I’m thinking about queens. Yes, the kind with the crowns.
The reason for this is because it was on this date, June 2, 1953, when Elizabeth II was crowned Queen of England. These days, she is 96 years old.
We’ve all seen the movies and the hundreds of news clips over the years. So we know her life. She was the elder daughter of King George VI, the stuttering king. The same one whose brother abdicated the throne and handed George the crowny rights.
From there it passed to Elizabeth II, upon her father’s death in February 1952. She’s had two nicknames that we know of. First was “Lilibet” because when she was young, Elizabeth couldn’t pronounce her very own name.
Her next nickname was “Cabbage.” Apparently, that was the way Prince Philip lovingly referred to his wife. I’m not sure this is a good thing, as cabbage stinks to the high heavens when you cook it. And, in many people, cabbage causes gas. But as a food, is it most delicious, so perhaps that was Phillip’s context for her nickname.
But queens in general are quite a thing.
Here is the gamut, as a queen can be many things.
A female ruler of a country who inherits her position by right of birth.
A woman in an important position in a festival, like a Homecoming Queen.
A chess piece — the most powerful one.
A playing card, right between the Jack and the King.
An insect, often the top one, like a Queen Bee, or Ant.
A gay man with an ostentatiously flamboyant, or feminine manner.
And probably more.
While I’ve met various types of queens, I’ve never met a queen who ruled a country. But I like Queen Lilibet from afar.
With that said, I’m not sure I would make a very good queen with all the white gloves and waving. Yet, I sure would like to be the one making all the decisions. Things would look a lot different around here if I were Queen of the United States.
Throughout history, there have been thousands and thousands of queens all around the world. Some of them are more famous than others. There are lists ranking them. Countless lists.
Here is one that is fairly average for the most famous queens in all of history.
10. Mary, Queen of Scots
9. Maria Theresa of Austria
8. Catherine the Great of Russia
7. Anne Boleyn of England
6. Nefertiti of Egypt
5. Victoria of England
4. Marie-Antoinette of France
3. Elizabeth I of England
2. Elizabeth II of England
1. Cleopatra VII, Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt
That number one spot goes to Cleopatra. I guess she deserved it. She lived from 69 – 30 BC, and we all know her life was historic. Not to mention her death is legendary.
They say she was a political mastermind. Eventually, she became the sole pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. She was married to a few men and in bed with others. These included Julius Caesar / Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator / Ptolemy XIV / and of course, Mark Antony.
Her romance with Marc Antony would prove deadly. Cleopatra died by suicide on August 12, 30 B.C. A real kick in the asp. Yep. She hooked herself onto a poisonous Egyptian serpent, that good old asp, which, by the way, is a symbol of divine royalty.
Generally speaking, it was all because a guy named Octavian was taking over the show, and Marc Anthony, et al, were being defeated. So rather than be in the throws of things, she took a big exit. She wanted to avoid the humiliation of being paraded as a prisoner during Octavian’s Roman triumph. He would become Rome’s first emperor in 27 BC and be known as Augustus.
There is a lot more to this story, and someone could probably make a movie about her life. Oh. Wait. Elizabeth Taylor is ringing a bell.
This brings me back to good Queen Elizabeth II. And her movies.
I bet she would have kicked Octavian’s asp with one swipe of her handbag.
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“Rule with the heart of a servant. Serve with the heart of a king.”
― Bill Johnson
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“The elevation of mind to be derived from fear will never make a nation glorious.”
― Edmund Burke
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“A ruler needs a good head and a true heart,” she famously told the king. “A cock is not essential.”
― George R.R. Martin, Fire & Blood
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The Queen of the Queens of the Queens.
