By Telly G. Ocampo
My Love for the British Monarchy
A song in childhood must have been the seed for my love for kings and queens. Part of the song runs this way:
When I grow to be a lady,
a fine and noble queenly lady,
I’ll be a queen, a lovely queen.
Walking in the garden shady,
trees of greens and lovely greens.
Then my prince will come to claim his own,
And love will crown me on my throne.
I grew up with stories of monarchs especially that story of King Edward VII who abdicated the throne to marry an American Divorcee, Wallis Simpson. That was long ago. I learned about this from the narrative of my mother. She was always glued on the radio to listen to the final decision of the abdication.
That abdication made George, King. King George is the father of two daughters: Elizabeth and Margaret. King George died of heart attack when Princess Elizabeth was newly married. Being the older sister and by succession, Elizabeth became queen. Queen Elizabeth was queen for 70 years. For the people of the United Kingdom, she is their queen. Reports say that around “2,000 mourners were in Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, including the presidents, prime ministers and foreign royalty.” I think the funeral was magnificent in its pageantry, a trademark of England’s tradition.
Prince Philip died just a year ago. And since then, the queen’s countenance was one of loneliness.
The queen experienced many challenges in her life especially in the lives of her children and the life of her only sister Margaret. The marriages of her children: Charles, Princess Anne, and Andrew ended in divorce.
The wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was the most viewed wedding of the century. Everyone was awed with Princess Diana – the girl chosen and loved by the queen mother as wife to the future king and mother to the heir apparent. Diana was a teacher of small children and younger sister of Lady Sarah who was once a girlfriend of Charles. Live coverage on television was unknown at that time of the wedding. But I was able to view it. It so happened that on the wedding day of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, I was in Manila on official travel, and I saw the wedding ceremony on screen at the British Council. I had to apply for membership just so I could gain entrance.
It was a dream wedding and years later, here i was, again, glued on television for the Diana interview and the Queen’s announcement that the two would separate with Diana retaining her residence at Kensington Palace with her sons.
Few years later, Diana died with his rumored boyfriend, Dodi Alfayed. I have all the newspaper clippings and books and souvenirs about Diana. I cried a river in her funeral and had the cd on Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind”. Goodbye English rose. I read every now and then books about Lady Diana. I was also fortunate that two weeks before the queen’s death, I received my cousin’s collection of books on the royal family and there was that particular book on the day when Princess Diana died.
Prince Charles and Diana’s sisters brought Diana’s remains from France to England. And Prince Charles asked for a private moment with Diana. He was crying. We cannot compare the feelings we have on these two funerals: that of Diana and that of the queen. All I know is that Diana was searching for love.
Looking at Prince Charles and Camilla during the funeral of the queen, led me to ask myself: What is in Camilla that would make kings love her until what they call as “forever”?
Farewell Queen Elizabeth! Long live the king!