She surpasses a record set by her great-great grandmother, Victoria, at around 17:30 local time today.
63 years and 7 months. 23,226 days. Just another day in the life of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of the royal house of Windsor, also known as Queen Elizabeth II,
She has been Queen for my entire life.
Why should it matter? Why are we Americans making a fuss over this?
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution reads as follows:
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.This is also called the "Title of Nobility Clause".
Our citizens may not be able to accept a title of nobility, but nothing says they can't follow the activities of the British royal family with interest. And follow it many of our citizens do.
Elizabeth has outlasted 12 Prime Ministers. At 89, she still works a schedule that would exhaust many of our citizens. Whether she is worth her $58 million salary is for the British people, not we Americans, to judge.
There are those - called Republicans - who feel the monarchy should be abolished, that it is a tradition that has way outlived its usefulness.
I will leave it to the British people to debate whether Queen Elizabeth II should be their last monarch. In the United States, we made our decision over 200 years ago, deciding we would not shower our President with titles of grandeur.
I will be sorry when Elizabeth is no longer Queen - the end of an era, and another passing of an icon of my youth and adulthood.
This post is part of the #septemberchallenge hosted by Corinne of Everyday Gyaan. Please do read Corinne's post, and the posts of others in this challenge.
I still remember coverage of her coronation. It made a real impression on me as a child. Long live the Queen.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that the British ruled India and almost plundered our country, we too still have a fascination for their royalty. Indians have our own royalty too. Just smaller kingdoms. Post Independence, and when India became a Republic, they were all stripped of their royal status and some of their wealth made part of public property. But in their own regions, people still accord them much respect.
ReplyDeletevery neutral I like
ReplyDeleteI love your posts they are intriguing funny and fascinating. ."What a Queen" ;)
ReplyDeleteI know that there is talk about ending the monarchy. But I don't see it happening any time soon. Have you see how many people turn out to watch the parades and carriage passings? Every time you see at least a handful of people with the British flag painted on their faces.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying it would be an easy decision, and agree with you that as an American, it is really not any of my business anyway.
I am also an avid Anglophile. (I can't tell you how often I've watched some of those British comedies - even the ones from back in the 1970's and such.)
I heard about this last week. We shouldn't be surprised, considering that she became Queen at 26, and her mother lived to be something like 102. I'm sure she'll be around for many more years to come.
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