David Dawson, Lucian Freud painting the Queen (2001)
United Kingdom Government Art Collection, London
In the United Kingdom we are starting the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of HM The Queen.
She is the second longest reigning British Monarch. We hope that she will break the record of her ancestor, Queen Victoria by many years
When she began her reign in 1952, Harry Truman was President of the USA.
For most Brits have never known a Monarch other than Queen Elizabeth and most would agree with the commentator in The Daily Telegraph who wrote:
"How lucky we are to have the Queen as head of state, for to be a subject of Elizabeth II is to have won first prize in the lottery of life.
In 1993 US Senator Pat Moynihan noted in his book Pandaemonium that “there are today just eight states on earth which both existed in 1914 and have not had their form of government changed by violence since then.”
Elizabeth II is queen of four of them (the others being Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa and the USA)."
Damian Thompson writes in his blog today, "The Queen's Christian faith puts our bishops to shame".
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing of King George VI's death as a schoolboy, wondering what what the future would bring. It has witnessed a remarkable example of fortitude and service which few, if any, have managed to emulate, God bless her.