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Few of us can imagine holding a job for 70 years. Some might not even imagine being married for that long. But Elizabeth II has held down the job as Queen of the United Kingdom for 70 years now. And we at Victory Girls salute her on this her platinum jubilee.
Yes, I know, a lot of you will say Who cares? Wasn’t the American Revolution all about getting rid of the monarchy? After all, we didn’t need no stinking king telling us what to do. And that goes for any queen, too.
That’s true. But if we dismiss Queen Elizabeth as just another one of those spoiled rotten royals who are basically worthless anyway, we lose a sense of just how marvelous this 95-year-old woman is.
Her life has been about duty to her country. Not about power, nor wealth, nor even her family. During her long time on the British throne, she has placed the welfare of her beloved England and its Commonwealth above all else. She’s not just Queen of England — Elizabeth is England. And that’s something that we Americans have a hard time wrapping our heads around.
As she said to the British people in a radio broadcast on her 21st birthday:
“I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.”
'I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.'
On her twenty-first birthday, in a speech broadcast on the radio from Cape Town, The Queen (then Princess Elizabeth) dedicated her life to the service of the Commonwealth. pic.twitter.com/0URU2tEPj8
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 9, 2020
That’s pretty profound stuff for a 21-year-old. Even our presidents serve the nation for four, maybe eight years, tops. But never their whole life. And even those who dedicate their lives to a career in our military eventually retire, usually after 20 years of service.
But an entire lifetime? Elizabeth, however, a devout Christian, epitomizes the words of Jesus in Luke 12:48: Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required. . .
Elizabeth was a young teenager when World War II broke out. But she and her family didn’t flee Buckingham Palace, and was even in the Palace when it was bombed in 1940. Elizabeth also accompanied her father, King George, as he visited hospitals, factories, troops, and bombed-out areas of England. Later she became the first female member of the Royal Family to serve in the military, training as a truck mechanic.
Credit: John W. Schulze/flickr/CC BY 2.0.
Princess Elizabeth became Queen of the United Kingdom while she was in Nairobi, Kenya. She had taken the place of her beloved father, King George, on a tour of the Commonwealth since he was battling cancer. But when he passed away in his sleep on February 6, 1952, she immediately acceded to the throne. She was not yet 26 years old.
On June 2, 1953, her coronation was held with all the associated pomp and majesty. Remember again, she was still a very young woman, only in her late twenties.
Coronation Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II pic.twitter.com/efVFVwgtCZ
— Royal Family & (@RoyalsFamily999) June 2, 2020
Elizabeth has had a particularly fond relationship with the United States, having met every president during her reign, with the exception of Lyndon Johnson. Her favorite among them? We don’t know for sure, but it appears that Ronald Reagan may hold that honor, since she granted him an honorary knighthood in 1989.
Then, in 2015, the Queen became the longest reigning monarch in Britain, having beat the longevity of Victoria, who had been on the throne for 64 years.
But being queen has had its challenges as well. She called the year 1992 the “annus horribilis” when she witnessed the very public collapse of three of her children’s marriages, including that of Prince Charles and Diana. Also in the same year, fire damaged her home at Windsor Castle.
Yet 2021 has also been sort of a “annus horribilis” redux for the Queen, as her beloved husband Prince Philip died at age 98. Moreover, her grandson Prince Harry stepped down from his royal duties due to the rift between him, his wife Meghan Markle, and the Royal Family. (Don’t get me started on those two. As Piers Morgan recently wrote about Markle: I wouldn’t trust Meghan “Princess Pinocchio” Markle . . . to make me a cup of tea, let alone preach to the world about truth and honesty.)
But the worst of the worst was the Prince Andrew scandal, with his links to Jeffrey Epstein through whom he procured teenagers for sex.
Prince Andrew will face two-day grilling by Virginia Roberts' lawyers in March https://t.co/DwvQXLzlLJ
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) February 5, 2022
In 1977, Queen Elizabeth marked her silver jubilee, having been on the throne for 25 years. At a lunch, she made this speech:
“My Lord Mayor, when I was twenty-one I pledged my life to the service of our people and I asked for God’s help to make good that vow. Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgement, I do not regret nor retract one word of it.”
Now, as she celebrates her platinum jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne, the Queen has continued to inspire the world through her devotion to her country. How many more years she will have to reign is in God’s hands. But even as proud Americans, we can admire her loyalty, her stamina in good times and bad, and how she embodies that very British slogan from World War II: Keep Calm and Carry On.
Featured image: From Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. BiblioArchives/flickr/cropped and enhanced/CC BY 2.0.
Joe R. says: She’s afraid to die because she’s got no bench.
Deborah B says: She signed her platinum Jubilee message as “Your servant”. This is a humble and sincere message that struck me. How nice if all our leaders believed this and acted thusly.
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