New Zealand is fortunate to have Elizabeth as our queen. Photo / AP
New Zealand is fortunate to have Elizabeth as our queen. Photo / AP
OPINION:
Mum was not impressed. We were at a secondhand book sale in Hāwera when I exclaimed "this book has my name in it".
Not just my name but a sticker saying it was presented to me by Patea High School in 1983 after I won the Harold Tucker MemorialPrize.
"You'll have to buy it back," Mum insisted. And so I did. I'd obviously been too lackadaisical when sorting my childhood books.
The funny thing is the book in question is the 1982 Royal Family Yearbook with a photo of the Queen on the front of the dust jacket and the Princess of Wales on the back. On the title page is a smiling Diana, a startled Prince William, and Prince Charles doing his best to look like the doting husband we later learned he wasn't.
Why is this funny? The prize I won was for science but I wasn't about to choose a book on the periodic table or how photosynthesis works. No siree. I wanted to pore over 250 pages of photos of the royal family. The hair! The hats! The future king with no shirt on!
I'm ambivalent about whether New Zealand should become a republic but I'm as firm as a hat pin about the debt we owe the Queen. She has taken her role seriously but not egotistically, with flair but not as a fashion slave, with faith but not a ram-it-down-your-throat type.
Imagine doing the same job for 70 and a half years. Gosh, I can't even imagine being alive for that long. Elizabeth, of course, was never born to be queen but her uncle Edward VIII's abdication changed all that.
Holding a powerful role by virtue of birth rather than merit can be fraught with difficulties but we have been fortunate to have a monarch whose merits shine through.
Imagine dealing with all those prime ministers and not hitting some on the head with your handbag.
Reading material, drinking vessel and a seat fit for celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Photo / Judith Lacy
A friend recently gave me copies of the Evening Standard from June 1953 covering the Queen's coronation. His mother was English-born and her family sent the papers to her in Palmerston North, where she had moved to.
"The crown shines above her lovely young face" the June 2 paper proclaimed.
The then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher, told a New Zealand coronation thanksgiving service he was still under the spell of the tremendous event. He spoke of the unforgettable bearing of the Queen and the overwhelming sense of dedication to God.
Elizabeth ascended to the throne on February 6, 1952, but that was also the day her beloved father King George VI died. She has chosen to celebrate her 70 years on the throne during her official birthday weekend. Think public holiday and better weather in the UK.
The Queen has visited New Zealand 10 times, the last 20 years ago as part of her 50th jubilee. I've never seen her but Mum remembers a waving Queen going past her house in Whanganui on a train. I do though have a Royal Grafton fine bone china mug that marks her 25th jubilee. For her 70th this weekend I'll raise a cup of tea to the monarch who has been a constant in my life.
Today beacons are being lit in all 54 Commonwealth countries to mark the Queen's platinum jubilee.
As Bruno Peek, pageant master of the Queen's Jubilee Platinum Beacons says, the Queen has lit up our lives for 70 years through her dedicated service and commitment. "We would like to light up the nation and the Commonwealth in her honour."
Whatever the future holds for the monarchy, thank you Queen Elizabeth. Person in the sky save Elizabeth.
As Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro says e kotuku rerenga tahi - a white heron flies once.
