The life of the ninety-five-year-old queen Elizabeth II it’s a royal fairytale of other times that, in all likelihood, will never be repeated again. Despite the “bombs” that recently hit the Crown – most recently the farewell of Harry e Meghan Markle to the royal family and theirs shock interview to Oprah Winfrey – for most Brits The Queen remains thebeloved and undisputed symbol of the country. Antonio Caprarica, the most famous royal watcher in Italy, for many years a correspondent for Rai from London, has met His Majesty several times.
And in his latest book, Elizabeth. Forever queen. Life, the kingdom, the secrets (Sperling & Kupfer), chapter after chapter runs through a (true) existence of a novel. From childhood tomeeting with Filippo (the German “handsome Viking” and penniless that Lilibet struggled to make the Queen Mother digest), fromcoronation to the countless crises of the court. Five hundred and sixty pages to tell the story of His Majesty. No surprise. Elisabetta has been there, in her place, for almost seventy years. She was crowned in 1953 when Truman ruled the United States and Stalin led the Soviet Union. So there is a lot to tell by intertwining the history and the stories of such a long period that he saw her on the throne.
Elizabeth at 21 had promised her subjects: “I will serve my country to the last breath“. With all due respect to the firstborn Charles of England, has been speaking. The question of the skeptics, however, always remains the same: in addition to to last what has done really Elizabeth in her long decades of reign? The answer, according to Caprarica, is clearly expressed by the “fund” that the Times dedicated them to the age of eighty: “Thank you Majesty, because in 54 years of reign she has never allowed the mask to slip from her face”. Because for the British, as the conservative philosopher Roger Scruton wrote, “the monarch is sacred and mysterious, but they know that sacredness and mystery are attached to a mask, behind which another ordinary and reserved Englishman has retired.”
When she leaves the ‘stage costume, which she always wears impeccably, the queen actually appears a fairly ordinary person, in the sense of opposite to eccentric or spoiled: this at least for his daily habits, tastes, likes and dislikes ». Caprarica traces the life of the sovereign even in the details of everyday life. For example, we discover a very romantic image of Elizabeth as a teenager: every night before falling asleep – her sister told it Margaret – kissed Filippo’s photo staring at her from the wall next to the bed.
And then there is the queen’s daily routine, which has remained virtually unchanged for ever. For example every morning at 7.30 sharp a maid serves her breakfast in bed on a silver tray. Her Majesty mangia white toast and oatmeal cookies, and while he spreads jam on his bread he listens to the program on the radio Today. After the bath, Her Majesty moves to the dressing room and wears the clothes prepared from the night before, according to the choice of and Angela Kelly. Elizabeth “is absolutely indifferent to the hilarious attention with which the tabloids count how many times she has put on the same dress: she knows that snobs laugh at it, but simple people appreciate it.” Inside the famous bag with which he would send coded messages to the staff are there a handkerchief of batiste, a mirror, a lipstick stick, a hook to stop it at the edge of the table, the lucky charms donated by the children, some dear photos, mints for beloved dogs and a couple of crosswords.
In the pages of Caprarica we then discover that Lilibet “is a good Christian but not a sensitive heart: if he has to break the neck of a partridge with his bare hands just shot down and still alive, she doesn’t think twice. ” His greatest passion, as you know, is to ride, and it is still not known who her husband Filippo was angry with, whether with her or her daughter Anna, when he came up with the famous joke: “If she doesn’t eat hay, she doesn’t care”.
Proverbial, then, the thrift of Her Majesty: «Everyone in the Palace knows that the Queen hates to waste even a penny. For the staff, of course, not for himself or his family, accustomed to luxury and privilege ». Her first private secretary, Lord Chartereis, called her “Brave, honest, humble and sincere, but stingy”. When in 1978 he retired after thirty years of service, The Queen dismissed him with a thread of emotion (very rare) by offering him a tray and two silver frames. “More than enough for me,” the former faithful collaborator said acidly to his friends. Chapter after chapter, before our eyes flows, even in the small details, the life of a sovereign who in almost seventy years of reign – while regimes collapsed, traditions crumbled, scandals or family tragedies were staged – has always remained its place. By managing to keep its steadfastness and popularity intact.
Ma Elizabeth. Forever queen he goes beyond gossipy information, he wants to investigate if and when Her Majesty “felt happy, if she ever felt the pang of guilt, if approaching the end of the race she is satisfied with her fatigue”. From her, “perhaps the only one” of the royal family “to remember that the majesty of the monarchy is its mystery”, we will never know.
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