The Queen
Why does Elizabeth II seem so odd to our contemporary culture?
I think it is because she has always placed duty first and personal happiness second. Everything we know about Queen Elizabeth, Helen Mirren’s portrayal notwithstanding, demonstrates this dedication. Her attitude is the antithesis of our egocentric culture.
When she was only 21 years old, she stated in a radio address, “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” It seems to have set the tone for her life.
Americans have long made fun of her for her simple taste and lack of concern for fashion, yet she determined never to be treated as a celebrity or fashion plate, consistently representing herself as a serious head of state and monarch, never playing to media or popular cult.
In this, many consider her to be rather remote and cold, simply because we do not understand the concept of decorum and dignity pertaining to her station in life, not to mention her obvious devotion to duty. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan once wrote of her, “the Queen has been absolutely determined all through. She is impatient of the attitude towards her to treat her as… a film star… She has indeed ‘the heart and stomach of a man’… She loves her duty and means to be a Queen.”
I believe her example is a good one for all of us, no matter our station in life, or nationality. The fulfillment of one’s duties in one’s state in life is the one penance Our Lord revealed to Sr. Lucia of Fatima that He “exacts and demands”. Elizabeth Windsor seems to have lived this maxim heroically.
