Monday, April 17, 2006

Happy Birthday, Lilibet

Ok, I know. She's an anachronism. She's not a warm and cuddly type. She's oldfashioned, wears dreadful hats, and her voice could break glass. But, she is loyal, true and steadfast. Not just to her husband, her family. But to her country, the Commonwealth and her people. On her 21st Birthday, she told the world that she pledged herself and her life "whether it be long or short" to their service.

But I still have to admire her. (Yes dear, I know,... we fought a war of Independence to get away from royalty.... be nice... hush) Throughout the entire fiasco of her children's marriages falling apart, she kept that stiff upper lip. When Diana died, she may not have shown the world her grief, but she stayed with the people that mattered the most, her grandchildren. And she keeps going, with hundreds of engagements a year, listening to the same old speech, eating the rubber chicken, walking through hundreds of factories, schools, and asking questions, listening with attention to daft answers and babbling dignitaries. and she's 80 years old on Friday.

Yeah, yeah, she's a rich woman, one of the richest in the world. Well, blame her ancestors, (and credit her husband with some smart investments) Show me another 80 year old who is still working full time at her job. She takes no time off from the red boxes, is the greatest source of history for her prime ministers and others, is greatly respected by heads of state around the world, and especially with the leaders of countries in the Commonwealth. Her family may be a mess, but she has never shirked her duty. And that's the biggest jewel in her crown, her loyalty and her duty done.

Contrast that with our present leadership in the US... yeah, pathetic, isn't it?

So, to that wonderfully British anachronism, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, Her Most Excellent Majesty, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her Other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MA'AM.

3 comments:

Aunty Pol said...

Also..unlike other Royals or Celebs...she doesn't shirk her job. She is not in Monaco, at the Casino, ducking the photographers..etc.

Yes, she has had problems in the family arena, but then who amongst us has not ? She has standards of behavior that she expects the family to adhere to, and when they do not, sha attends to it. She is not all over t.v. or the tabloids . She has done a remarkable job and given that she has been steadfast and true to her ethics and ideals, I find much to admire. Pity I cannot say the same for our current government.

Boschka

The Catharine Chronicles said...

She also has a wicked sense of humor, which is rarely displayed to the public.

One story, told by Betty Ford in her autobiography, goes like this:

It was the first state dinner after the Fords had moved into the White House. At that time, only one of the four Ford children was living in the White House fulltime, and that was Jack, who had returned home briefly whilst between jobs. Because the tux shirt provided for Jack was (according to him) missing the studs, so Jack went to his parents' room to kipe a set from his dad. Because he was late for the dinner (as usual), instead of taking the back elevator designated for family use, he decided to hop the formal elevator reserved for visiting dignitaries and honored guests.

You guessed it. The doors of the elevator opened on the reception floor of the East Wing to reveal the President, the First Lady and the Queen of England, facing off against 22-year-old Jack Ford, semi-bare-chested, as he gamely fumbled to apply the studs to his tux shirt.

It was an awkward moment, to say the least.

At last, the stony silence was broken when Queen Elizabeth turned to her hosts and said cheerfully, "I have one at home just like it."

And this is why I will always love Her Royal Majesty from the bottom of my heart.

Happy Birthday, Ma'am.

~C~

liberal army wife said...

they say her laugh....is positively bawdy. My dad met her, we have the picture, and he says she is much more beautiful in person. and her eyes are amazing.