My Late and Very Inadequate Offering of Appreciation to The Queen During Her Platinum Jubilee Year
#QueenElizabethII #Lilibet #Maintain!
As I began to draft this blog installment, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee festivities were coming to a close. I struggled as to how best express my admiration for Britain’s longest reigning monarch as I continually have felt as if I was writing her eulogy. I actually thought of drafting a eulogy and simply keeping it ‘on file’ for the day when we all must face the inevitable. But while in no way wishing to rush the concept of Memento Mori, I elected to begin this tribute while the Royal family’s beloved Lilibet is still vibrant and active (at age 96 as of this writing).
I am certain that, upon learning (hopefully still many, many years in the future) of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, a veritable tsunami of accolades, remembrances, tributes, eulogies and expressions of love and grief will flood our world. For that is an indication of the impact that Her Majesty has had on our world and its history for close to a century. For those of us who are, for the time being, younger than the Queen, it is difficult imagining a United Kingdom and Great Britain not being ruled by Her Majesty. From a young girl who was meant to play a supporting role in the royal duties to a young woman becoming immersed in education and training for her newly acquired eventual role as monarch to being a recently married young woman who had to deal with the unexpected loss of her father as well as shouldering the massive weight of becoming a leader for a very large percentage of the world’s population. That the Queen was able to do this and grow into the role with maturity and grace in a time when her politicians and advisors felt that she should simply be quiet and let them steer the Commonwealth where they thought it should go is amazing enough in its own right. To have done that during decades of tremendous social evolution and upheaval is almost unbelievable for anyone to have successfully accomplished. And, to have overcome so many potential obstacles presented by her own politicians, advisors and, yes, by her own family while at the same time overseeing the shrinking of what was once the largest empire of our times is almost beyond comprehension.
I am not so enamored with Queen Elizabeth II, nor naïve to the point of delusion, to deny that she has put her royal foot in it, so to speak, on many occasions. Missteps and mistakes, hurt caused to members of the Royal family, her subjects, and fellow citizens, and to the world at large have been recorded for history to pour over and debate. Indeed, we all are flawed as well as mortal and Her Majesty is no exception.
However, to review the Queen’s well-known commitment to duty and willingness to sacrifice in the execution of that duty, we would take much more time, effort, and ink to discuss. It is this refusal to shirk her responsibilities, time and time again and at great personal and familial costs.
This is, I believe, the source of my greatest admiration for Her Majesty. I think that I can best explain why by relating this quality to a passage in Robert Heinlein’s novel, Double Star. In short, Double Star is a science fiction thriller told by an actor who must take on a lifetime impersonation of a leading politician. By doing so, the main character learns both the unpleasant side of politics and political leadership as well as the life affirming successes of positive ideologies. It is set in a solar system-wide future where sentient Martians and Venusians co-exist with humans yet are only beginning to have equal ‘rights’ in humankind’s government structure. It is interesting that the human form of government is a democracy/republic/monarchy hybrid, much the same as one might say about the United Kingdom. In fact, the royal leader, King Willem, is introduced as “Willem, Prince of Orange, Duke of Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Knight Commander of the Holy Roman Empire, Admiral General of the Imperial Forces, Adviser to the Martian Nests, Protector of the Poor, and, by the Grace of God, King of the Lowlands and Emperor of the Planets and the Spaces Between.” Pretty heady titles for having been written by an American and, in my case, read by an impressionable young man. And, if you will bear with me for just a short while longer, I will make my point.
During the main character’s private conversation with the Emperor, Willem gives the politician-playing thespian some advice. That advice is to take losses in stride and ‘stick it out’. When the actor asks why, King Willem responds: "Because you and I are patient men. See that?" He pointed at the plaque of his house. "'I Maintain!' It's not a flashy rule but it is not a king's business to be flashy; his business is to conserve, to hang on, to roll with the punch.”
Aside from the fantasy setting and obviously chauvinistic tone of the passage, one can imagine Her Majesty having an identical conversation with a newly minted Prime Minister. For an examination of Elizabeth’s reign will show that she has maintained. Maintained the essence of the United Kingdom, even throughout major alterations in the size and composition of the Commonwealth of the Realm. Maintained the United Kingdom’s role as a respected world leader, despite changes in the amount of financial and material contributions that the UK can make compared to other countries. And, perhaps most importantly, maintained the respect, value, loyalty, and fondness that so many of Her Majesty’s subjects have for her personally and the Monarchy as an institution, despite changing social mores and perspectives.
Maintain indeed. One can only imagine the Queen at the center of an enormous sphere with pressure from all points pressing down on her. And still, she maintains. Despite criticisms of her decisions, she maintains. Despite family failures and betrayals, she maintains. Despite a world that both looks eerily similar and at the same time vastly different from the one she was born into, she maintains. And now, after the death of Prince Philip, alone – she maintains.
It is not a monarch’s business to be flashy. It is not a monarch’s business to change how society and humankind changes and evolves. It is not a monarch’s business to follow the latest trends. Instead, like a sea anchor, it is a monarch’s business to maintain.
To do so with grace, warmth, dedication is a bonus of incalculable value. And that, my friends, is the essence of the world’s Lilibet.
I will unabashedly state that as an American, an ally and an ardent admirer of Her Majesty, when the reign of Elizabeth II finally draws to its inescapable conclusion, I will be bereft and will join that tsunami of accolades, remembrances, tributes, eulogies and expressions of love and grief as well as shed an ocean of tears. But within my memories and my heart, Queen Elizabeth II shall eternally maintain.
Long Live The Queen.
