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| Sunday, 7 May 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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God (need
not) save the Queen
Even though she plays no part in the governance of our country, as she celebrates her 80th birthday, her sorrows, her triumphs, her hats, her handbags and her dogs... still seem to intrigue the young and the old. by Aditha Dissanayake Among the presents Queen Elizabeth II had received on her 80th birthday were 20,000 cards, 17,000 emails, a tea set, two swans called Dylan and Deena but not what she had wished for - sunshine. Even though there was no rain, the day had been overcast. Could this have been a sign for the years ahead? Could this be a warning that the long running Windsor Saga is soon going to lose its popularity? Apparently not. Even though she stopped being the Head of State in Sri Lanka in 1972, the Queen is still one of the best-known women in Sri Lanka regardless of the fact that the interest and the sentiments felt towards her has dwindled across the generations. Those who enthuse over her are the ones who are today, over sixty. Vivian Boralessa recalls singing the then National Anthem, to greet the Queen on her first visit and is proud of the set of spoons she had received as a wedding gift which were issued to mark the coronation. Some remember her visit to Sri Lanka from April 10th to 21st in 1954 and still have much cherished photos of her, taken with box cameras. Joyce Wijesinghe of Dodanduwa, Galle, a retired teacher who is three days younger than the Queen says "I have grown old, but she has not. She is always the same. May she live long". Her husband who is also eighty this year but who celebrated his birthday in January agrees. 'You will never find anyone else like her". She is admired for the way she had carried out her duties during the 54 years since she was crowned in 1952, never having been involved in a scandal. Even the accusation that she was cold and unfeeling during the funeral of Diana, the Princess of Wales is redeemed by the facts that she had bowed to the coffin as it passed Buckingham Palace and made a rare live television broadcast in the aftermath of the death of her daughter-in-law. Many like Julian, a total Anglophile who loved England and who used to live in a Home for the Elders in Galle but who had not lived to see her celebrate her 80th birthday had seen the Queen as someone who was born to her office. She is and she should be cherished. But do those of the younger generations feel the same? Yes, some like twenty-eight year old Channa says he finds the Queen an extremely charming lady. He admires her for her simplicity and reads anything and everything written about her in papers and magazines. Thilani an undergraduate studying for her degree in arts says "yes I like the Queen tremendously". Her friend Anushi elaborates, "Thil has a tremendous crush for Prince William, and day-dreams of marrying him which would mean having the Queen as her grandma." Sandeepa Bandara, (26) is not all that sure about his feelings towards the Queen. When asked to describe how he feels about her he shrugs his shoulders and grins "She came to the throne before I was born. You have to be over sixty to think about her". His sister Hiruni says to her the Queen looks like someone who is terribly dull, terribly cold and terribly old. "Could this be because she is terribly unhappy?" she wonders. Given the fact that she must never get drunk, or wear old clothes or change jobs or do anything ever just because she feels like it, most of the younger generation who had stamps they had inherited from their grandfathers in their stamp collections of the Queen issued in 1953, seem to pity her for having to maintain the face on the stamp forever - always the same, always Royal. If the Queen lives as long as her mother she will wear the crown till 2027. How would those of 2027 feel about her? Who knows? Prince Andrew had the answer when he spoke to the Time magazine. Why bother "Today is reality. Yesterday is history...be there today. Today is what we have got". And that's all that counts. |
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