by Anura Guruge
on September 8, 2022
Certainly an end to an era.
She was Queen for the totality of my life. She was the only British monarch in my life until today.
I will miss her. Over the last two, maybe three, decades I became quite fond of her. She became MY Queen. That was what made her extra special to I. She WON me over — & that (as some of you know) is no mean task.
I was an anti-monarchist for a fair chunk of my life! That is no secret. There is a good chance I will revert back to being one SOON!
But as we both got older, i.e., the Queen & I, I started to appreciate her more, respect her & become fond of her.
As many of you know from my blog, I have insisted (of late) that my Christmas is NOT done until I have heard the Queen’s speech. There will not be a Queen’s speech this Christmas. A King will give a speech instead. The problem is that I am NOT sure whether he will be MY King. That is a problem. That is a dilemma. Last Christmas I did say that I sure hope that this would NOT be her last speech. Alas, it was.
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Some of you may have noticed that I used ‘sobered’ as opposed to ‘saddened’. That was after due consideration. The v. very few that know me know that I have a strange & ambivalent attitude towards death. I do not attend funerals & I rarely mourn. The Queen had a good innings. Yes, it would have been great if she had managed to score a century. Plus, given that I have now been in exile over here for 38-years, the Queen has not been a constant presence in my life for a very long time. So, while I will, of course, miss her, I can’t genuinely claim that I was shocked or markedly distressed. I was sorry. I will miss. I don’t think I will ever be able to sing the National Anthem with “God save the King”! Let’s leave it at that.
I sure will MISS not being able to say
“Long Live Our Glorious Queen”.
