Her Maj

I was sadder than I expected to be when the Queen died.
I didn’t expect to feel anything at all, but there it was.
The relationship between public and monarch is different to our connection with politicians. Modern royals are mostly involved in meet-and-greets, openings, carefully worded motherhood statements from time to time and lots of waving and just being around.
Hence, back when Australia was having the republic referendum in 1999, monarchists pointed out that many more of us had actually seen Her Maj than had seen a sitting prime minister. I never set eyes on the Queen myself but that was my fault; her motorcade once passed down the main road near my house but I chose not to go and have a perv.
I did but see her passing by
And yet I love her til I die
Couplet quoted for the Queen by Bob Menzies, former Prime Minister
In the 1960s, Her Maj paraded down the very street where I lived in Africa. There’s a small plaque there saying so. She once held my mate’s Boomer mum when she was a baby back in the smoldering remains of war-torn Europe, on one of her meet-and-greets following WWII.
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