Diamond Jubilee

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This is a tough post for a guy like me. I am sure I will boot this somehow. I am a hayseed, born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, USA. Living now in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

We don’t have people like the Queen over here. Us Yanks seldom show much reverence toward our political leaders. I have a feeling that the services and memorials for when Reagan died may be the last in my lifetime that I see that have any real meaning – to me anyway. I almost cried when I saw Reagan’s caisson being drawn down the street that day. Almost. But not quite. He wouldn’t have wanted it that way.

But this isn’t about Ron. This is about Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. What an extraordinary example of decency, panache, and grace. I might as well capitalize the word Grace.

Not many know that the Queen served as a mechanic during WW2.

I am sure that she was sheltered in that role, but she still didn’t really have to pick up the wrench. She did anyways.

Over the years I have always been impressed with the Queen and the way she conducts herself. I already mentioned that I am a Midwest boy. I would never even think of bowing to a Saudi like our President did. It is sort of bred in me not to kowtow to any man. I am an American, after all. If you are not, you may not understand.

However, if I was in the presence of the Queen, I would surely bow my head – and she isn’t even my monarch. Of course the Queen doesn’t hold much real power now, and her role is mostly ceremonial – but that doesn’t detract from the fact that she is simply a fantastic, Graceful, wonderful woman and has been so for sixty years now on the throne.

Please forgive me, our guests from across the pond if I say this wrong. Happy Jubilee to the Queen and Happy Celebrations to her subjects. Long Live the Queen!

15 thoughts on “Diamond Jubilee”

  3. I would have to say no to that one Jonathan. Besides Reagan, I think we would have to go all the way back to Lincoln. And I would still not bow my head to Lincoln. He wouldn’t want that either. It is a different deal than being under a monarch imho.

  4. God bless the Queen.

    Dear, Queen, thank for not yielding to your nutty son, Charles.

  6. Obama giving the Queen an iPod with his speeches on it? I wonder what she thought about that. I go back to a talk not she gave to an incoming Tony Blair, but the actress portraying her.

    She let him know that she had seen – and met with – every PM since Churchill.

    And I think she is a masterful politician. She gave Reagan the equivalent of a knighthood for people not subjects – but Clinton and Obama?

    Ignored.

    I have hopes for William but I think other than him she alone gives this monarchy credibility and relevancy.

  8. There are things I remember reading about her that I found interesting – 1 – she has a of course a public persona but her private life is almost unknown. But she has friends in KY (both horse people) that she visits on occasion.

    And (2) she has a sense of humor. I think – when driving her Land Rover through the mud in Scotland – she mentioned the fact that she was an “expert on propeller shafts” (drive shafts). Apparently that was her specialty in WW2.

    Most of the Royal Family was stand up in WW2 – serving in many capacities.

    Except for Edward – a Nazi sympathizer I think after France fell they keep him in Bermuda.

  9. Three cheers for Her Majesty! Hip-hip-hurrah! Hip-hip-hurrah! Hip-hip-hurrah!
    (Sorry about the iPod with the Obama speeches. Won’t happen again, I am certain.)

  10. I too am an unrepentant “Anglophile”. My family stems from England and Scotland (the SW of both countries to be precise–Clan MacFarlane [mother] and Cornwall [father]) those both sides left centuries ago…

  12. The British know how to do ceremony. My daughter and I got to sit in Westminster Cathedral with the RAMC on Remembrance Day a few years ago. Very solemn.

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