The queen, apparently, should feel quite ashamed of herself. My grandmother was at great pains to inform me of this earlier this morning.
You see a very dear friend of our family turned 100 this week. And as many people know, when you turn 100, you get a letter from the queen. In fact, not only the queen, but the governor general, prime minister, leader of the opposition (federal), premier, leader of the opposition (state), local MP and just about every one else.
All the letters were warm and friendly, congratulating Vern on making it to 100 and making the kind of mild, witty comments about how much he must have seen and contributed in his lifetime to the city/state/country/commonwealth (depending on who the letter was from). Except for Lizzy’s letter. I am told it was terse, and didn’t even address him by his full name. My grandmother is mortified and terribly disappointed. I mean, what’s the point of living to 100, she says, if the queen is just rude in her letter.
Now call me silly, but I would have thought that getting any kind of hand signed missive from the Queen is pretty cool, but evidently, this is not the case amongst the blue rinse set. They want the letter to be personal
At least her outrage gave me something to laugh at in what has to have been the worst week of my life.
Great Grandma got letters from the Mayor and the Lois Hole the Lieutenant Governor. She’s got about 6 or 7 years to go before she gets a letter from the Queen though.
We, the Dopers, could send post cards or pictures of dopers holding a *Happy Birthday Vern * sign from Where ever for this friends incredible milestone.
I more than happily volunteer to send a Happy Birthday Greeting.
When my great-great-grandpa turned 100 he got a card with a standard form-greeting inside, only signed by the president (Reagan or Bush I, I can’t quite remember if he was born in 1887 or 1888.)
And, come to think of it, I’m not even sure if it was hand signed.
My bet is the queen is busy wondering if she’ll hang in there another 22 years (Go Lizzy! You can do it!) and have to write a very confusing and recursive letter.
To be fair, for a long time people wanted the royals to be terse and dignified. They’re not famous for their knockabout sense of fun - last time they tried that was during Edward’s appallingly ill-judged “It’s a Royal Knockout”. After he stomped off during the press conference, terse and dignified was about as far as they went until it got them into serious trouble at Diana’s death. After that the PR people went into overdrive and when the Queen Mum died aged 307, you could see that the whole thing had been stage-managed with the attention usually reserved for Westminster. One day the two princes were regaling us with tales of their great grandmother’s Ali G impressions… next day Charles was doing his level best to smile and talk animatedly about the best granny in the world.
Chances are that your mate’s card is one aspect of service which the Royals have yet to revamp for a new generation. Indeed, perhaps someone down there feels that if anyone wants the royals to stay terse and predictable, it’ll be people over 100. No matter. Your friend should hang onto his card as one of the last examples of the old-style monarchy. Within a few years the cards will probably have a cartoon Brenda on the front, and play “Rock Around the Clock” when you open them.
