How's the entertainment, Liz?
News
Posted By Marc Zienkiewicz
Posted 2 months ago
Well, she's gone.
Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip finished their tour of Canada July 6, after stopping in Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, and a variety of other places that lavished her with attention.
It's always neat to see the Queen or another member of the Royal Family. I had the pleasure of meeting Princess Anne in 1999 at the Manitoba Legislature.
It was a strange feeling shaking her hand, which was of course covered in a dainty white glove.
I felt a sense of awe as I reached out and shook the hand of someone who's considered "royalty," one of those ancient ideas that still survives into the modern day, albeit with a lot less grandeur than it once enjoyed.
Let's face it — the Queen and her brood have virtually no real political power left, their royal status now a symbolic one kept around for the sake of tradition. People like having a queen. In the age of the Internet, where virtually anyone can become a celebrity, it's nice to admire people whose fame and status have been handed down throughout the generations, rather than by their latest rant on some blog or an appearance on the last episode of American Idol.
But back to Princess Anne. When I grasped her gloved hand in my own, I also couldn't help but realize that despite her status as royalty, she was just a person like any other.
She was 49 at the time, almost the same age as my own mother, who by coincidence was also born in England.
In a way, all that prevented my own mom from being royalty was a stroke of chance, a peculiarity of Mother Nature that says only a tiny proportion of those born on Earth are fortunate enough to be born into a "royal" family.
Nowadays, it strikes most of us as weird that a social institution still exists whose only requirement for membership is genetic luck. Years ago it was believed you were born into a royal family because it was God's intention. Now, of course, we know better. Well, most of us do.
I felt a little sorry for Queen Elizabeth while she was here. I wondered if even she understands her status as Queen isn't what it once was.
Watching her facial expressions as she endured one photo op after another, I detected a profound boredom in her eyes. After all, how happy could you possibly be unveiling a life-sized statue of the late jazz musician Oscar Peterson? Or attending a tree planting at Rideau Hall? Or meeting privately with — good grief — Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff?
Let's not forget rededicating — apparently she dedicated it once already — a statue of herself crafted by the late sculptor Leo Mol.
I'm getting bored just writing about it.
How great would it be to pull the Queen aside, hand her a tall glass containing her favourite cocktail (it's gin and Dubonnet, by the way), and let her speak her mind about what she really thinks about Canada?
There's no doubt she likes our country, but I'm sure she would have a few things to say about the entertainment.
