For me, as for millions of other British people, there has never been a monarch other than Queen Elizabeth II. I hadn’t yet been born when the ArchbishopErzbischofArchbishop of Canterbury placed the Imperial State CrownKönigskroneImperial State Crown on the head of the 26-year-old princess in Westminster Abbey in 1953, but her reignRegentschaftreign has been part of the tapestryetwa: der bunte Bilderteppichtapestry of my life.
If you are looking for potted (ifml.)Kurz-potted biographies of the Queen, you’ll find those everywhere over the coming days. Here, I’d like to share with you my own memories of the moments she was present in my life.
There was a time, and I am old enough to remember this, when the screening of films at cinemas was to precede sth.einer Sache vorangehenpreceded by the national anthemNationalhymnenational anthem. Once, on a rainy windsweptwindgepeitschtwindswept holiday in Devon, I went with my sister to see the film Anne of the Thousand Daysdt. Titel: Königin für tausend TageAnne of the Thousand Days – I must have been about eight years old. After standing up to sing “God Save the Queen” accompanied by a very creakyquietschendcreaky organOrgelorgan, I watched the story of the tragic life of Anne Boleyn. No wonder we needed to sing about saving the queen if this was how it could all go, my eight-year-old self had decided.
It makes me a little bit proud to have witnessed the reign of such a strong woman
A year or so later, my father had an accidentalzufälligaccidental encounterBegegnungencounter with Queen Elizabeth. He worked in the City of London and, one day, on the way to a business lunch, discovered that the route to the restaurant had been to cordon offabsperrencordoned off. There was nobody about, so my father walked to an island in the middle of the road and to be about to do sth.vorhaben, etw. zu tun, gleich etw. tunwas about to cross when an enormous limousine stopped in front of him for a moment. Always curious, my father bent forward to look into the car and found himself staring straight at the Queen. Instinctively, he raised his hand and waved; the monarch smiled kindly and waved back.
I don’t come from a family of monarchists and the Royal Family were not a topic of dinner-table discussions, but I do remember my German mother thoughtfully watching Queen Elizabeth on a to televiseim Fernsehen sendentelevised royal walkaboutRundgangwalkabout. After a while, and almost to herself, my mum said, “I do admire her, and it makes me a little bit proud to have witnessed the reign of such a strong woman.”
More memories of the Queen
Spotlight editors and authors share their memories of the Queen with you here: