Well, that little girl was me. Five years old at the movies with Mum watching the news.
The old Queen Mary was a tad scary. She was so stern and never seemed to smile. Her evening dresses looked like she had put on every piece of jewellery in the treasury.
Of course, I wasn’t around during the Wallis Simpson scandal but mum was, she made comparisons many years later to both Princess Margaret and Princess Diana.
My goodness, Princess Margaret was gorgeous, couldn’t wait to see the magazines or newsreels to see those beautiful ball gowns. Oscar gowns be blown, nothing matches that satin organza and the jewelled confections. Add a tiara, and we girls had something to chatter about for ages.
When she couldn’t marry her handsome captain, we were devastated for her. Please remember, teens then weren’t quite as sophisticated as teens now
The Queen is 14 years older than I am. She was so beautiful; the handsome Philip made our hearts flutter. Theirs was, and still is a real fairy tale.
My Dad made me laugh, in fact, he made a lot of movie patrons laugh at the movies one night. When the Queen Mother made an entrance, wearing her signature feathers, Dad’s voice carried, and his comment was very clear and very funny.
“She looks like she is wearing a chook. Maybe a lot of chooks.”
Remembering the year that the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were coming to Australia, all of the school kids worked their little bottoms off practising for a big maypole exhibition supposedly for her entertainment. I had my doubts about the entertainment bit. Sadly that was when the king passed away and the Princess became our Queen.
It seems we were having another bite of the cherry, the Queen was coming back. In high school, we were off again preparing for a marching exhibition at the MCG, somewhat chaotic but we got through it and had a quick glimpse of the royals as they sailed past.
My mum was a top-notch royal lover. The Queen was her idol, beautiful, a mum, a husband she adored, and in mums mind never put a foot wrong. Shopping in Melbourne pedestrians were moved away from the road because the Queen’s car was coming, my mother positively fizzed with excitement. At last, she could see them and to my surprise and delight, my unobtrusive mother stood on a garbage bin to get a better look. The rest of her life she referred to the day she saw the Queen. When I wasn’t quite the good girl she wanted me to be and let me know about it.
My reply would always be “well Mum, I never stood on a garbage bin outside of Myers.”
Hearing Her Majesty’s speech where she pledged to do her duty, she most certainly did,. Royal or no royal, she is unique.
But of course, it can’t continue. Modern life has reared its ugly head and I can’t help but be sad that the romance of the time, true or not true, will pass away with Queen Elizabeth II.