Queen Elizabeth doesn’t want to ‘reign from a screen,’ she’s keen to work

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We heard a few days ago that Queen Elizabeth would likely be in semi-isolation and schedule-free until autumn. The idea that the Queen wasn’t going to have any public events through May and June was not new – much of her schedule had already been cancelled anyway, and the British people are used to the Queen being “away” in Balmoral in July, August and part of September. So that’s what it came down to – an indefinite lockdown made more definite, with no public events until October, and maybe not even then. Meanwhile, there’s a weird energy around the Queen, right? There’s almost a feeling of… she hasn’t done enough in lockdown. That she should actually be a calm, steady and constant presence during a crisis and she’s not really around. But don’t worry, Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair has some royal tea from palace courtiers!

When the Queen will return: The Queen is planning to return to public duties “as soon as she possibly can” and will work harder than ever when she does, sources close to the monarch have revealed. With the country on lockdown there have been reports that the Queen is unlikely to return to public-facing duties for many months. Buckingham Palace is operating on a skeletal staff and will not open to the public this summer, while the Queen and Prince Philip will remain in self isolation at Windsor Castle for the foreseeable future.

She’s keen: However palace aides have told *Vanity Fair* that the Queen is keen to return to work as soon as it is safe for her to do so . “She can’t be seen to be going against official government advice, but it’s fair to say she’s looking forward to getting back to normal,” said a royal source. “It’s a delicate line but I think we will see her doing private audiences again and more of the work we are used to seeing her do in public at some point in the future. She is still receiving her red Government boxes and having her weekly audience with the PM. There is no suggestion of her stepping back, she is very much fulfilling her duties as head of state.”

What are the autumn plans? Palace aides won’t comment on what is being planned for the autumn, but it is understood events are being planned for the Queen. “The idea that we won’t see the Queen in public again is certainly not the case,” said a second source. “The Queen is planning to come back to work and when she does I think we’ll see her work harder than ever.”

The Keenness: “The idea that she’ll reign from a screen is not Her Majesty’s view,” the source added. “There’s a keenness to get back to doing the sort of work she has always done. She very much believes in being seen.”

Meanwhile, she rides every day: While she is keen to return to normality the Queen is said to be making the most of her time in lockdown at her favorite of all the royal residences. She is riding daily and is said to be “in excellent spirits.” She is traditionally at Windsor at this time for Easter Court, but she is enjoying a prolonged period at the castle with her husband, who usually returns to Sandringham later this month. “One of the nicest things for the Queen is that she is getting to spend more time with her husband than she usually would,” said a friend. “They have dinner together in the evenings and I imagine the Queen is of the generation where she dresses for dinner. She is riding out every day and is making the most of this time.”

[From Vanity Fair]

Considering the promises of keenness usually come from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, I assume “keen” is simply the Windsor family’s code for “we’re not doing a damn thing.” And I get it, I’m not trying to bully an old lady. She’s 94 years old and we’re living through a pandemic and if she wants to f–k off to her castle and ride horses, so be it. But the PR around this is shady, that’s all I’m saying. And I still 100% believe that the Queen should have been more visible in the past two months, and she should keep trying to be visible. If she continues her glacial pace at adapting to this new normal, she runs the risk of merely reminding people that the monarchy serves no purpose and that she’s an out-of-touch old lady who only cares about riding her horses and protecting her pervert son Andy.

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Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.

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33 Responses to “Queen Elizabeth doesn’t want to ‘reign from a screen,’ she’s keen to work”

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  1. Melly says:

    I’m just impressed that she still can ride horses at 94.

  2. yinyang says:

    Good for her, too bad her grandson hasn’t learned that, he’s lazying around collecting pay.

    • VS says:

      what exactly is her work about? can someone clarify? she has tons of patronages; how does she raise funds for those? is her presence enough for people to give money to those charities?

      • yinyang says:

        You are correct

      • yinyang says:

        Evn so a lot of people that are being told to go back to work are in negotiations to take a pay cut for the priviledge of continuing working from home, it would be right if the monarchy could address something like this but I know even thats asking for too much. The monarchy will never take a pay cut, and the people are in a state of inertia to do anything about it.

  3. (TheOG) jan90067 says:

    This is SUCH bullshyte. She wants to be “visible”?? Do a weekly tv “speech”, do a few video/zoom drop ins on nursing homes, pensioners, etc. There is PLENTY she CAN do from home, even at her age. SHE CHOOSES NOT TO! Please, she’s the &*^%$ Queen. If she WANTED to do “more”, she’d do it. Period.

    Look, I get it…she’s probably f-ing tired of it all, AND her family (except Pedo). But let’s stop with the bullshyte of “she wants to do more, but she can’t “go against” the govt.”. HOW would making a “social” call on Brits being going against the govt?

    • Sofia says:

      Exactly. Lots of royalists (and non royalists) will absolutely love a video chat from the queen, especially those who are 65+ because most of them have absolute undying loyalty to her

      • BayTampaBay says:

        A weekly video chat is EXACTLY what the Diana and Elizabeth, The Queen Mother would be doing in a time like this and enjoying every minute of it.

        This is the problem with QEII; she really does not enjoy any of this as Diana and The Queen Mum clearly did.

    • Sid says:

      All excellent ideas. And not difficult to do something like this once a week.

    • Silas says:

      She could do a YouTube series about things that really grind her gears.

      I was going to suggest she have a series spilling all the royal tea but I thought of Andrew which made me remember that more files have been released about Louis Mountbatten being a pedophile. What were Will and Kate thinking using that name? Honor Charles another way.

      • Krystina says:

        I would pay good money to see the Queen do a Youtube show like that, lol.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        If I were a descendant of Prince Phillip or I was the future Charles III, I would use the name Glücksburg.

  4. Harla says:

    Unlike her grandson the FF King who’s quite “keen” to remain behind the screen.

  5. Silas says:

    Keen to be seen but not on a screen is the ever majestic Queen.

    She’s probably so peeved over her horse events like Ascot being disrupted by all this.

    There’s also absolutely no way she’s “dressing” for dinner. Many of the royals eat from trays in front of the tv.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      “Many of the royals eat from trays in front of the Telly”

      They’re just like us!

  6. Jumpingthesnark says:

    As stated above, there is plenty she can do, and isn’t doing it. Maybe she doesn’t liiiike virtual visits. Maybe the “grey men” are too dim to set up zoom, so it is being spun as “zoom and similar are for the peasants”. Which, lol!!! Too busy cosplaying the 1950s to realize we are in the middle of a global pandemic and so many things are changing, for everyone is……… not a good look.

  7. Ali says:

    Lizzie better get in touch with reality.

    This pandemic is not going away by the fall.

  8. Sofia says:

    I would like to get rid of the word “keen” from the royal dictionary. Who’s with me?

  9. Lizzie says:

    I thought ‘carry on’ was her great motto in life so get on with it from isolation.

  10. sarah says:

    Eh, she is 94. I get that she might find it difficult to be be “virtually visible” in the same way that younger people might, and that she would rather go back to how she did it before (old dog new tricks etc etc).

    I would also say that I have seen zero suggestion that the British people expect her to be doing more…

    • betsyh says:

      I would expect royalists are just happy she’s alive. She is in her nineties. NINETIES!

    • Sid says:

      But it’s her job. She is still out riding horses everyday but can’t sit down once a week to do a short video chat?

  11. Em says:

    Lol. The pandemic has proved how utterly irrelevant they are and they keep trying hard not to fade into obscurity.

  12. Loretta says:

    Everyone is keen to be keen in the Royal Family LOL

  13. Faye G says:

    Whatever happened to Brits having a stiff upper lip?? It seems all they do is complain bitterly when things don’t go 100% their way. Lizzie better get with the program and get used to that Zoom life, this is how it’s gonna be for a long time and she had better get used to it. These Royals are such thin skinned delicate flowers, not leaders at all!

  14. M Narang says:

    I guess that’s the real issue: Brits shouldn’t be allowed to figure out how pointless their Monarchy is.

  15. Awkward symphony says:

    Palace doing damage control after recent comments under RF accounts are calling them out for continuing to use taxpayers money whilst hiding away in their castles. I think we’ll continue to only get video and letters as we do now but she better not travel to balmoral castle as the government publicly stated they’ll be restricting travel from England and if she defies that then god help her in controlling the public reaction🙄

  16. Mary says:

    “She is enjoying a prolonged period at the castle with her husband.” Philip is probably pissed that he was dragged away from Wood Farm (and Penny?) for an extended period of time!

    • Couch potato says:

      It’s not like they don’t have rooms for him at Buckingham, if they wanted to spend every day together. I think you’r spot on with pissed! Lol.

  17. MA says:

    They don’t really “reign” or “rule” now, do they? They “preside” at best…. or more accurately, just sit there for symbolic purposes with no real political power.