Long may she wave.
There’s a lot to be said for symbolism too. Here’s an 86-year-old woman floating down the Thames in a pouring rain and people are ecstatic. As a cynic it’s easy to snigger at the waste and hollowness of the British monarchy, but then you wonder: What would it take to get a like number of Americans to don patriotic apparel and crowd the banks of the Potomac? Lady Gaga? An assemblage of American Idol winners? Probably not even then, if it was raining. When it comes to symbols of national identity, we just don’t have much.
That’s because nothing in America lasts a lot longer than eight years — the length of a couple of presidential terms and the approximate half-life of pop-culture fame. At this point, the nearest thing we have to a unifying tradition is the 20-years-old Simpsons. I don’t think we should elect a queen any time soon, but watching the coverage on TV — and watching American viewers eat it up — you can definitely see that the British monarchy still has its uses and its charms.
Queen Elizabeth II is about the same age as my mom. As mother to four flawed children, I’m sure she’s known similar frustrations. As mother to an often flawed nation, she’s probably known quite a few more. But depressing and frustrating as the job may get, she can’t ever quit. Can’t really even take sides. Sixty years now, going on 61. That’s a pretty good run, through some turbulent times. These days, you deserve a lot of credit just for flawless attendance.
By today’s standards, she’s pretty lackluster as a celebrity. But by the same standards, she’s solid gold as a symbol. I like the queen. And I say, God save her.
The Man can’t hear you
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Well said.
From my reading of British mysteries and listening to BBC radio on the web, I get the impression that keeping or getting rid of the monarchy is a perennial subject of debate in the UK. One argument for keeping the royals around is that they may cost a lot, but they bring in even more tourism money. I think that’s probably true. Britain, and England in particular, is a more interesting place for having a real-live royal family, instead of just places where royalty used to live.
We caught a glimpse of the queen during a visit to London a few years ago. It was her birthday, I believe. I’ve had a platonic crush ever since. I suppose it’s too late to seek a spot with the Coldstream Guards …
After years of reading about all things British, I genuinely feel that the Queen is a good woman, and that her parents were good people. (Too bad this doesn’t hold true for all members of the royal family, past and present.) Having someone like that, mostly removed from the day to day workings of the government, to be a stabilizing symbol for the country to look up to is not a bad thing.