Queen Elizabeth II

[V. R.]

Being British born, I thought I would dedicate a new thread to the longest reigning monarch who has just died peacefully at her Balmoral home, with all her family by her side.

A unique person who carried out her royal duties right until the end. An example to us all. 

[KarenK]

A sad day for the royal family. May she rest in peace.

[scba]

Unexpected. A Queen devoted to her country till the very last moment of public service, two days ago with the new PM

[mik]

A very sad day for the United Kingdom and the world.

[kayc]

She's been there my whole life and beyond, steady and true throughout...I grieve with the rest of the world.  Wish I could tell her what she's meant to us all, even from the US.

[V. R.]

Our last photo of Her Majesty. 

[kayc]

A great lady.

[Roxi]

6 hours ago, kayc said:

A great lady.

Yes maybe...it was easy for her to be great! ...she undeniably lived a privileged life of 96 years without problems and worries....with the news of her death there was the news that says that 64 millions of children in the world cannot go to school...what we are talking about ?

Hope to no offende anyone but i can't join the choir

[kayc]

[Boho-Soul]

2 hours ago, Roxi said:

Yes maybe...it was easy for her to be great! ...she undeniably lived a privileged life of 96 years without problems and worries....with the news of her death there was the news that says that 64 millions of children in the world cannot go to school...what we are talking about ?

Really? 😲 Can you not look past her privileged life? She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother - she had family, have empathy for them as they are now in mourning. And her life wasn't worry free, her family has experienced a lot of turmoil, most of which was made very public. 

Not sure what you're talking about or where you got you info about children not going to school from (?)

Found this sourced from inews.co.uk --- School have been advised to remain open for the time being, but are likely to be closed on the date of the Queen’s funeral --- 

 

[V. R.]

It's just that the majority of the British population have known only her as monarch of their country, since she reigned for 70 years, so it's as if a piece of the UK has gone with her, just like we feel a part of us (an enormous part of ourselves went away with the loss of our soulmates). She also had to put up with a lot of family disruptions during her life, just like us  'normal' people, seeing all her children going through marital separations, her husband  constantly being unfaithful,but still demonstrated the British 'stiff upper lip', and didn't let all that chaos disrupt her loyalty and commitment,fulfilling her role, but God only knows how she was feeling really.  Let's not forget, she was only 25 when she lost her father suddenly, about the same age as my children, couldn't have been easy for her. 

Obviously we are all entitled to express our own opinions with regards. Also, in recent years, she had become that dear little old great-grandma, who was still mentally lucid (of course, her comfortable, privileged life had influenced this), yet was still present for her people, ignoring gossip that she should abdicate and pass the throne to her son. I think it's admirable that she insisted on carrying out her duties until the end, or at least until her mental state permitted her to do so. We can see this from the fact that only 4 days ago she had met newly elected Liz Truss to appoint her as Prime Minister. 

There are so many non-monarchists among the British, that's for sure, who literally detest the royals, I remember that when I lived in London, but even they held a special admiration only for the Queen herself, and not the rest of the family. 

In the media there has been so much speculation about the bruises on her hand while greeting Liz Truss. Of course, she was 96! We all know that amongst other medical reasons, bruises on hands can appear spontaneously at that age (my FIL is 85 and has them). 

P. S. Maybe Roxi was referring to the fact that millions of children can't go to school because of lack of financial possibilities? 

[Roxi]

6 hours ago, Boho-Soul said:

She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother - she had family, have empathy for them

Really ? Millions of women are mother grandmother etc. in the worst living conditions...they are the true heroins!

I bet she never changed a diaper to her sons with the Army of nurses and babysitters under her command! 

And anyway i didn't say she has not feelings as any other human being! I don"t think it's exceptional in her case...without all the others problems that can complicate a life like have or not a work, have enough money to feed your family and so on...what she had to do ? Even not have empathy for her family ?

 

4 hours ago, V. R. said:

There are so many non-monarchists among the British, that's for sure, who literally detest the royals,

I consider monarchies a grotesque inheritance of the past, and i can't really understand why a great democracy as Great Britain need to maintain a royal family!

Except that now it became economical interesting with theirs telenovelas of sumptous marriages,divorces, hidden lovers , and a miserable case of sexual abuse...

I want to mourn great women and men who made this world better...for istance Mr. Gorbaciov died some days ago. He allowed freedom in differents country of East Europe, he refused to intervene militarily that is a tradition in his country as the tragical and horrible war in Ukraina prove, he did a lot to stop nuclear weapons and finally he pushed to destroy a symbol of hatred like Berlin wall...

But yet he was almost forgotten while tons of words are spent for this "Queen" who were not ashamed of wear on his head, on his neck, on his hands jewels diamonds as my mom would say "la Madonna incoronata", the value of wich can give a chance to the children that not only can't go to school but don't have something to eat everyday...

 

[Boho-Soul]

9 hours ago, V. R. said:

Maybe Roxi was referring to the fact that millions of children can't go to school because of lack of financial possibilities?

Thx VR, I didn’t think of that perspective as the comment didn’t clearly state that.

4 hours ago, Roxi said:

Millions of women are mother grandmother etc. in the worst living conditions...they are the true heroins!

I bet she never changed a diaper to her sons with the Army of nurses and babysitters under her command! 

I wasn’t commenting about whether she was a heroin, I was commenting on the humanity side of the situation. Put aside the external aspects of her life that she was born into and she was still human, a woman who had family who are now grieving their loss.
.

5 hours ago, Roxi said:

I want to mourn great women and men who made this world better.

I can understand you passionate views on the monarchy. What’s hard to understand is how that view seems to dismiss a royal from being human or worthy of mourning upon their death. Should one only grieve a person based on their living conditions, or their hero status, or should they cherry pick who should be worthy of grieving based on whether they made the world better?  I think not. 

[Roxi]

41 minutes ago, Boho-Soul said:

Thx VR, I didn’t think of that perspective as the comment didn’t clearly state that.

What other meaning can have my sentence ? Clearly it refers to the millions of children so poor that can't go to school and have to work to help their families! italian newspaper wrote that they are 64 millions in the world...

[Boho-Soul]

16 hours ago, Roxi said:

....with the news of her death there was the news that says that 64 millions of children in the world cannot go to school...what we are talking about ?

5 minutes ago, Roxi said:

What other meaning can have my sentence ? Clearly it refers to the millions of children so poor that can't go to school and have to work to help their families! italian newspaper wrote that they are 64 millions in the world...

Wasn't clear to me. The way you worded your comment in your initial post does not clearly say what you are meaning. Mentioning the queen's death and how 64 million poor children can't go to school in the same sentence made it hard to understand what you were referring to, at least to me. You did not say the info was sourced from an Italian newspaper which stated poor children can't go to school in your first post and I didn't see how the two topics were related. Your second post 5 minutes ago gave more clarity.

[Roxi]

5 minutes ago, Boho-Soul said:

Wasn't clear to me. The way you worded your comment in your initial post does not clearly say what you are meaning. Mentioning the queen's death and how 64 million poor children can't go to school in the same sentence made it hard to understand what you were referring to, at least to me. You did not say the info was sourced from an Italian newspaper which stated poor children can't go to school in your first post and I didn't see how the two topics were related. Your second post 5 minutes ago gave more clarity.

Sorry Boho...i thought it was clear!

[Boho-Soul]

13 minutes ago, Roxi said:

Sorry Boho...i thought it was clear!

Hey, no bad feelings Roxi ♥️

I just like to get clarity when people share things, in person or online, so I can gain understanding and don't misinterpret or take things the wrong way.

[V. R.]

It's ok to be anti-royalist but if the UK were to abolish the monarchy, they would need  a Head of the Republic like we have in Italy, wouldn't it still be tremendously expensive for the country? The Quirinale costs about 240million euros a year to run, I think I read once. We also have one additional very costly institution (The Pope). Nothing against them, of course, it's just an example that one way or another, we may not agree on how the State spends money from the taxes that it receives from us. 

Anyway, it wasn't my intention to start a political thread, obviously. Just wanted to pay my respects to the Queen, a change of an era, allowing others, if they wish, to do the same. I did spend the first 26 years of my life in London, so I do understand how the population must feel now, she was literally 'part of the furniture'. It's difficult to imagine UK without her and I must confess, I don't find Charles particularly 'simpatico' (nice/pleasant?),but he is the new King, so God bless the King. 

[Roxi]

5 minutes ago, Boho-Soul said:

Hey, no bad feelings Roxi ♥️

I just like to get clarity when people share things, in person or online, so I can gain understanding and don't misinterpret or take things the wrong way.

The same for me Boho. I appreciate that my feelings are understand and i want that people can says their opinions...take care Roxi😻

[Roxi]

7 minutes ago, V. R. said:

I did spend the first 26 years of my life in London

Adesso capisco perche' scrivi in inglese perfetto...

[MartyT]

"Why do we feel collective grief for the Queen? A sentence you’re likely to hear a lot right now: ‘I didn’t expect to feel so upset.’ But there’s good reason why you might feel more affected by the news than you anticipated, whether you consider yourself a royalist or not."  Collective grief: what you need to know + how to deal with it

[V. R.]

58 minutes ago, Roxi said:

Adesso capisco perche' scrivi in inglese perfetto...

Ah, forse quando l'ho detto in altri post precedenti, in altri thread, è capitato che non eri online. 

Comunque, complimenti anche a te, si vede che hai imparato molto bene l'inglese. 

[Roxi]

1 hour ago, MartyT said:

Why do we feel collective grief for the Queen? A sentence you’re likely to hear a lot right now: ‘I didn’t expect to feel so upset.’ But there’s good reason why you might feel more affected by the news than you anticipated, whether you consider yourself a royalist or not."  Collective grief: what you need to know + how to deal with it

Thank you MartyT for this explanation...now i can understand what it was effectively incomprehensible for me

[kayc]

2 hours ago, Boho-Soul said:

Wasn't clear to me. The way you worded your comment in your initial post does not clearly say what you are meaning

English is not her first language.

[Sad_Widower]

My wife was from Great Britain. She was a true cockney from East London (I met her just months after she moved the to the US).  

The passing of Queen Elizabeth definitely made me think of my wife more than usual as she was heavily into following the royal at family. All the weddings the death of Lady Diane, etc.    

Honestly, I never understood it.  I found it of little interest. However, I know if my wife were alive, she would be GLUED to the TV watching every ceremony involved.

When I heard the Queen passed I was surprised she was still alive   She certainly had a good life so was actually happy to know she made it to the age she did. I can only hope my wife has the chance to meet her in some post-life capacity as I know she admired her.  

All in all, the passing the Queen actually gave me mixed emotions, simply as this would have been the top “current event” my wife would have had interest in since her passing, and I could literally feel my wife’s presence talking about it when first announced.  Hopefully that makes sense…but this was a good topic. 🙂

p.s. On a side note, I have a friend who is a boxing promoter. He was involved in a large event to take place in London that was postponed due to the Queen’s passing.  I’ve not spoken with him since the postponement of the fight…(unsure if he is coming back or staying) but my understanding is there is a bit of controversy going on in the UK as to the government “forcing people to mourn.”  Honestly I can understand it, I’m sure we would have suspended all entertainment events in the US had something similar occurred.