[QUOTE=Mangosteen]
How much of a “personal life” does she really have? She certainly can’t go out in public. How often does she have to go out and make appearances? Is her whole day “scheduled” everyday? Friends can’t just stop by and see her ( if having “friends” is even possible as a Queen.)
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The old dear is spending a lot more time at Windsor and Balmoral than she used to. She is in her eighties after all, and her husband is older than she is. I imagine that she wants to hang around long enough to make sure that the reign of King George VII is as short as possible.
[QUOTE=OpalCat]
She’s a little stuffy when she first gets here, but after she has a few beers and we’re into the second or third episode of My Name is Earl she’s laughing with the rest of us and judging the burping contests. She does insist on the best chair, though, but I can excuse that because she’s old.
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Yeah, she’s pretty cool, but if you go out with her get your own drinks. You’ll buy a round of shots, but when it’s her turn she’s nowhere to be seen.
[QUOTE=Larry Borgia]
Yeah, she’s pretty cool, but if you go out with her get your own drinks. You’ll buy a round of shots, but when it’s her turn she’s nowhere to be seen.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, there is a strict protocol for belly shots, you’d be surprised!
I knew a Member of Parliament many years ago who had met her several times. Despite the fact that my friend was hardly a fan of the Royal Family, he said she was quite friendly, actually seemed to listen to what people had to say and responded with some intelligent and provocative questions.
I would imagine she didn’t grow up having a lot of girlfriends sit around her bed and talk about boys while doing each other’s hair - so that might have something to do with her lack of earthiness when dealing with the common folk. Just recently there was a special on television about kids of billionaires and one girl admitted that while she was a kid growing up, she just assumed everyone had a 12 bedroom summer home where you went horseback riding and played tennis.
[QUOTE=Nawth Chucka]
Thanks, I had to read the **entire ** Wiki article on Charles before finding out why he’d use George.
Now I have to know why they wanted to call Henry Harry?? (Wiki doesn’t address this distinction.)
[/QUOTE]
I think Harry is just a nickname for Henry, so it would be no different from naming someone Edward or Theodore and calling them Ted.
Worth reading despite its strong monarchist slant and datedness: Majesty, by Robert Lacey.
Queen Elizabeth was raised to hold a particular set of values: duty to country, need to avoid any expression of personal feeling, stoicism, urbane warmth towards all with whom she comes in contact. These values have shaped her every waking moment, her role as queen, her relationships with family, etc. I doubt that any living person except possibily Philip really knows the real person behind the royal mask.
[QUOTE=DMark]
Just recently there was a special on television about kids of billionaires and one girl admitted that while she was a kid growing up, she just assumed everyone had a 12 bedroom summer home where you went horseback riding and played tennis.
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[QUOTE=Struan]
Oh, do tell. I seem to mention with dreary regularity that I know an Earl who was some sort of page to QEII when he was younger. He’s one of the nicest people anyone could ever meet, but talking about the Royal family is an obvious no-no. So spill!
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Sorry. Nothing to spill. Just her clinical opinion. And I’ve never met any royalty, just a few MPs. (Who, to hijack the thread, danced around the question and then got down to “Soooo…did you vote for Bush?” The evening went much better when I said no.)
To come back to the OP…sortof…I think she was…is …a better woman than, say Princess Di. And showed a lot of character for not giving in to the cult of personality. Probably was short sited (and not nice) but she took the high road.
Readers of this thread may be interested to know that the Queen’s nanny wrote a tell-all memoir…I haven’t read it, but surely it will give some insight into the OP’s question
“Her Majesties’ a pretty nice girl but she doesn’t have a lot to say
Her Majesties’ a pretty nice girl but she changes from day to day.
I want to tell her I love her a lot but I’ve gotta get a belly full of wine…”
Ok my mother thinks she isn’t but the Beatles think she is.
Who do I trust, the psycologist or the rock n’ roll band? Well the band of course rock n’ roll singers know everything.
I recall a short interview with Edward in Time magazine a year or two ago. He said in family settings, when she’s not being Queen, she’s a warm, funny person. He then recalled a time when a servant accidentally pulled a chair out form under her, landing her on her bottom. Rather than getting upset at the footman, she made a quick joke at her own expense, and sat herself.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
Nice or not nice is irrelevant. She has had to set aside her personal feelings in order to be successful in her double life as an assassin for British Intelligence. “I’m doing this for me and country,” she sighs sadly as she puts a bullet into yet another tin-crown mudhole dictator.
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Not a lot of people know it but Liz actually designs and tests those sneaky weapons for Bond, James Bond…::cue Bond Music::
[QUOTE=betenoir]
“Her Majesties’ a pretty nice girl but she doesn’t have a lot to say
Her Majesties’ a pretty nice girl but she changes from day to day.
I want to tell her I love her a lot but I’ve gotta get a belly full of wine..”
[/QUOTE]
Oh. Gosh. I always thought it was “I imagine she’s,” not “Her Majesty’s”.
(goes off to re-examine philosophical foundation of life)
Let me now how your fundumental philosophes have changed.