Later in the morning I finally managed to post one of my assignments for my doula course:- whoo hoo!!
And I walked the dog.
Well it's been a special weekend for all royalists, the Queen has been reigning over us for 60 long years. I've got to admit, I'm a bit of a fan of the Royal family. I've grown up admiring the photos by Lord Snowden and Cecil Beaton and can remember afternoons spent with my Mum and auntie and cousins chatting about the Windsor family as though they were neighbours. I could even name some minor royals...and their children.
It will age me, but I remember Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding day. I was allowed to stay up late that night and I was glued to the screen. I wanted to be India Hicks, a flower girl who got to carry part of the longest train in the history of wedding dresses. I pestered my poor mother to buy all the magazines and newspapers so that I could keep a bit of history in the form of a scrapbook. I still have it.
As a little girl I had seen the Queen on a royal visit to Tasmania, but I had a closer encounter many years later. In my second year at the University of Tasmania there were a number new buildings and landscaping projects at the Launceston campus, and the Queen came to officially open them. I checked out the route and found where on campus she was having a walk-about so that I could maximise my chances of getting close-up. I arrived and assessed my options. Then across the road I spied the perfect Queen-catcher, an elderly woman and her 2 CORGIS!!!! It was a time before international terrorism so I ducked under the tape marking off the street and raced over to the decoy. I slotted myself next to this lovely lady and waited. Needless to say, it worked! The Queen strolled down the street talking to the Chancellor of the Uni and spied the corgi's. Well she smiled moved to the lady next to me and asked what the dog's names were and how old they were. The lady bobbed a dodgy little curtsy and answered Her Majesty. I could have touched the Queen, I could feel her breathing. She was wearing a turquoise dress coat and white gloves with a little black handbag in the crook of her arm. She was smaller than I thought she would be, she came up to my nose, and the most compelling blue eyes. Quite a moment.
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| we had a much smaller crowd in Launceston, but you get the idea |
Once when I was working and living in London I spied Princess Di when she was still officially in the Royal family. She was opening a shelter for the homeless behind St Martin's-in-the-Field. I caught a glimpse of the Princess, but the lasting impression was the paparazzi and their sliver ladders so urgent and relentless in getting their photos.
Last year's royal wedding gave me the opportunity to introduce my children to the Royal family. The children actually sat through the wedding and were very interested in the pomp and circumstance. Miranda loved the romance as well. The Diamond Jubilee has been blowing their mind's too. Ned wondered why all of the boats were following the Queen, and what was a Queen really?
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| all made out of bricks it can be viewed from the M7 in Sydney- cool isn't it! |
It's a hard one to explain, I just always seemed to take the Royal's for granted. In a time before Twitter and reality shows and instant YouTube celebrity the Royal family filled in a lot of those gaps, but with more tweed. However, the Queen has remained above it all, even if some of her brood have let her down at times. Her life and that of her family has been under scrutiny since she was 25 years old, and although she lives with enormous wealth and privilege her's is a life dedicated to duty and not of whim and fancy. I think she deserves our respect and admiration and all the festivities the Brit's can shower on her.
Three cheers for our Queen!!!
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