Two of my favorite glimpses of Queen Elizabeth II nearly bookend her life. On her 21st birthday, still just the daughter of a king, she gave a radio broadcast pledging to the British people in a heartbreakingly young voice “that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.”
Earlier this year, celebrating 70 years as queen in a Platinum Jubilee extravaganza full of gun salutes and airplane flyovers, she stood on a Buckingham Palace balcony, surrounded by a sedate invitation-only group of family, and ignored the ritual for a while to chat up the youngest and rowdiest of the bunch — her 4-year old great-grandson, Prince Louis.
Elizabeth just seemed game, all the way to the end of her life on Thursday at the age of 96. Well into her 80s, she appeared in a hilarious video skit with Daniel Craig for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London.
