# The Queen should be ashamed of herself **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268 "2004-07-22T00:24:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/1 "2004-07-22T00:24:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/2 "2004-07-22T00:27:15Z")
You know how bitter queens can be. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/3 "2004-07-22T00:34:47Z")
Heck at 90 you get some decent recognition too. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/4 "2004-07-22T00:43:21Z")
The tabloids would love this story. They’d probably pay her 50K for the original letter. …just in case she wants a little payback. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/5 "2004-07-22T01:24:07Z")
Hehehe! Now there’s an idea! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/6 "2004-07-22T03:19:59Z")
In the U.S., turning 100 means you get a rotund weatherman to mention you on some national morning TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/7 "2004-07-22T03:40:44Z")
Hell, she wants happy letters? 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. My email is jfarndt(at) [gmail.com](http://gmail.com) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/8 "2004-07-22T07:07:14Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/9 "2004-07-22T10:10:35Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/10 "2004-07-22T11:20:35Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Hell, she wants happy letters? > > 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. > > My email is jfarndt(at) [gmail.com](http://gmail.com) Sames. behrendorff [at] [gmail.com](http://gmail.com) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/11 "2004-07-22T12:51:16Z")
::::bump:::: ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/12 "2004-07-22T12:59:56Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Hell, she wants happy letters? > > 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. > > My email is jfarndt(at) [gmail.com](http://gmail.com) Ditto. gingerofthenorth(at) hotmail (dot)com ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/13 "2004-07-22T18:36:21Z")
How long before they skip doing it at 100 and bump it up to 120? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/14 "2004-07-22T19:34:03Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > The tabloids would love this story. They’d probably pay her 50K for the original letter. > > …just in case she wants a little payback. 😛 ‘The Sun’ would love that story. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/15 "2004-07-22T19:35:50Z")
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](http://members.tripod.com/~royalty09/knockout.html)”. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/16 "2004-07-22T19:44:41Z")
I’m sorry, I misread the OP and thought it was grandma’s 100th, but no, it was “Vern”. You ought to let Jim Varney know about this. He’s the guy who did the “Hey Vern” TV commercials, maybe he’d record something special. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/17 "2004-07-22T19:47:38Z")
…and how long before you get an EMAIL from the queen 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/18 "2004-07-22T19:53:21Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I’m sorry, I misread the OP and thought it was grandma’s 100th, but no, it was “Vern”. > > You ought to let Jim Varney know about this. He’s the guy who did the “Hey Vern” TV commercials, maybe he’d record something special. 😉 That’s going to be very, very difficult in that Jim Varney died in February 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/19 "2004-07-22T19:55:08Z")
> [@](#): > > You ought to let Jim Varney know about this. He’s the guy who did the “Hey Vern” TV commercials, maybe he’d record something special. I doubt it seeing as how he is really f-ing [dead](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001815/)😉 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268/20 "2004-07-22T19:57:40Z")
damn you **plnnr**! But I had a link [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queen-should-be-ashamed-of-herself/256268.md?page=2)