The Queen and Me

I believe it should be "The Queen and I" but oh well. And just to clarify, I checked, and this image is available for non-commercial uses.

Today is the Queen's 60th anniversary of her ascension to the throne - which also means, sadly, that it's the 60th anniversary of her father's death. I thought I would take this opportunity to expand a little bit on my interest in the British monarchy.

Of course I think the colonization of other countries by Britain was terrible. To be fair, they weren't the only people doing it. It was kind of a meme at the time - find some place "un-civilized" and civilize it. Everyone's doing it - get on board! Obviously it led to a lot of lost cultures, a lot of death and a lot of heartache. Eventually they figured it out and let people do their own thing (mostly - I'm sure you could find people who would argue that point).

Besides all that, tho, I do appreciate the royals. I think it's neat that Queen Elizabeth II has this amazing wealth of knowledge that she can share with her prime ministers. I wish we had someone like that here, someone who was officially non-partisan who could just advise our presidents on policies by viewing things that had happened in the past - BECAUSE YOU WERE ACTUALLY THERE.

I find it really interesting that the kings between her and Victoria all died from smoking, but it still took at least another ten years after her father's death before people were like "oh, hmm, cigarettes are bad." I find it interesting that Edward the VII's first son died, and so they moved on to his second, George the V - and later his first son abdicated so they moved on to his second, who became George the VI. I find it interesting that poor Victoria hated childbirth, but had nine children.

In some ways, I guess, it's not much more than a soap opera - except that these people have enormous power (or did) and pressure (always). It's amazing to me that there's such an easy bloodline to trace from William, who is my age, to William the Conquer in 1066.

Can I just mention the Bayeux Tapestry real fast? When I was planning a trip to Europe back in 2005 with my boyfriend at the time, his mom told us we had to see the tapestry, and while planning the trip, our trip to the museum holding it fell on my birthday. I threw an uppity fit (because I did that sort of thing in those days, like every 22 year old does). So the plans changed, and we visited Paris Disneyland for my birthday instead. BUT THE JOKE'S ON ME 'CAUSE THE TAPESTRY WAS WAY COOLER. Look it up on the site I'm best friend's with, Wikipedia. It is awesome sauce.

Anywho, I would love to visit London for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee - and because I have a lovely friend who currently resides in olde London-Towne. But a) I've developed a fear of flying (which I've recently decided is PTSD from a terrible experience) and b) I've already been to London, and I feel like, if I'm gonna spend money to fly to another country and stay and such, I want to see someplace new. But it would be lovely to be part of the celebration, and see my fabulous friend.

For now I'll content myself to the British pub down the street - and the possibility that my friend will come visit the states before too long.