GOD SAVE THE QUEEN/GOD SAVE THE KING - UPDATED YET AGAIN
A good friend and fellow plastic modeler (which is how we know each other) who is a “well-sourced” journalist over there and who over the years has demonstrated he really is “plugged in,” notified me around 0700 Pacific time this morning that Queen Elizabeth was actually dead. It took all this time for The Firm to "get their ducks in order" and make the announcement.
I once met Charles, back in 1977 when he came to Sacramento to visit Governor Moonbeam on a November Saturday. My friend and I had been out playing in our flying club's Stearman, and when we landed back at Sacramento Executive Airport, the tower asked us to taxi over and park in front of the tower/admin building. When we got there, there were several other "interesting" airplanes parked, but we were the only antique biplane.
Soon Charles & Co. arrived after their meeting (Jer’ serving him sprouts sandwiches for lunch was not a hit - somebody should have reminded him that FDR gave George VI hot dogs when they first met) and were headed to their helicopter to return to San Francisco, when he spotted us and escaped the entourage to come over.
We had a nice 10 minutes "talking airplanes" (he was an Fleet Air Arm pilot when in the Royal Navy, and even landed F-4 Phantoms on HMS Ark Royal, quite a feat since that carrier was about 2/3 the size of an American carrier). He was very knowledgeable about our Stearman and even had some intelligent comments about the fabric work, something only fellow antique restorers ever pay attention to.
I suspected we were the one interesting thing he had run across that day. One of his minions was trying to "move things along" for most of that time, but Charles wanted some time doing something he actually liked. It wasn't so much a pair of Americans and the Prince of Wales as it was three pilots yakking - aviation is a great “leveler.”
His reign will be short, as was that of Edward VII, and for the same reason. Then William will take over and save the day for the monarchy.
Queen Elizabeth was successful because she learned from her father George VI how to wet a finger and “find the wind,” as she demonstrated when she “came around” to the public when Princess Diana was killed. Queen and Princess had not had a good or close relationship, and at first the royal family didn’t have a public response to the event, which got them in political hot water until Elizabeth came out to the public memorial outside the palace and paid her respects to Diana and talked to some of the people there. Saved the day.
Contrary to “popular history,” Edward VIII wasn’t the only member of the British Royal Family to get it wrong about Hitler, though he got it more wrong than the others to the point there was real fear that if the Germans invaded successfully, he would be willing to be re-installed as a Quisling King; Churchill made sure to make him Governor of the Bahamas to get him well away from Britain because of that.
George VI, unlike his later portrayals, was not happy to have Churchill become Prime Minister in May 1940. Like a lot of the British upper class, he had been a supporter of Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement (there was a lot of “Vichy” floating around theBritish upper classes before the Battle of Britain brought them to their senses). He wanted Lord Halifax to become Prime Minister and negotiate an “agreement” with Hitler that would save the Empire (how any of them thought that possible is proof that just because you’re rich and powerful doesn’t mean you can’t be an idiot), but the last Prime Minister to come from the House of Lords had been Lord Salisbury 50 years earlier, and it wasn’t politically possible. George VI then demonstrated that ability to “find the wind” that has marked every successful British monarch, and became the King we all know in popular history.
His daughter learned that lesson well, which is why even Americans like me who are descended from the ones who gave her ancestor George III “the boot” liked her.
UPDATE: For those who may be interested in What Happens Now, here is some information that was published over at Esquire about the procedure:
On second day after the Queen's death, Prince Charles will be proclaimed the new official reigning monarch. The funeral is expected to be held 10 days after her death. Since she died in Balmoral, which is her Scottish home, Operation UNICORN will be enacted. Queen Elizabeth's coffin will be brought to London by royal train. The state funeral will be held on the tenth day of her death at Westminster Abbey. Mourners will be permitted to pay their respects at Westminster Hall for 23 hours a day while her body rests there. The funeral will honor her long extraordinary life as one of the most important monarch's British history. The queen will be laid to rest in the castle’s King George VI Memorial Chapel.
The Queen, it's worth noting, just celebrated her Platinum Jubilee over the summer to celebrate her 70-year-anniversary on the throne. It was a joyous fete in the United Kingdom, with the public taking bank holidays to honor the Queen. In her message to the public on her Accession Day, which is the day that a monarch takes office, she pondered the future and reflected on her reign. "As I look ahead with a sense of hope and optimism to the year of my platinum jubilee, I am reminded of how much we can be thankful for," the Queen said. "These last seven decades have seen extraordinary progress socially, technologically and culturally that have benefitted us all; and I am confident that the future will offer similar opportunities to us and especially to the younger generations in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth."
Elsewhere in the address, the Queen said what she hopes will happen upon her death. "And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service." she said.
A FURTHER UPDATE - turns out there is additional stuff that happens since she died in Scotland:
The most elaborate plans are for what happens if she passes away at Balmoral, where she spends three months of the year. This will trigger an initial wave of Scottish ritual. First, the Queen’s body will lie at rest in her smallest palace, at Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, where she is traditionally guarded by the Royal Company of Archers, who wear eagle feathers in their bonnets. Then the coffin will be carried up the Royal Mile to St Giles’s cathedral, for a service of reception, before being put on board the Royal Train at Waverley station for a sad progress down the east coast mainline. Crowds are expected at level crossings and on station platforms the length of the country – from Musselburgh and Thirsk in the north, to Peterborough and Hatfield in the south – to throw flowers on the passing train. (Another locomotive will follow behind, to clear debris from the tracks.) “It’s actually very complicated,” one transport official told me.
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We have enjoyed watching many a show about Elizabeth and have always admired her character, courage and commitment. But for the life of me, I just don't understand the point of a monarchy that is purely ceremonial. I guess that's because I find "ceremony" to be a waste of precious human consciousness and resources. Ye gads. Pomp, circumstance and fancy coaches make me crazy.
That being said, she was quite a woman and it's too bad there isn't another one to succeed her. Most men have not done so well in these roles. May she rest in peace.
Someone made a very important point on BBC this morning while they were getting the public ready to hear the news that the Queen had really already died!
It was this: the word "duty" is usually associated with Elizabeth, and rightly so as she was a woman of long duty. The commentator suggested another word, " humility". By that he meant that she understood the symbolic nature of her role and kept to it. She did not conflate the role with her self and kept her private self as private as possible. She did not act out in public or take on airs but did her work, day after day. In tfg, we had the opposite model-- a leader who conflated the state and his role with his incredibly dysfunctional self.
I am not a monarchist but I will miss this Queen, who has been there for all but 7 years of my life. I do think ,though, that with the end of this Second Elizabethan Era and the final royal link to WWII, the UK is on the cusp of big change in the royal sphere. It will be interesting to watch. Lots of ritual to go through before we get there though! And I join you in sincerely hoping that Charles, as King, will be influential in the urgent work of saving the planet! May Elizabeth rest in peace.