What Was So Great About the Queen?: The Great Mystery of Elizabeth Windsor

What was so great about the queen?
The Great Mystery of Elizabeth Windsor

9/9/2022, 5:12 PM

The grief for the queen is enormous. Not only in Britain, but also far beyond. Elizabeth II did not necessarily have the conditions to arouse such enthusiasm for herself. It may have a lot to do with her perseverance, but not only.

In the evening, millions of Britons were invited to tea with the Queen. A poll published in 1992 found that Elizabeth II regularly appeared in dreams to about a third of the population, including staunch Republicans and Communists. This perhaps shows most clearly how ubiquitous this woman has been over the decades: Even when her subjects were asleep, they were still inspired by her.

The presence of this woman was enormous. This shows the sadness with which people around the world react to their death. The condolences are so general and often seem so authentic that you can almost speak of great world pain. A sense of loss is felt in all cultures. The question can certainly be asked: why is that so?

Elizabeth Windsor, after all, did not possess any notable talents. She has not achieved scientific or sporting achievements. She had no particular artistic or oratorio talent. Yes, some of her traits could even have been a disadvantage to leave a lasting impression: she was quite short with a height probably between 1.50 and 1.60 meters and had a rather squeaky voice. In the fictional series “The Crown” sometimes she just seems boring. And yet at the end of her life she was almost universally honored. What was your secret to success?

“How comforting”

A major reason was certainly just their longevity, their sheer survival energy. The queen has always been there. When she took the throne in 1952, German cities were still largely in ruins, homosexuality was a criminal offense and Konrad Adenauer was in his first term as chancellor. It’s just hard to imagine what a huge span of time the Queen has bridged in her tenure.

Almost everything has changed in this time – only it has remained as it was. The handbag, the hat, the headscarf. She was recognizable in a split second. This continuity must have had a tremendous stabilizing effect on the psyches of millions of people. The consistency was enhanced by the fact that the Queen was always in the same place at the same time of year: she spent her summer holidays at Balmoral Castle and her Christmas holidays at the Sandringham estate.

The Queen was aware of this role. Once, when she was shopping incognito in a tea shop in Norfolk and a customer told her she looked amazingly like the Queen, she replied, “How comforting.”

infamous charm

But her sheer existence cannot have been the only reason for her success, as it could also have been that people would have simply grown tired of this late feudal Corgi owner with her insanely large fortune from centuries of clique of English hereditary nobility. of this late feudal Corgi owner. That this was not the case can probably be explained by another key characteristic of the Queen – a characteristic with which she formed the greatest possible contrast to the Twitter zeitgeist in the latter part of her life: she never gave an opinion and did. . don’t rely on emotions.

Her cold charm was famous, sometimes infamous. For example, employees have reported making minor corrections to canned speeches. For example, if she were to reopen a hospital or bridge somewhere in the county and the manuscript said, “I’m very happy to be here today,” you could be sure she’d emphasize “very.” too much In the age of stark exaggeration, she was the epitome of British understatement.

This was accompanied by a certain immunity to praise and praise. You could imagine yourself becoming a megalomaniac after seven decades at the helm of a major state. But this danger never existed with the queen. She was certainly convinced of her mission, but did not take herself too seriously in everyday life. Years ago, when she was introduced to a woman whose cell phone was ringing incessantly at the time, she finally told her, “You should pick up. Maybe it’s someone important.”

just don’t say anything

“The word is the enemy of the mysterious,” says Thomas Mann, and the Queen has shown how right he was. Of course, sometimes she would turn to people and say just the right thing, like during the coronavirus pandemic when she assured people that the phase of loneliness from self-isolation wouldn’t last forever. But in general, she has mainly remained quiet and thus prevented signs of wear. Here she may have a lesson for all social media enthusiasts: you can go far by saying nothing.

The images of the highlights of their lives are now shown on television in almost a continuous loop. Splendor and pomp. But that was of course not everyday life. Everyday life consisted of boring appointments somewhere far away. What Elizabeth has never shown, however, is that citizens who have been fortunate enough to meet her in person for a few brief moments have reported almost unanimously that they have always made them feel genuinely interested in them.

This is how the queen has mainly done her job over the years. Like almost everyone, she has had good times and bad. It’s easy to forget that she wasn’t always popular, as she was considered heartless and outdated in 1997 after Princess Diana died in an accident. But she didn’t let it demoralize her. She carried on with her own stoicism.

This spirit is also reflected in the latest photos of her taken last Tuesday, on the occasion of her meeting with the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral Castle. In one of the photos, she is standing in front of the fireplace, bent over her cane, already looking very pale and fragile. She does her job to the end. And she laughs about it. It is probably also this attitude that has made it live in the hearts of so many people for a long time in a small room.