The Queen on Her Platinum Jubilee: Her Reign, Part 1

Reinvention

It is said that her strength is vested in the fact that she has not changed very much, this despite strictures in the wake of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, that the monarchy had to reinvent itself if it was to survive. What the more radical modernisers either did not realise, or chose to ignore, is that Her Majesty has, since her accession, presided over a gradual process of evolution, although more cautious and long-view than the severest critics of the institution might wish.

She is well aware that much of what the people of her country have come to expect from monarchy would be destroyed if she took too much notice of those who agitate perpetually for the Royal Family to change its ways, and integrate totally with the ethos of ‘Cool Britannia’. The Queen firmly believes in continuity and the solid virtues, and change, she would argue, must be gradual and based on consensus.

Throughout a lifetime in which public opinion has swung between adulation, ridicule (such as Spitting Image) and indifference, and then back again, like the seasons, she has remained self-sufficient, proficient in the business of monarchy, and comfortable in its famil-iar routines: the official visits at home and overseas, receiving Ministers and ambassadors (incoming and outgoing); the ceremonial occasions, reading, understanding, and signing the State papers which follow her everywhere, even on holiday; in short, being a national figurehead.

As she herself has said: ‘I have a feeling that in the end probably training is the answer to a great many things. You can do a lot if you are properly trained – and I hope I have been.’

Biography

Professor Ben Pimlott, author of the acclaimed biography The Queen says that the stilted addresses, the gracious handshakes, dutiful pleasantries, the acknowledging waves, all belong to Her Majesty’s nature, as does an amused appraisal of the society in which she plays her unique part.

We all think that we are ‘on terms’ with the Queen, simply because her image has, over the years, been projected into our homes through countless photographs and film clips. That of course is a fallacy, because the private woman is known only to her family and a tight, incredibly discreet circle of tried and trusted intimates; the woman who at the end of her official day, when the last visitor has departed, and the last paper been signed, will kick off her shoes and relax by watching television; maybe complete one of the jigsaw puzzles she so much enjoys; perhaps play a game of Scrabble.

But we owe to Professor Pimlott a particularly vivid description of what happens once her door is shut on the outside world, when she might, to her intimates, act out an entertaining account of the people she had met. ‘Then’, he says, ‘the eyes would brighten and the face light up – flashing with feline humour at the expense of those who had just paid her court.’

The Queen, according to Princess Diana, uncharacteristically wept when the Royal Family buried Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, at Frogmore in April 1986. The other members of the Royal Family probably guessed what thoughts were occupying Her Majesty’s mind, because the woman they were interring, next to her husband, the former Edward VIII, was the catalyst for that wayward King’s abdication in December 1936, a dynastic crisis which at the stroke of a pen brought the 10-year-old Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary suddenly and unexpectedly close to the throne as heiress presumptive.