and peace to those who heard her before. It’s like your mom saying it’s gonna be okay when there’s a monster under your bed.

Imagine someone you admired your whole life dying all of a sudden. Also, don’t forget that as we get older, it’s hard to adjust to new things, so we grasp onto the bits we do know and understand. The Queen is consistent and knowledgeable (in the ways that she’s presented) as a rock is hard. I hope this made sense.