THERE SHE GOES, HER ROYAL MAJESTY…
The death of the year and decade, and I reference a forgotten early 60s song. WTF is wrong with my brain???
Queen Elizabeth II, a woman who needs no introduction, has died aged 96. With her death comes one of the biggest historical moments of our lifetimes, and an indubitably surreal one given how 70 years’ worth of people have only known one monarch. It’s also surreal to think that someone whose reign began when the television was newfangled died in an age where the Funko Pop and Domino’s Pizza PR teams rushed to tweet their tributes.
No one foresaw Elizabeth as future monarch at the time of her birth, yet even as a toddler she emanated an aura of authority. It was expected that her uncle Edward VIII would lock out any possibility of the crown heading her way, only for his marriage to Wallis Simpson to rock the nation and force him to abdicate. Her timid father George VI took the throne and put Elizabeth next in line. She married Prince Philip in 1947, itself a contentious courtship due to his Greek blood. Her chimney-smoking father was ailing for years, and she was loitering about in a Kenyan treehouse when she learned that she was now Queen at only 25.
She took reign against a backdrop of a waning empire – India and other former British possessions gained their independence in the years prior. Months into her reign she embarked on a global tour of her territories, and was the first ruling monarch to visit Australia and New Zealand. Amidst early worries of a stodgy and stuffy image, Elizabeth remedied this by adding a personal touch to the monarchy, establishing the image of the royal family and even being recorded for a BBC doc engaging in everyday activities. Now highly popular, she positioned herself as a serene and stable figurehead who traveled the world and kept her head above the fray, and limited her consulting, advising, and warning political leaders to private. Careful not to rock the boat, she was more noted for her love of corgis and horses than for any provocative statements. Though her other half made up for that in spades, admittedly.
She wasn’t always an “above politics” figure, particularly in the 50s when Conservative leadership was still decided by the monarch. The Suez crisis tanked Anthony Eden’s premiership and presented Elizabeth with her first major challenge as Queen. She picked Harold Macmillan off the advice of Eden and several other ministers, and years later Macmillan’s successor Alec Douglas-Home off Macmillan’s advice alone. Her decisions were criticised given the small advisory panels. The Tories then developed their own mechanism to elect party leaders, though given their most recent decisions it might’ve been for the better if Her Maj was still picking them… On a world stage where more and more former colonies gained their independence, Elizabeth largely kept herself a diplomatic bystander, though was swept into disputes over Ian Smith’s minority rule Rhodesia as well as the constitutional crisis in Australia when John Kerr sacked Gough Whitlam.
The 1980s were marked by her sometimes-frigid relations with Thatcher, and increased press interest in the royal family. The 1990s were turbulent for Elizabeth as separations and divorces toiled her family, her wealth was scrutinised, and a fire broke out at Windsor Castle. She lamented 1992 as her annus horribilis. Her public image was at its lowest in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death, with her initial withdrawn reaction (never mind that she was consoling the family in private…) only forgiven by the public after she placated the masses with a mea culpa ahead of attending the funeral.
Through the 21st century she steered the royal family through loss – Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother in 2002, Prince Philip last year – and continued family turmoil. She continued to traverse the world, memorably setting foot in Ireland in 2011. She celebrated her Platinum jubilee earlier this year, and months ago surpassed King Bhumibol of Thailand to attain the second-longest reign in history. For all the jokes there are to be made about her dying right after meeting with BoJo and Liz Truss, there is no denying her dedication to her royal duty that she continued to perform her obligations until the very end.
For many, she was living history, an eternal constant, a sturdy rock who could always be relied upon no matter how uncertain the rest of the world was. Even those not keen on the monarchy cannot dispute it will be strange living in a world without her. And that the dogs were cute. Onward, King Charles III…
Queen Elizabeth II was likewise a forever constant in the DDP, being chosen in every year with available records. Her DDP biography, written in 2003 and carried over till the very end, notes that she’s “not a popular DDP pick, possibly because her late mother’s longevity suggests she may have 20 years left in her yet.” At this point it’s funnier to keep it that way. She’s since been a Drop 40 mainstay beginning in 2017, and her increased frailty after Prince Philip’s death made her feel properly mortal for the first time. 99 teams party like it’s ’99: among them JoeRam, the Pelican, Cancel My Appointments, Lard Bazaar, Star Dust, the old lady, and a smattering of joker picks.
Queen Elizabeth II
21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022, aged 96
99 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀 + 40 = 8 POINTS, 🃏 (x7) 16 POINTS)