70 Years Of Feminism
Queen Elizabeth II has been on the Throne for 70 years as of today…
February 6th is the day Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth, and in 1952 her late husband is the one who broke the news to her. Philip told Elizabeth, because one sure way to move up the ladder in a monarchy is to have one’s parent die. King George VI took over after his brother, Edward VIII, gave up on being king to be with the woman he loved (Edward should have made sure Wallis felt as euphoric as he).
George VI is the same king portrayed in The King’s Speech, and yes he smoked far too many cigarettes and contracted lung cancer, but he kept his dire diagnosis from his family to protect them (in his mind). Anyway, George and Elizabeth were two peas in a pod, and she loved her papa dearly. Being queen comes at a cost.
This working mother of four, managed to lead a country and the Commonwealth, doing a man’s job way before the feminist movement sprang to life. Elizabeth navigated a man’s world and dealt with a husband who suddenly felt sidelined in his twenties. Yes, the Queen had nannies and a cook, but the lady ran a country and the Commonwealth. She works every single day except Christmas, and her dear father knew what demands his death would bring to his daughter’s life.
Maybe that’s why he said nothing to Princess Elizabeth as she boarded a plane for a long tour overseas. Who wants to make their children’s lives worse? Because being a queen while mothering two toddlers has to be difficult at best, and Elizabeth only added Andrew and Prince Edward to the family after the worst of the learning curve was over in the 1960s.
People say Prince Charles has been ready to be king for over 50 years, but will he want that call? The one saying his mama has died? Does Prince William want to be king sooner rather than later?
Do any of us know what it’s like to not move within our job until a parent has died? Not many, I’ll wager.
On this day when the Queen usually spends the day thinking about her dad and how this all started for her, I wonder if she would have gladly spent fewer years as a queen just to have her dad around longer. Her mother lived until she was 102, and her dad made it to 56. That’s a wide span of years, and Queen Elizabeth’s mother attended Princess Diana’s funeral. That thought alone blows my mind.
I hope Queen Elizabeth makes it to 102 with good health accompanying her. By then Charles will be nearing 80. I hope the troublemakers in the royal family are placed on a back burner and left to themselves, meaning Harry and that wife of his, and Prince Andrew. The rest of the royals do a fine job of representing the monarchy, and I’ve long thought Princess Anne rocks. I admire Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge and Camilla, who will called a queen when this current queen retires (passes away).
Let us raise a cup of tea (the Queen prefers Darjeeling) or a glassful of iced gin to Queen Elizabeth II. We are watching history being made with every passing day, and she did a damn fine job of crashing through that glass ceiling. Elizabeth I would have been proud, and perhaps a bit jealous that this queen did marry and did have children. But then Prince Philip was a pretty good husband.
Long live Queen Elizabeth! And as the British anthem goes, “God save the glorious Queen”. I’m sure he will.
