Queen Elizabeth II – My Thoughts and Memories

Hello, I'm Jill at engvid, and today I'd like to talk to you about Queen Elizabeth II,

giving my own personal perspective. So you may already have seen my video about the British

royal family, which was made in 2017, where I give some of the names and explain how they're

related to each other. And you may also have seen my video on the ages and periods of English

history made in 2021. And where I get a bit emotional towards the end of the video, when

I'm talking about the second Elizabethan age and the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

So I'm sure you've probably heard by now the news that Queen Elizabeth II died on the 8th of

September 2022. And that was quickly followed by lots of processions through the streets,

church services, a lying in state in London, where people could walk through and pay their respects,

the main funeral in London on the 19th of September, and the final procession

and church service at Windsor Castle, just to the west of London.

So, if you're living many miles away from the UK, perhaps in a country where you don't have

a king or queen, these events and people's reactions might all seem quite strange.

Though perhaps it's a normal reaction to the death of a very famous and popular person,

whether they're a monarch, a politician, an actor, a footballer, and so on.

I think because the Queen was quite elderly, she was 96 years old, her death didn't come as a

surprise, but for a lot of people, it came as a shock. It was something a lot of people had been

dreading, because she had been Queen for just over 70 years. And for most people, including me,

we had never known anything different. She'd always been the Queen. So, you may have seen

news coverage with a lot of people in the streets, bringing flowers, queuing up for hours,

some of them overnight, to file past the coffin in Westminster Hall. And I read a bit of discussion

in the press about why people felt the need to do that, to be there. I'm sure there were

different reasons for different people, but basically, I think they wanted to feel part

of a unique historic moment, and be with other people who felt the same way, a sense of community.

I didn't go to central London myself, but I watched a lot of the events on television each day,

and that was another way of being part of it.

But I'm also aware that some people have different attitudes and opinions about the monarchy,

and some were criticising the television channels for the way they were covering the events,

with hardly any other news being reported. This was perhaps because they're not so happy

about the system of monarchy that we have in the UK. Some people just don't care about the monarchy,

while others, who you might call Republicans, are actively campaigning to replace the monarchy

altogether, and perhaps have an elected president instead.

But the way the system works is that as soon as one monarch dies, the heir to the throne

takes their place. So Charles, who was previously Prince of Wales, is now King Charles III,

and his son, William, who was previously the Duke of Cambridge, is now Prince of Wales in his place.

This succession, as it's called, is a way of avoiding a power vacuum, where different people

might make a claim to the throne, which sometimes happened hundreds of years ago,

and it could result in a lot of instability and uncertainty, even to the extent of people

supporting different candidates and fighting battles. So, for me personally, as for a lot of people,

Queen Elizabeth II had always been there. She became Queen in 1952, when her father,

King George VI, died, and her coronation was in 1953, and that was before I was even born.

So, you may be wondering if I ever saw her in person, rather than just on television. Well,

I did have a vague childhood memory of my mother taking me to see the Queen,

driving past us in a car, when I was about three years old. This was in my hometown,

in the East Midlands, about 120 miles north of London. I wondered if this memory was accurate,

or whether I just imagined it. So, I did a bit of googling to find out if the Queen had actually

visited my hometown in that year, and I discovered that she really had been there.

I found some photos of her visit, and her husband, Prince Philip, was there with her.

So, my memory was correct. I remember my mother said to me that the Queen had looked straight at

me, as she was smiling and waving from her car, but I don't really remember seeing her, to be

honest. I just remember being on a pavement with a lot of other people, who were mostly a lot taller

than me. Then, when I was a teenager, in the 1960s and 70s, there was what you might call a

counter-cultural period, when people seemed to become more critical of royalty, and what's called

the Establishment, with a capital E. They felt that the royal family had no relevance to their own

lives, that it was an old-fashioned tradition, and that we could do without it. I remember,

around that time, if you went to the cinema, they used to play the national anthem at the end of

the film, and you were supposed to stand up and show respect when you heard the music start to

play. But some people made a point of staying in their seats, as a kind of protest. But then,

after a while, cinemas and theatres stopped playing the national anthem altogether.

So, there have always been different opinions about royalty, and that's okay, because in the UK,

the idea of free speech, and the right to express your own opinion, is accepted.

But, as time has gone on, I've come to realise how hard-working the Queen and other members of

the royal family have been. They always seem to be going somewhere, shaking hands and chatting

to people, supporting charities and other activities, travelling within the UK, and also

to many countries around the world. Over the years, I've seen the Queen in photographs,

on the television news, and in documentaries, meeting people with a friendly smile,

putting people at their ease, and having a normal conversation with them.

Even when she was at home, in one of her castles or palaces, she was working at her desk,

reading through paperwork, organising things, having her weekly meeting with the Prime Minister,

making plans for the next trip, and so on.

I believe the Queen was a genuinely nice person, who represented some good values - kindness,

politeness, respect, calmness, stability, optimism. And in recent years, we've seen more

of her sense of humour. I'm giving you a link here to the James Bond sketch that she did

with the actor Daniel Craig, for the opening of the 2012 London Olympics, where she - well,

it was a body double - and James Bond both jumped out of a helicopter into the Olympic Stadium

with Union Jack parachutes. And then, 10 years later, in 2022, for her platinum jubilee,

her 70-year anniversary of becoming Queen, she did another sketch. And I'm giving you a link

to her having tea with Paddington Bear and producing a marmalade sandwich from her handbag.

So, to round off these random thoughts, my words to the late Queen Elizabeth are what Paddington

Bear himself says at the end of that sketch, "Thank you, ma'am, for everything."