The Queen’s Birthday is today – her actual birthday – though it’s officially celebrated in June. She is now 83 years young.
I really admire The Queen – she is a very inspiring and calming figure. Britain is very lucky to have her.
The Daily Beast has a very thoughtful article reflecting on the Queen and her reign by Robert Lacey – The Queen’s Biographer.
From the Article:
What a cool, unemotional creature she is, yet what torrents of love Elizabeth II generates!
It is one of the strengths of Elizabeth II that she has never tried to be trendy. No mini-skirts for her in the swinging ’60s. She has stuck to the things in which she believes: doing her duty, the tenets of her unquestioning Anglican faith—and her dogs. Patricia Mountbatten once wrote to console her cousin and friend on the loss of a much-loved corgi, to receive by return screeds of hand-written, emotion-filled pages—rather more numerous and laden with feeling, Lady Mountbatten was forced to concede, than she had received about the tragic death of her father, Dickie, at the hands of the IRA.
The queen’s husband, Prince Philip (Dickie’s nephew), has always been her rock. Last week, the prince became Britain’s longest-ever serving consort to a monarch, notching up 57 years and 71 days, thus passing the record set by poor Queen Charlotte, whose fate was to be married to the mad King George III. Elizabeth was only 13 years old when she set eyes on Philip, a dashing young naval cadet at Dartmouth Royal Naval College, and the cautious young woman fell instantly in love with him. Their partnership has been another paradox—in public he defers to her; in private she defers to him—and another secret of her monarchy’s extraordinary survival. They are a thinking and creative couple, who between them have regenerated an institution that many thought would not outlive the 20th century.
Read the rest of Robert Lacey’s Article Here.
Happy Birthday Your Majesty – may you have many more to come!
Author Info - Jonathan is a consummate Anglophile with an obsession for Britain that borders on psychosis. He keeps Anglotopia running in his spare time, always dreaming of his next trip to England, wishing he lived there - specifically Dorset - and is always trying to figure out a way to move to England. It will happen one day. Keep up with him on Twitter here. Read more from this author
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Anglotopia was founded by Jonathan and Jackie Thomas for people who love Britain - whether it's British TV, Culture, History or Travel - we cover it all. Anglotopia was started to get us back to the UK for a trip and it did that in 2009. Now, the goal is for Anglotopia to make our dream of living in the UK a reality.
”God Save the Queen”
A poem written by
Mostafa Youssef
(Appointed to her majesty Queen Elizabeth II)
Shall I love you more than heaven
and praise you till eternity ?
as you are more splendid
and it’s nothing compared to your beauty
God fix your royal highness in my heart
By your blessings shall we have a start
On your birthday may I send you a tart
prepared with appreciation
doughed with admiration
cooked with passion
and sealed with adoration
Only for you ..
as a perfect example for our lord’s creation
Along your vast lands
to the sky we raise our hands
and chant and sing
\Send her victorious ..
Happy and glorious\
Even in the dark times
and you are a lioness in the war ..
We sing our hymns
and god’s mercy be pleased to pour
That’s not only in our town
which is loyal to your majesty
But for the lands of your crown
that illuminate your Elizabethan dynasty
From Churchill to Tony Blair
From Buckingham to Soho square
You will always be there
and show that about us you care
I haven’t seen something like your feminine glory
Really unique .. Absloutely rare
It can be a plot for a marvellous story
like an exquisite aroma in the air
Your ancestor haven’t ever brought such a devotional grace
for the house of Windsor
Since your noble vows that are eternally fair
As long as I am alive
I will say it again
and I know it is not in vain
In my heart and soul you fit in
you deserve a kind of verse
by humans can’t be written
and your charm shall never be hidden
as you are a synonym of Great Britain
I know .. It’s time
To say that your royal highness is sublime
and your noble crown will ever glitter in the sunshine
while your grace are quite devine
and your wonderous smile is very nice
that it doesn’t worth the world’s price
Oh, that is since many years ago…
I doubt if anyone wouldn’t know
So long the moon and the sun could rise and set
My tremendous love to thee would never be less a bit
No one can dare
say to me \Don’t care\
But I will always be proud
and express my infinite fancy
and make it concise .. precise
in the queenly phrase
\God save the Queen\
British people like to sneer at the Royal family but they dont usually have the same venom for the Queen. You have to be getting on for retirement to remember a time when she wasn’t Britains head of state and I think most Brits see her as part of the furniture and take her completely for granted. When she does go you watch the shock and outpouring that there will be. She represents Britain’s last link with another age and I think it will be more traumatic than people suspect.