Word: queenly
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...face of it, a rather conventional bunch, not greatly distinguished by sex appeal or intelligence or wit. Movie stars have glamour at least, and champion athletes grace. But what do the ruling Windsors of Britain have above and beyond their right to rule? This week, as Queen Elizabeth marks her official birthday, one may well feel justified in asking what divine right inheres in her -- an almost powerless figurehead in a country now past its prime -- to command the attention of the world, let alone its enthralled admiration...
...simple answer, of course, lies not in her person but in the position she occupies, the throne behind the power. Queen Elizabeth II need merely play her ceremonial part -- Britain incarnate -- as you or I might play King Henry V in some amateur theatrical. If Britons will die for Queen and country, they will surely live for them too; to inspire that devotion, the Queen need only be seen and not heard...
...broader scale, royalty commands loyalty perhaps because monarchs are the last great icons of our secular age, the only larger-than-life figures who can still quicken belief while dwelling in mystery. If God is dead, long live the Queen! Their titles alone suggest that kings and princesses are ambassadors from the realm of fairy tale: Who ever heard of Good President Wenceslaus or The Prime Minister and the Pea? And if the very rich, as Hemingway said, are different from you and me, then the royals are different from the very rich, separated by some indefinable chasm from those...
...wistfully gaze through a telescope at the other little boys playing in the streets of Lhasa; the British rulers faithfully follow the trials of everyday drudges on the local soap opera Crossroads. The screen that separates us from royals is, after all, a two-way illusion. When the Queen Mother decided once to drop in on a typical French bistro to dine in the company of ordinary folk, her security-conscious host promptly filled the place with policemen dressed up to look like ordinary folk...
...hour days at the Washington Times, showering his staff with "Arnaud- grams," notes scrawled on yellow paper suggesting stories and sources. He bounces around the newsroom, nagging, second-guessing or just plain giving orders. But he does sleep. The proof is in his office, which contains a queen- size bed. Though de Borchgrave owns an apartment in Washington, he spends many nights at work, rising before dawn to read the day's papers...