Here are some new photos of Queen Elizabeth II today at the Haig Housing Trust. She was there to open a new housing development. This is her first public appearance since returning to London after her lengthy summer holiday in Scotland. A lot of sh-t happened while she was away, and a lot of sh-t happened in Balmoral too. The Queen spent a chunk of the summer protecting Prince Andrew and making public appearances with him. She also got some photo-ops in with Prince William and Kate. The Sussexes didn’t visit her and it was a thing. Plus, Boris Johnson “lied” to her, or at least that’s the story now.
Generally, the Queen has to return to London in October to officially open Parliament and give her Queen’s Speech. First she needed to meet with the Privy Council to talk about the fall-out from Boris Johnson’s prorogation scheme – which blew up in both of their faces – and then the speechwriting probably commenced. She opens Parliament on Tuesday. So will she be in her full Queen Drag? Apparently not:
As anticipated, the Queen will not wear the Imperial State Crown at the State Opening of Parliament on Monday. Who can blame her? It's heavy! https://t.co/JHWgWNyA3L
— Majesty/Joe Little (@MajestyMagazine) October 11, 2019
Where are you, Protocol Police? The Queen is breaking protocol, no? Anyway, this wouldn’t be the first time that the Queen did not do the full Diamond Drag for some official outing. She’s even skipped a few major appearances because the crown is literally a pain in the neck. But it does feel like… this has been a long year already. I always find it macabre when William, Kate and Charles make references to “future king/queen” whatever, but The Queen is 93.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
While these ceremonies are interesting to watch, they all seem so useless and outdated. I’m not British, so I’m aware that my opinions don’t matter much.
Agreed…also not a Brit but tradition and whatever.
She looks great! That’s a wonderful color blue on her. As pointed out, she’s 93 and a heavy thing sitting on her is not great for balance and not comfortable, especially not if she has any kind of spinal compression going on, as happens in elderly women.
She does look great-in a healthy kind of way. May the holidays be kind to her.
I hope the holidays are kind to her son’s trafficked victims.
Never forget #pedointhepalace
Sharp dresser as always👑Blue is her color.
But damn…if my old lady self had access to a crown I would wear it 24/7👑
@chef grace. you & me both!! I would wear one all the time. Tea time, bath time, ride my horse time. When I think of it, I think my horse would wear one, my rubber ducky would wear one….
But she has several to choose from. This thing looks damn heavy. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_IV_State_Diadem
At 93 if she wants to do it in her jammies I say gi for it.
She really looks great! Her skin looks really good. And she seems happier?
Also I don’t think it’s a big deal if someone in their 90s is like “hey I’m not wearing X, it’s uncomfortable”. I also think she avoids certain events, like christenings in the summer, to avoid being uncomfortable.
She endorses her pedophile son. I’ve washed my hands of respecting her.
Yup and Charles is thisclose to being next.
Seriously. Pampered lady lives in life of luxury with long vacations multiple times a year, but she’s revered for “giving her life to her country.” So do plenty of other people without the palaces, FYI. And many of them don’t have their every whim catered to them so they can pose in front of their golden piano while giving a speech and protecting a pedophile.
@Jen, “Pampered lady lives in life of luxury with long vacations multiple times a year, but she’s revered for “giving her life to her country.” – yeah, I’ve always found that utterly ridiculous.
I’m sorry if this has already been asked and answered, but is Liz allowed to retire or is being queen a lifetime appointment? Is there a reason she hasn’t passed the torch to Charles yet? Seems the anti-Camilla lot has really come around this last decade. Would she have to uproot her whole life and move out of her palaces and such if she retired so that Charles & Co. could take over, or would she be allowed to live out her days as is?
She can abdicate if she wanted to which basically means she can give the throne up but she won’t because (reportedly) of her Uncle’s abdication
As for living arrangements, she’ll probably move somewhere else like Windsor/Balmoral/Sandrigham (seems to prefer those places over BP)
@Sofia — this is not at all directed at you, because I see this argument all the time, but I genuinely don’t understand why people feel that way. Her uncle’s abdication was because of a an enormous scandal. If she were to do it now, it would be so completely different.
If she abdicated now, it would be partly because of her age and the fact that she’s had to slow down a bit, and partly because her son has been waiting SEVENTY years to reign. I only really follow the BRF, but don’t monarchs in other countries do this more frequently?
She would leave behind (aside from Andrew at the moment) a wonderful legacy and basically the entire world would see her go out on top. She’s so well-loved by so many, and this abdication would not have any of the toxicity of her uncle’s. There would probably be a full year of all sorts of tributes. The people of the UK would be able to see that the situations are not at all comparable, IMO.
I know she’s never going to do it because she believes it is her responsibility to reign for her entire life, but I just don’t get the argument that it’s because of the way her uncle’s affected the family and nation.
She won’t do it because her whole identity is about being Queen and the top dog in the room.
I believe there’s truth to the feeling that she will only let Charles have it when she can’t keep it from him anymore.
Charles isn’t as well liked as the Queen hence she carries on.
The recent retirement of several European kings was due to both their age and their unpopularity as well as the popularity of their successors who are:
– Phillipe (+ mathilde), king of belgium
– Phillipe (+ laetizia), king of spain
– Willhelm (+ maxima), king of the netherlands, formerly known as Prince Pilsje (Prince Beer)
In Sweden and in Denmark and in Norway the respective successors have recently taken up more work to release their monarch of a part of the burden.
I think the British monarchs truly believe they were selected by God to rule (they are also the head of the Church on England). Elizabeth wont abdicate because God wants her on the throne.
@Mrs. Krabapple, I totally agree. Which is why I find it so puzzling that so many people seem to think the reason is because she doesn’t want to be like her uncle.
She won’t, because on her 21st birthday she promised to dedicate her entire life to serving the Commonwealth:
“I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” QEII
She absolutely won’t go back on that promise, in my opinion.
Oh, I dunno … to me, she looks a bit shrunken, smaller. The coat’s color is beautiful and flattering, but it looks a little too big on her. Her mother lived to 102, but the Queen Mother didn’t have the stress of ruling (yes, I know — the Queen doesn’t really “rule”) and continuous public appearances at a hectic pace. And I can’t believe that seeing her second son and favorite almost universally despised for a pedophile is anything but a huge emotional and mental burden.
Anyone else her age would have delegated the greater part of her duties to her eldest son, and maybe even required Normal Bill and wife to do a little more. But she’s determined to stick it out to the end of her life, from the looks of it. I don’t have much sympathy for her — she could do more to help the Sussexes with the vitriol aimed their way, and her defense of her sex predator son is itself indefensible — but I can feel sorry for a tired old lady who needs to stay home more, prop her feet up, and veg out in front of the telly with a stiff drink.
I just finished a Queen Victoria biography and she didn’t like wearing the crown either. Opted instead to do most official biz with her simple bonnet. Boss move!
Interesting to read all the comments complimenting her dress sense and what a boss she is. How soon people forget the pedophile she’s protecting likes that’s her real job.
Right?!
And let’s not forget that she allows the racist Kents to continue to carry out engagements for the crown.
@Kaiser
Chumley is on this procession (not typing that whole name)!!!
AWESOME – more scandal
The Queen didn’t refuse to shut down parliament upon Johnson’s request. She should have known that it was wrong as she is allegedly knowledgeable in state matters and the constitutional monarchy. She shouldn’t have agreed to shut down parliament if she had known it were wrong. Perhaps she had agreed that shutting down parliament is a good idea?
Blair has done that frequently, too, and he did kill legal proposals with that, too.
Perhaps her not wearing the Crown is an act of defiance to the reopening of parliament?
Shutting down parliament wasn’t wrong, as you say it is done frequently and has been used to kill off issues in the past. It has been retrospectively determined to be unlawful I think but unlawful is not the same as illegal and it wasn’t unlawful until the judges made up the new rules after the fact.
It was unlawful of wannabe dictator Boris Johnson to deceive and advise the Queen to suspend Parliament. He exposed the monarchy as the weakest link in the constitutional system. The Queen is just the government’s expensive rubber stamp. In stark contrast to King Juan Carlos of Spain who saved Parliament from a military coup.
Ironically Lady Hale, President of the Supreme Court visibly was the heroic royal, a Baroness, who saved the UK from the far right coup, not the Queen! It was wrong to stop MPs carrying out duties in the run-up to the Brexit deadline on 31 October as the verdict said.
To use a metaphor, like the revelation of the Wizard of Oz as a con artist, Brexit has revealed that the Queen is of no use as Head of state in an extreme constitutional crisis. The spell is broken. The monarchy’s magic has vaporized and its future is very unclear in a post Brexit (possibly broken) Britain. The Queen’s speech will be her next challenge. She will proclaim Boris’ minority government’s agenda. If it is inflammatory it will damage her and the monarchy’s reputation further.
I just hope we abolish the monarchy before Will becomes king. Charles I can tolerate. Will? No no no.