Elizabeth R: Queen and Country
I am watching this BBC documentary and find myself starting to get tearful at some points. It really does amaze me how much of an impact the Queen has on me - that she has on everyone, really.
Watching the Britannia get decommissioned made me want to cry freely, and I just about did. Her Majesty looked so sad, and as you saw her at the ceremony there were flashbacks to a toddler Charles and tow-haired Anne frolicking on the yacht’s deck. It was like a home to HM and her family, for about forty or so years! The place that she could actually kick back and relax and feel right at home, yet still travel the world. It must have been amazing.
Remember, anything that gives the Queen privacy and shields her family from the public once in a while is a place to be treasured. She is not Diana, Princess of Wales, always seeking the limelight for validation. Nor is the Queen a politician, whose career could peak one year and then be gone the next, forever in obscurity. No, Elizabeth was placed into the public eye at a young age and there she has remained, whether she likes it or not.
Then you see her dancing with joy at a Ghillies’ Ball, and everyone is smiling and laughing. People interviewed for the documentary comment on how wonderful the Queen’s smile is and how it really lights up a room. And it’s true. I feel like I’m welling up again.
What a documentary! I can’t make it through 10 minutes without my tissues! Jerramy Fine, author of “Someday My Prince Will Come”, summed up these sorts of feelings very succinctly in her book. It was overwhelming and beautiful to be in London, and it was emotional. It was a strong pull of the heart and soul to get to this particular place, and it was magic. I feel that way, too, and I know that when I finally step in front of the gates of the Palace, I probably will cry. It will be overwhelming and it will be magical too, because the person that lives there is very special, irreplaceable, and she simply is what she is - a simple person with an enormous job to do, and she does it beautifully. Knowing that the Queen is there makes the harsh realities of the world a bit easier.
