Yesterday was Queen Elizabeth’s 88th birthday. To celebrate, the Queen sat for another portrait done by British photographer David Bailey. But this portrait is different: the Queen SMILED. Not just smiled… she smized!!! The Queen looks so happy, you’d think someone just gave her a basket of Scotch and Corgi puppies. Reportedly, the Queen just celebrated her birthday “privately” – which is fine because she gets two birthdays every year. April 21st is her real birthday, and then they do the Trooping the Colours birthday thing every June.
In accordance with The Grand Royal Order of Crumpets, many media outlets ran stories detailing just how awesome Queen Elizabeth is. I think it was last year when she basically said that she didn’t want to travel and do royal tours and such anymore, but then she took it back because she wanted to go visit the new Pope. There was talk of Prince Charles assuming more control over the workings of Buckingham Palace, but so far… it doesn’t seem like that operational change has stuck. I do wonder if the Queen is all that eager to relinquish any control, especially to Charles. That being said, these days I kind of prefer Charles to William. Weird how that happened.
Here’s a great piece by a Canadian outlet about just how effective the Queen still is diplomatically, and what a powerful (soft power) symbol she still remains. They cite the recent state visit of Irish President Michael Higgins, the first state visit of its kind in more than a century. There were even some former IRA blokes there too. And the Queen welcomed them with kind words and generosity. Because she’s gangsta.
Photos courtesy of WENN, David Bailey.
As long as she’s around the Republicans can’t attack. I’m fond of the old thing, but I’m curious about the aftermath…
Hopefully, when she passes, the Monarchy will come to an end. I could stomach Charles. But those other useless twits? Horrible.
I agree. Even if the tax payer isn’t paying anything, putting a person above others just because of the family they were born in is disgusting.
I like and admire her very much. She looks great!
I agree. She has her faults, like the rest of us, but she’s pretty amazing.
She’s okay.
I’m always so excited to click on the queen’s stories to see what hat she is wearing:).
Me too! Hats and jewels…she’s like the granny I never knew, only with much nicer stuff, lol.
I love the way she holds her handbags! Reminds me of Sophia from the Golden Girls. 😊
Does she repeat hats? How many hat rooms does she have?
Frequently! Her clothes maker will take old outfits of hers and change up the design to create a new piece and she does it with the hats too, she’ll keep the design and color of the hat but replace the embellishment. In fact, the Queen only really has brand new outfits commissioned for special occasions, the most recent being last summers 60th anniversary of her coronation.
Well, she looks good, but she has the resources to be healthy.
While i’m not a huge fan of the Queen, she’s a hard worker, applied her education, and is socially responsible. She has a dedicated sense of duty. This has already carried over to Charles. Harry seems to have it too. As generations go on the monarchy faces a real threat of justifying it’s existence. Time will tell I guess.
Waht kind of education does she have?
We don’t know her level of formal education as she was tutored privately at home.
FLORC
Except for the fact that the queen isn’t well educated I agree with evrything you said, although I do wonder if Chuck will become a despot once crowned.
A belated happy birthday to you! I hope your day was filled with celebration, family and, of course, new shoes!
She knows that once the Grandmither Queen is gone, her family will have an uphill battle. None of them are admired like her.
Ahh I love this website. Where else would you ever hear the Queen referred to as ‘gangster’. The switch has also happened in my mind – preferring Charles to William.
This is really interesting – that so many have switched their preference from William to Charles. I wonder if this is what the royal family wants? Charles will be King when the Queen dies, no question, so the more the public likes him the better for the royal family as a whole. William has plenty of time to rehab his image, but Charles doesn’t. If William had spent the past three years since the wedding being a full time royal and working consistently the call for Charles to be skipped over would only have grown from what it was around the time of the wedding.
If this change in sentiment is all part of the plan (and I’m not saying it is, this is obviously all speculation on my part), i say good play.
I am not from the UK, so I have no real opinion on the future of the Monarchy itself, but I admit that I do kind of love the Queen, and think she looks great in her birthday portrait.
Around here in the States, we don’t hear much about the people’s negative opinions of the Monarchy (seems anything I hear on our news is more friendly), but I wonder if her family would have an easier time, if that adorable Baby George had been a girl?
You know when William said he did not like Kate´s colorful coat dress maybe it was because it reminded him what his grandma wears 😉
“smized?” i had to look that up. weird.
The Queen has served almost her entire life. She is the last link of the old order. I hope the monarchy will all retire to private lives after she is gone. They have outlived their usefulness.
The article makes like she is the generous one, welcoming the Irish. She is the figure head of a colonial power that continues to control a sizable portion of a partitioned nation. Thatcher did the dirty work and England got what it wanted.
Yes, the key words here being “figure head”. She is a constitutional monarch who must remain politically neutral.
That’s what would kill me, having to bite my tongue. Being unable to express an opinion… yeah, I’d never be able to reconcile myself to that. Hats off to you QE II, and what marvelous hats they are 😉
She is so beautiful and I love her clothes and hats. The Queen looks great in those bright colors and wow, can she ever rock jewelry! I hope I look and dress that good at 88. Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday, Queen Elizabeth! The photo is lovely.
Beautiful photo ! I love the Queen.