God Save the Queen
So, Happy Birthday to Queen Elizabeth II. I feel as if I know the Queen. Queen Elizabeth has been a mainstay in my life literally since I was born. While I am not British nor do I have any understanding of how Brit’s live, I have indeed been to London to see the Queen and have photographed her on 2 separate occasions in America.
Of course, my photography has been atop a 4-6 foot ladder trying to get as close as I can, opposed to that of the famed photographer, Annie Leibovitz who photographed the queen and supposedly had the nerve to ask her lady in waiting if the Queen would take off her crown. GASP! Can you imagine getting the opportunity to get that close to the great Queen of England and then be nervy enough to say, “Could you ask the Queen if she would remove her crown?’ Who does that? As you know, it would have been inappropriate for Leibovitz to speak to the Queen. At least she didn’t do that!
I have seen the Queen on 3 occasions, first at Mary and Williams College and then on her way to the dorms and then in London, twice when my girls, sister and their friend, went to the royal wedding of William and Kate and then again, after the wedding.
For years and years I have read about her and had such fun keeping up with the regality of the royals and such.
Queen Elizabeth is considered “Defender of the Faith.” In the line of royals, while Mary I tried to restore Roman Catholicism in England , her sister Elizabeth I declared herself the “ Supreme Governor ” of the Church of England when she took over the crown in 1558. And since then, the royal family has practiced Anglicanism, a form of Christianity.
In her Christmas message of 2002 Queen Elizabeth II summed up her belief in the “hope of the Christian Gospel”.
I do hope that it is true of her.
Happy Birthday and God save the Queen
See you tomorrow,
