God bless the Queen

God bless the Queen. Long live the King.

I’m not a Royalist. But the Queen has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

I recall her image on a postage stamp in the 1960s. She looked so much like my godmother, my next-door-neighbour Mrs Thomas, who I called Mosses. I was so young, I couldn’t say Mrs Thomas.

I remembered saying to Mosses: ‘That lady on the stamp, she looks like you.’

Mosses was impressed. The Queen was the epitome of elegance, grace and duty. It was a big compliment. (I’ve lost touch with Mosses. She moved to a tenant farm on the Somerset Levels and I have no idea what happened to her.)

The Queen has been a part of my life, a part of all my friends’ and family’s lives, for all our lives.

My mother is 96 and is as quietly wise and remarkable as the Queen, in a Westcountry, tenant farmer kind of way.

Along with everything that that has happened in recent times, including a personal family meltdown in 2016 when anyone of any importance died, then Brexit, the worldwide pandemic and the war in Europe, this is a real changing of the guard.

The Queen – and we – were prepared for it. Now we have to move on and make the best of everything, and agitate for all that is good for the planet.

I wish the new King Charles the best of bloody luck. He’s been a Green advocate for much longer than has been fashionable. And one to challenge the international politics of the day, to the greater good, methinks.

I’m a bit of a Diana fan (same age, used to be compared etc, although I’m still not a Royalist) but King Charles III has his heart in the right place.

So God bless the Queen and long live the King.

May we live in interesting times. Let’s move forward, maybe tentatively, but united in positivity.

It’s the best we can do.

With much love, Maddie x