Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE

PLATINUM QUEEN: The Woman behind The Crown

QUEEN Elizabeth is known for her dedication to her royal duty, her composure and her stoicism.

In the words of the late Duke of Edinburgh, she has “the quality of tolerance in abundance”.

As a monarch of 70 years experience about to mark her Platinum Jubilee, her knowledge of constitutional matters, royal diplomacy and national life is unparalleled.

Not one for conflict, Elizabeth II dislikes direct confrontation and avoids making rash decisions.

She is considered cautious, conservative and a stickler for tradition.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

She was resolute after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, insisting the flagpole should remain bare above Buckingham Palace as was the tradition if the monarch was away.

But such was the public outcry that in the end, as a mark of respect, the Queen was advised to, and relented by flying the Union flag at half-mast over the Palace on the day of Diana’s funeral.

Her love of horses, dogs and outdoor life has been a constant, and she once told her riding instructor “had she not been who she was, she would like to be a lady living in the country with lots of horses and dogs”.

In public, the Queen keeps her emotions in check – none more so than when she sat alone, holding back her sorrow, as she mourned at Philip’s funeral.

But occasionally, the depth of her feelings has come to the surface.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Her eyes welled at the memorial service for the victims of the September 11 terror attacks in 2001, and at the decommissioning of her beloved Britannia in 1997.

She shed a tear in 2002 as she poignantly took the Queen Mother’s place just months after her death at the opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey.

Author Robert Hardman has told how the Queen cannot abide rudeness and discourages over-familiarity by staff, deploying a “cold stare” if anyone crosses the line.

Yet the Queen also has a lighter side.

She has a playful sense of humour, a quick wit, excellent comic timing, and is a talented mimic.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

When a group of American tourists encountered the headscarf-wearing Queen walking at Balmoral, failed to recognised her and asked whether she had ever met the Queen, the Queen quipped: “No, but he has,” gesturing to the policeman next to her.

In a BBC documentary in 2018 examining her coronation, she delighted royal fans by manhandling the heavy, priceless imperial state crown, pulling it towards her, turning it round and declaring: “This is what I do when I wear it.”

MUST SEE!..