It’s kind of fascinating listening to all the comments about the passing of Queen Elizabeth. . .. And it’s probably one of those things that says more about the person making the comment, than of the person being commented on. And I guess the comments could fit into a couple of basic categories:
There are those that “mourn” her passing (which seems a little over the top considering she was in her 90s) and have deep respect for the whole institution of the Royal Family. . . . Then there are those who honor and pay sincere tribute to a prominent public figure who’s life they admire. . . Then there are those who routinely complain about any celebrity who dies that people make a big deal about it (“Just because a person is famous doesn’t make their lives any more important than anybody else’s goddammit!!!”). … Then there are the people who are generally annoyed by the whole concept of royalty to begin with (“They are just powerless, pointless symbols acting out this weird charade of a by-gone age.”) . . . Then there are the people who are royally pissed (pun intended) at everything the Royal Family represents to them; the history of British colonialism and global exploitation, and nothing would make them happier than seeing the queen and her whole wretched family eternally rotting in Hell for the sins of the English Empire.
Myself? I just follow, and enjoy, the Royal doings out of the corner of my eye, like an on-going soap opera or a reality TV show. It’s nothing I go out of my way to watch, or not watch. But I find the whole thing vaguely entertaining. I’m not going to break down and cry when Elton John sings his song about Princess Di (“He writes songs about dead blondes,” as Keith Richards put it). But I probably know more about the life of Princess Di than I intended to, or readily admit to (did I tell you the story about Princess Di’s late-night phone calls to her dear friend and confidánte Michael Jackson??) . . . And I like the preserved traditions of the whole thing. Nobody (with the possible exception of the Japanese) does pageantry and “pomp and ceremony” like the British. . . And it’s fascinating how you can follow the history of this family down through the centuries. It really is living history. I wish I could do that with my family (what a horror story that would be).
I guess the only other thing I have to add is:
RIP Queen Elizabeth
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