Miranda Devine: Queen Elizabeth II a giant among world leaders
In contrast to the current crop of pygmies we have as world leaders, Queen Elizabeth II is the last remaining island of permanence and stability in our age, writes Miranda Devine.
Opinion
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In a world of flux and growing peril, there has always been the Queen. A giant against the feckless Western leaders of the 21st century, her stature has only grown with every passing year.
Now she has contracted the dreaded Covid-19, at a high-risk age, it’s not surprising to hear she is planning to soldier on and, as The Sun’s headline “HRH to WFH” put it – Work From Home.
Technically she is HM, of course: Her Majesty, Queen of the Greatest Generation, who lived through two World Wars and the Great Depression.
Ascending to the throne unexpectedly early, at 25 with two small children, after the death of her beloved father King George VI, can’t have been easy. But, unlike some of the younger generation of royals, she never has wallowed in self-pity, engaged in narcissistic drama or shirked her duty.
A loving marriage to Prince Philip that lasted 73 years until his death last April must have allowed her to keep her sense of humour and perspective intact when the royal family was tested by a series of anni horribiles – bum years.
She remains the epitome of the British stiff upper lip and the great pre-therapy virtue of keeping control of your emotions. Somehow, those very unfashionable qualities have not brought her unstuck. In fact, they have been a source of strength and independence.
After all the hysteria and hypochondria of the Covid-19 pandemic, her no-nonsense example of stoic just-getting-on-with-it are a tonic.
At 95, she reportedly is triple-vaxxed, and is receiving the best medical treatment, although there is no indication she is taking ivermectin, despite A Current Affair insinuating so with images of the drug slyly inserted into their TV package about the Queen’s illness.
Whatever her therapeutic regime, the Queen is working through what the Palace says are “mild cold-like symptoms” and is expected to continue “light duties” over the next week.
You don’t have to be a forelock-tugging monarchist to admire the woman and wish she would keep on keeping on for another 70 years.
In contrast to the current crop of pygmies we have as world leaders, she is the last remaining island of permanence and stability in our age. She will leave a yawning chasm when she is gone.
That ghastly prospect must be on her mind, especially after the relatively new widow suffered uncharacteristic bouts of ill-health late last year.
She looked frail and was seen leaning on a walking stick when she met two military attaches at Windsor Castle a few days before Sunday’s Covid diagnosis.
Being a pragmatic person, in anticipation of the inevitable, the Queen has been busy clearing up loose ends the last few months.
First item of business was to deal with the unsavoury mess created by her second son, and reputed favourite, Prince Andrew, who has been beset by allegations he sexually abused a teenage Virginia Giuffre 20 years ago at the homes of convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Last month the Queen stripped Andrew, 61, of his military honours and duties, and his HRH title. This month, she reportedly helped him pay A$17million to settle Giuffre’s civil case.
Next, she granted her oldest child and heir, Prince Charles, 73, his fervent wish by endorsing his second wife Camilla as the next Queen Consort.
“When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me,” she wrote on February 5.
“It is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort.”
The Queen’s imprimatur is a godsend for Camilla, who famously continued her affair with Charles while he was married to the late Princess Diana, causing the betrayed wife to complain, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
A good chunk of the British public still has not quite forgiven the “Rottweiler” for what she did to the “People’s Princess”, so her future title was uncertain but the Queen’s blessing removes all doubt.
As for Charles, he has been worming his way back into the public’s good books by toning down the nuttier pronouncements of his youth, stepping up the pace of royal duties, and enduring with good grace the barbs from his estranged son Harry, who is under the spell of an ambitious American wife, Meghan Markle.
While diehard Diana fans would prefer Charles step aside for his more popular son, William, the Queen’s note makes clear that Charles will be the next HM.
While her approval rating with the public is an astonishing 76 per cent, according to a YouGov poll taken last year, William is the next most popular, at 66 per cent. Charles trails at third place with 45 per cent while the once popular Harry scrapes in at 39 per cent.
For Australia, the republican sentiment which has been dormant during the Queen’s reign will likely spring to life when Charles takes over and a window of ennui ensues before the exemplary young William and Kate take the throne.
But the Republican movement has never understood Australia’s constitutional entanglement with the monarchy is about much more than one person, as admirable as she may be.
So, let’s wish Her Majesty a speedy recovery and avoid that unpleasantness for as long as possible.
Miranda Devine is in New York to cover current affairs for The Daily Telegraph
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