Whether you are a royalist or not, you have to admit that this bank holiday weekend is exactly the tonic we needed.
After years of misery – what with Brexit, the pandemic, war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis – most of us are exhausted.
Yet there is always something very special in how our country comes together, celebrating, united, proud and inclusive.
Whether it’s to support our national football teams, Olympic athletes or the NHS, no other country does “unity” like we do – we are the best at being at one when the occasion demands it.
I’ve never met the Queen. I don’t especially like her undemocratic appointment as head of state, the privilege that she represents (and that which is bestowed upon her and her family), as well as the history associated with the British monarchy – particularly colonialism.
But despite all this, I respect Queen Elizabeth II as a woman, because she had to make the ultimate sacrifice: her life for serving crown and country.
I often ask myself, could I do what the Queen does? Pomp, ceremony, rules, etiquette, standards, protocol and so on. For 70 years? Absolutely not, even for all the wealth and privilege that comes with it. It’s a gilded cage.
But she has done a fantastic job of holding her institution together amid adversity. She is a strong, no-nonsense figurehead for our nation during our toughest and darkest moments, always carrying out her role impeccably.
I watched Day 1 of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations with my 76-year-old Pakistani mum, who is currently in hospital receiving cancer treatment.
Together we watched the crowds, the Queen on the balcony with her family and the flypast, and it brought back special memories of the Silver Jubilee in 1977. I was seven, and was given a Jubilee coin to commemorate the Queen’s then 25-year reign.
My mum became a life-long fan. When I was growing up on a council estate in the East Midlands, my immigrant parents used the Queen as a role model for their four children, always saying: “Do you think the Queen would eat like that? Dress like that? Talk like that?” We didn’t have two pennies to rub together, but my dad looked to the Queen for manners for his kids!
I have seen prime ministers come and go, but the Queen has always been there in my life and it’s for that reason I feel she is a part of it.
And as a mother, I can relate to her and also feel the joy, pain and embarrassment that some of her family have surely put her through.
I celebrated the Queen’s jubilee by holding a party in my garden, bringing together family and friends.
We wore red, white and blue, hung up Union Jack bunting, blasted We’ll Meet Again and raised a glass to honour Queen Elizabeth II.
Cheers to you, Ma’am… and thanks for the extra days off!
