End of an era
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!