End of an era
Sep. 9th, 2022 08:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dizzojay So, it's been a funny old couple of days.
It's a stange fact of life that anyone in the UK under 71 years of age has never known another monarch other than Queen Elizabeth II. I haven't studied the facts, but I'm willing to guess that's about 75% of the population who have never known anything other than our Queen.
I have friends and relatives who are on every point of the Monarchist spectrum, some ardently pro, some very much anti. Me, I sit somewhere in the middle. There are aspects of the royal family I don't like, and I'm not what you'd call a royalist. I'm not one of these people that travels to be at special royal events and hangs around Buckingham Palace for a glimpse of the Queen. That said, on balance, I think - as a naton - we're better off with them than without them. Mainly because, as far as I'm concerned, the thought of an elected president scares me because the standard of our politcians, generally, is - to be frank - fucking frightening!
So, given my fairly vanilla attitude toward the Monarchy generally, I was surprised at the strength of emotion I felt when her death was announced.
Mr D and I just stood in the middle of the living room staring at the TV, and I just burst into tears. It felt like something permanent and eternal had gone, like the White Cliffs of Dover had collapsed into the sea!
Our Queen has always been a stalwart. She's always been there, calm and industrious, doing a duty she was not born to do with a work ethic that you can't fault. She's always been dependable and respectable, and even on the rare occasion she gets it wrong, like when she badly misread the mood of the country after the Diana tragedy, she did her best to make good afterwards, and has continued to work on keeping in touch with the modern mindset of the nation - her participation in the 'James Bond' skit at the 2012 London Olympics and the fabulous 'Paddington Bear' appearance at the Platinum Jubilee, was proof of that. She hung on to perform her last duty - to appoint her new Prime Minister - less than 48 hours before she passed away, so typical of the woman who had duty running through her veins.
Hers is the only Royal face I've ever seen on our coins and bank notes, on our stamps in the 54 years I've been alive. I've only ever sung God Save the Queen, and when I was a Girl Guide forty years ago or more, I pledged allegance to the Queen.
Now we, here in this damp little island, have the biggest change that many of us have ever had to deal with. Now we have King Charles. We'll have a different face on the bank notes, and all of us will have to get used to talking about our King. Next year, I'll finally get to see a Monarch's coronation - that 1,000 year old Ceremony that I've never yet seen in real time.
The UK has a couple of weeks coming up, the like of which has never been seen since 1952. It will be interesting, and uplifting, and desperately sad all at the same time.
And as for Charles the third. I'm so sorry for the loss of his mother, and I wish him well.
I hope his reign is more successful than our last two Charles's!
It's a stange fact of life that anyone in the UK under 71 years of age has never known another monarch other than Queen Elizabeth II. I haven't studied the facts, but I'm willing to guess that's about 75% of the population who have never known anything other than our Queen.
I have friends and relatives who are on every point of the Monarchist spectrum, some ardently pro, some very much anti. Me, I sit somewhere in the middle. There are aspects of the royal family I don't like, and I'm not what you'd call a royalist. I'm not one of these people that travels to be at special royal events and hangs around Buckingham Palace for a glimpse of the Queen. That said, on balance, I think - as a naton - we're better off with them than without them. Mainly because, as far as I'm concerned, the thought of an elected president scares me because the standard of our politcians, generally, is - to be frank - fucking frightening!
So, given my fairly vanilla attitude toward the Monarchy generally, I was surprised at the strength of emotion I felt when her death was announced.
Mr D and I just stood in the middle of the living room staring at the TV, and I just burst into tears. It felt like something permanent and eternal had gone, like the White Cliffs of Dover had collapsed into the sea!
Our Queen has always been a stalwart. She's always been there, calm and industrious, doing a duty she was not born to do with a work ethic that you can't fault. She's always been dependable and respectable, and even on the rare occasion she gets it wrong, like when she badly misread the mood of the country after the Diana tragedy, she did her best to make good afterwards, and has continued to work on keeping in touch with the modern mindset of the nation - her participation in the 'James Bond' skit at the 2012 London Olympics and the fabulous 'Paddington Bear' appearance at the Platinum Jubilee, was proof of that. She hung on to perform her last duty - to appoint her new Prime Minister - less than 48 hours before she passed away, so typical of the woman who had duty running through her veins.
Hers is the only Royal face I've ever seen on our coins and bank notes, on our stamps in the 54 years I've been alive. I've only ever sung God Save the Queen, and when I was a Girl Guide forty years ago or more, I pledged allegance to the Queen.
Now we, here in this damp little island, have the biggest change that many of us have ever had to deal with. Now we have King Charles. We'll have a different face on the bank notes, and all of us will have to get used to talking about our King. Next year, I'll finally get to see a Monarch's coronation - that 1,000 year old Ceremony that I've never yet seen in real time.
The UK has a couple of weeks coming up, the like of which has never been seen since 1952. It will be interesting, and uplifting, and desperately sad all at the same time.
And as for Charles the third. I'm so sorry for the loss of his mother, and I wish him well.
I hope his reign is more successful than our last two Charles's!
no subject
Date: 2022-09-10 03:27 am (UTC)That being said...
***HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS***
I am SO GLAD to read some one FINALLY giving Her Majesty the honor she deserves!! Wanda actually came up with the information (somehow) that there was a double rainbow over the Buckingham Palace when the Queen passed. I have no idea how she came up with that data, but I doubt it only because SHE says it. I could definitely understand God giving the Queen a double rainbow bridge on which to come home.
Your mention of how she held on to perform her last duty actually reminds me again of my Great Aunt Georgia, who also passed at the age 96 just a few months after she paid for us to be able to bury my Daddy. She'd thought she was holding on for her brother-in-law, James, but no, she was holding on for Daddy... September has taken so many greats from us. He passed in September, she in February.
The three greatest women of whom I have ever had the pleasure of knowing passed at 96, 96, and 99: my Great Aunt, the Queen, and Betty White.
:'(
no subject
Date: 2022-09-18 07:15 pm (UTC)I work around 25 miles from London and I saw the double rainbow that your friend saw. On that day when the news was breaking that the family were all going to Scotland and that Doctors were with the Queen, and we were all thinking 'this isn't good', I did stop and look at it because I thought it was such a beautiful thing on such a sad day.