It was raining Thursday when her reign ended.
Queen Elizabeth II, 96, the monarch known by her subjects as their constant North Star, was dead.
The country was no longer “Elizabethan.”
Admired as the unflappable monarch with the stiff upper lip, the girl once known as “Lillibet” ruled her country for 70 years to become England’s longest-reigning British monarch.
But who was she really?
Trained in the art of “never complain,” the Queen chose never to explain.
Publicly, she never expressed political opinions, nor personal ones.
It was hard to know her views unless delivering a Christmas message; so self censored publicly, she even hesitated to name favorite colors or flowers.
And she vowed to rule in service to her country until her death.
Even when her beloved husband, Prince Philip, died, she tipped her head and let her large hat hide her sorrow during a filmed segment of a memorial service.
A monarch who guarded every public word, the Queen later said: “Grief is the price you pay for love.”
Privately, the Queen was described as a jokester; the master of the hand gesture; a verbal mimic of private political opinions; a wee tippler of a sweet green drink; and someone who did not like veering off her fixed menu of favorites.
In my many years of covering the royals in London, the Queen was never on the royal watchlist of bad behavior. It was her petulant children which drove press scrutiny.
Technically, the Queen was a working mother with four children.
Basically, she attended to her nation’s need to see her.
Privately, she was attended to in royal fashion on the public’s dole.
Elizabeth II was also publicly predictable; preferred the same style handbag; chock a block shoes; color coordinated hat and dress; and … white gloves. Decades ago, she chose a hairstyle she never changed. From the get go, the Queen loved her country, family, horses and dogs.
In the end, Queen Elizabeth’s beloved old corgi, Candy, was by her side.
If my memory confirms, sometime in the summer of the mid-1980s, this columnist headed to London to cover the royals at horse play.
Unexpectedly, it turned out to be an opportunity for a very close observation; barely yards away from the Queen in action; a last-minute replacement for a guest invited to the Queen’s afternoon summer garden party at Buckingham Palace; a fete for high-profile visitors and British people of service.
A hat was required. Please, no!
A dress was required. OMG.
Trekking in heat and heels from my hotel onto red palace carpets and into a large, open garden, guests were directed into royal family greeting lines … and a tent sporting tea, perfectly cut English sandwiches; and sweets.
There was also a royal latrine tent equipped with polished wooden toilet lids and boar bristle brushes. Oh, those Brits.
And there she was. The Queen. Feet away. Standing at the head of a line — as did Prince Phillip. Smiling, proffering a gloved hand, no one ever lingering long. No fencing. Free range.
It was a close-up of what her country had come to admire. Predictability. Warmth, but no excess. No bubble. No trouble.
But there has always been only one royal rule: Never talk to the Queen unless she addresses you first, particularly a rule for members of the press. There are no press interviews with the Queen.
So during her reign Her Majesty kept publicly calm, dealing privately with her children’s messy public divorces — even excising her closest son, Prince Andrew, from royal duties in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein international sex scandal was what the country expected.
Animated privately; publicly passive.
And the country upgraded her from admired to beloved when addressing the nation by affirming their devotion to Princess Diana, her son’s ex-wife, killed with her lover in a cruel car accident in Paris.
The Queen had finally gone public.
The big question: How public will her very expressive son, the new King Charles III, be about his already very public views on his distaste for modern architecture and his fight to end the nightmare of climate change?
His mother’s reign was remarkable.
King Charles has gone through a very long training period at his mother’s side within the earshot of his late father’s very public opinions.
We will see if his mother got the last word.
The Scot’s lament…
Dateline: The flip side: Chicago attorney Kathy Byrne, daughter of late Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne, just texted from Scotland, a member of Britain’s United Kingdom now dealing with Queen Elizabeth’s death.
“The coverage of the funeral of Princess Diana made me sob,” she said. “This is very different. It’s almost silent, people talking quietly. Nobody is weeping. There seems to be a bit of bewilderment,” she told Sneed.
Please note: Scotland has attempted via referendums to break away from the fold.
Sneedlings…
A special shout out to legendary Tufano’s eatery for sponsoring a “Back to School” luncheon recently for children of Gold Star Police families. “This is a great example of how business supports the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, which honors police men and women killed in the line of duty,” said former Chicago police Supt. Phil Cline, who heads the foundation. “The kids were also given back-to-school gifts,” he said, …Saturday birthdays: rapper Big Daddy Kane, 54; entrepreneur Jack Ma, 58, and actor Colin Firth, 62. ... Sunday birthdays: rapper Ludacris, 45; actor Taraji P. Henson, 52, and singer Harry Connick Jr., 55
