My mother was unique to say the least. She often criticized the idea of having a monarch in the modern world while also expressing her unmitigated admiration for Queen Elizabeth. She felt a kind of kinship with the Queen even as their lives could not have been more different. About the only thing that they had in common was age and appearance. Mama used to boast that with a good makeup artist, hair dresser and wardrobe she might be seen as a clone of Her Majesty. In truth the two ladies did resemble each other in an interesting way.
My mother appreciated Queen Elizabeth’s manners and the regal way in which she presented herself. Mama was also a stickler for proper etiquette and often used the queen as an example to follow. She commented on the comportment of the queen and instructed me to learn from the gracious lady. She would muse about how lovely it would be to meet Elizabeth as an equal as though the only difference between herself and the queen was a title. She would laugh and remark that the one reservation she might have in such a circumstance would be the idea of bowing to the royal personage. She did not think that she would want to ever do such a thing because of her adamant belief that everybody is equally worthy of the same levle of respect.
Mama often noted that Queen Elizabeth’s first born child, Charles, would one day be king. She delighted in the fact that both she and the queen welcomed their eldest children at around the same time. Somehow this made her affection for Elizabeth become ever more deep. She raised me with rules and manners that she hoped would make me as refined as any royal personage while always asserting that being a citizen of the United States gave me the great gift of knowing that we are all created equal.
I found myself thinking of my mom’s adulation of Queen Elizabeth when her son King Charles came to visit the United States. I am quite certain that my mother would have enjoyed his good manners and diplomacy especially when he praised the nation that the United States had become since the revolution of two hundred fifty years ago when our Founding Fathers broke from the bondage of a king. She would have been delighted to hear him urging Congress to keep the ideals outlined in the Magna Carta and later in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
As a child of immigrants from Eastern Europe my mother always appreciated the freedoms that the United States offered to the tired, the poor and the huddled masses. Her family benefited greatly from the hope and refuge that our nation afforded them. She often spoke of her father’s insistence that being in America was a great treasure that she and her siblings must always appreciate. She noted that even when she and her family were insulted and spurned as ‘foreigners” her father would tell her to hold her head high as he insisted, “Here you are as worthy as kings and queens.”
I had my doubts about King Charles coming to visit in such tumultuous times but he rose to the occasion masterfully. I enjoyed watching him warm to the children in Harlem who showed him the gardens they had grown and the animals they had raised. I witnessed his sincerity at the site of 9/11 and Arlington Cemetery. I chuckled at his humor and felt that I saw a man who sincerely understands and appreciates the long friendship that Great Britain and the United States of America have shared. I found myself thinking about George Washington and the brave souls who fought for independence. I am certain they would have approved of the courtesy and friendship and continuing challenges that King Charles noted in his speech to Congress.
We presently have much to do to realign ourselves to the ideals that that have marked the forward march of our nation. King Charles reminded us of what will be most important as we move into the future. It will be up to us to be a welcoming nation and one that aligns itself with long time allies in a mutual preservation of the freedoms that our ancestors envisioned. The wealth of our nation lies in its population of many backgrounds and cultures. Ours is a land of beautiful wonders that we must protect as surely as we protect all of its people. Our greatness lies not in power over others or immense wealth but in the hopes and dreams of a citizenry that represents virtually every country on this earth.
I am thankful to King Charles for reminding us all of what has made us great and challenging us to do the right thing as we walk into the future. I like to think that Queen Elizabeth and my mother are both smiling in heaven and maybe even enjoying a cup of tea together as they celebrate as two equal and wonderful women. Here on earth may we remember to be the kind of people who cherish freedom and equality for all just as Mama and Queen Elizabeth urged me and the king to be.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 