The Monarchy, the Legacy, and the Future

Tuesday 9 April 2002 marked the formal end of an era for the British Monarchy. On that day the Queen Mother was laid to rest. During much of the last century she represented to the world the Iimage Britain meant to project of itself. In 1923 the country was plagued by many problems as a result of the first world war. The soon-to-be Dutchess of York Elizabeth demonstrated her belief in an eventual return to prosperity by laying her bridal flowers on the Tumb of the Unknown Soldier. In 1936-37 the country was plagued by a Constitutional crisis; the result was that this Lady who never imagined herself as Queen took on the obligations of that role and helped to ensure the respect, titles, and honors formerly held by Queen Mary (the wife of King George V) remained. In 1940 Britain was again at war; although the palaces were bombed and debris and carnage lay in the streets, the then-Queen Elizabeth refused to follow the example set by other European royalty and wait out the war in exile. The extent of that display of national allegiance endeared her forever to her subjects. By the end of that same decade, the Empire was gone, and although she was no longer Empress of India and of the rest of the vast realm Britain once ruled, she never lost her grandeur.

In 1952 when King George VI died, a very curious Royal arrangement existed: There were three Queens, but only one had the true powers of that title. Upon her accession to the throne in February 1952, Queen Elizabeth II shared the title of Queen with her mother and with her aunt Queen Mary. The reason the reigning Queen Elizabeth II has II in her title rather than III is that the Queen Mother (AKA Queen Elizabeth) was denied inclusion in the numerical hierarchy because she was simply the spouse of the actual monarch.

Royalty and scandal seem very integrated concepts. Where there is royalty, there is usually more than sufficient palace intrigue. Although she came to the throne amid the abdication crisis, and although divorce and other controversies have marked her grandson thelikely future king, the Queen Mother some way or other managed to avoid becoming the focal point of any suspicious doings. No doubt there was plenty of awkwardness after Queen Elizabeth II was coronated; imagine the transition of being first in the receiving lines and having top priority at royal functions to taking rank behind your daughter. But the Queen Mother relied on the same characteristics of humor and resourcefulness that helped her and her husband to lead the country through the abdication crisis and the second world war; she created a new role for herself, a role that had not existed in that manner since the early reign of Queen Victoria. That role and her unique adaptation of it further endeared her to her subjects.

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