This past weekend, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her sixty year Diamond Jubilee. As an American, the thought of having one person in charge for so long is a bit mind boggling. Our presidents are in office a maximum of eight years, so sixty is huge! At first, my initial thought was "those crazy brits will do anything for a holiday" but after watching the celebrations, I'm astonished at how much the country really does love their Queen. If you think about it, only those people who are older than sixty years old can even begin to remember royalty other than Queen Elizabeth II. She took her crown on February 6, 1952. Eighteen years before I was even born!
As to date, Queen Elizabeth is the oldest reigning British monarch. In 2007, she surpassed her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria who lived to be 81 years old and reigned for sixty three years. Queen Elizabeth II will have to reign until September 2015 to pass that mark.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not an overly political kind of person, but the monarchy in the UK has always fascinated me, as it does so many other people, including local Brits and Americans alike. Proof of this is evident in Princess Diana and Prince Charles' wedding. Many Americans were awake in the wee hours of the morning to be able to watch that wedding. We were all fascinated by her beauty, her dress, the family, and her new place in it. When she died, we all cried. It's a family affair that has been played out in the public eye since the year 871 when Alfred the Great was the first effective King of England. Queen Elizabeth is his 32nd great granddaughter. It always amazes me that England has had some great Queens ruling them and America has never had a female president, but we'll discuss that another day.
Keep in mind, I know not all Monarchy in the past has been perfect and wonderful, but it takes a lot of guts to run a country. Not all your decisions will be liked or trusted, and there will always be people out there hoping for your demise. She is the Queen of over 134 million people. She became Queen when her father died when Elizabeth was only 25 in 1952. Can you imagine running one country, with alone others at the age of 25?? I sure can't. It takes guts. In my opinion, Queen Elizabeth has guts. Lots of them.
So congratulations to Queen Elizabeth II for sixty years. Her bravery and strength stands out. Her weekend long celebration included The River Thames Pageant, a huge concert, among other activities. Please enjoy the pictures I took of The River Thames Pageant.
~Peace ~ Love ~ Happiness
Marianne
Thank you Marianne :)
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome :)
DeleteHmmm... as a subject of Queen Elizabeth II, I have to point out (unless I am missing a joke) that Her Majesty does not "run the country". As a symbol of continuity, she has reigned while many Prime Ministers and Governments have come and gone, the first being Winston Churchill. Protocol and custom has always had the monarch meet with the PM regularly, discuss topics and offer advice, but not decide, and definitely not "rule". I would say that Cromwell ended the line of monarchs who thought they ruled, over 300 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the corrections David. Same as the US - the President doesn't really make any decisions on his own. But I still think that the monarchs families opinions are pretty influential - more than the US President.
DeleteCheers! :)
Marianne