The Queen

Last night, I had the privilege of watching the movie, The Queen, starring the incomporable Helen Mirren.  It was pretty much about the week that the Princess of Wales died in that aweful car crash in Paris in 1997.
So, when this happened, it was the start of my senior year in high school.  I remember the day that it happened, but not like it was yesterday.  I remember it was all over the news and people everywhere were crying.  I thought a great deal about the two Princes, William and Harry.  Now, the Prince and the Princess of Wales, had been divorced for about year at this time.  I was not into politics or anything like that.  I did not understand a great deal of what was going on.  In watching this movie, I realized how little I know about damn near everything, and I consider myself to be somewhat educated... Guess it's just not about what is really important.  I somehow thought that there was so much that I need to learn now.  The history of so many countries, from England to South Africa to India to Russia and China, would be a great thing for me. 
Anyhow, back to what I was thinking about.  This movie goes through that week for the Royal Family.  The Queen reminded me of my grandmother in the way she saw things.  They are from a different time.  They grew up in the time of war and depressions and they think and act differently than the way that their children think and act.  They worked through the second World War in factories and as mechanics.  They saw what spreading hate throughout the world did for humanity.  They were not full of hate and malice, they just see it differently than we do.  The Queen has been brought up to believe that it is her divine right that she is the Queen... Maybe in my next life, I will be born into the aristocracy... Maybe I already had that priviledge. 
I watched this movie and thought about what it was like in England at this time.  This woman that had died was like a national hero to this country.  Ok, she wasn't like a hero, she was a hero.  Tony Blair was right, she was the People's Princess.  A woman who, from this side of the camera and world, was a  person that loved her kids, that fought to feed children in Africa and India.  She wanted to have world peace.  She was loved my many and truly known by few.  I thought that mostly, I wouldn't want to grow up without a mother.  I thought a lot about William and Harry in those days.  They are younger than me by a few years though, both are adults and living lives that make them happy, or so I would hope at least.  I can't imagine what it would be like to be part of a Royal Family and have to do things a certain way simply because we are the Royal Family. 
I thought of how hard that week was for a family that had lost a member of their family, though, techinally, she was no longer a part of the family.  I wondered if at any point, the Queen had indeed found herself alone for a moment and was able to shed tears over the matter.  I had hoped so.  I understand that she's not made of stone and her life is and should very well be, private.  I hoped that there was some shred of truth to the way she was, not publicly, but privately.  She is an amazing woman, who has lived through much of the last century.  She has seen wars come and go, her country destroyed and rebuilt.  Technology advance from radios and the wire, to cell phones and the ipad.  She has lived a life that is seeped in tradition and a family line.  She shares a name with and, to me, has been only second to the first Elizabeth.  She is a survivor, and she will continue to do so, long after she has left this plane. 
So, here's to the Queen, Queen Elizabeth II.  LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!!! And here's to the family, may they be happy and find love and peace within themselves.