Thursday, March 17, 2005

monument to the queen mother planned

plans were revealed today for the construction of a monument to the UK's queen elizabeth, the queen mother, who passed away almost three years ago at the age of 101.

according to the telegraph, the monument is probably going to stand at the vicinity of the monument to her husband, the late king george VI in london and perhaps a fountain will also be built. hopefully not the kind of fountain that was built for diana at hyde park--a fountain that some thought wasn't dignified enough and which proved to be dangerous to kids.

now why should i, a republican (with a small "r") care enough about this that i should blog about it? well, i had the chance several years ago to read a biography about her. and i was quite impressed by her "coolness." i mean that in the most positive sense. she kept her cool when her brother-in-law, king edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry the twice-divorced mrs. wallis simpson, thereby thrusting her husband, the stuttering prince albert, then duke of york, and herself onto the throne; she kept her cool as she and her husband saved the throne at the wake of the abdication; she rallied the people of london during the nazi bombings; she was cool when the whole fracas over her daughter margaret and peter townsend was in full swing during the 1950's; she was unperturbed when the whole charles-and-diana saga was going on; and she presented a calm and soothing presence at other difficult events in the life of her family and her country. one wonders how she would have reacted to charles' decision to marry camilla, a divorced woman, evoking the jarring events of the abdication.

anyway, it is to be a monument to a woman who devoted her life to duty and to displaying the best that is british.


queen elizabeth at the balcony of buckingham palace after germany's surrender: hitler once called her "the most dangerous woman in europe."

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