Queen Elizabeth is also missing traditional New Years events. She is 90 years old and I

[monmouth4]

imagine all precautions are being taken. I think "heavy cold" could be another term for pneumonia but do hope her health improves. I'm not an anglo file but I have always admired her.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. If you have Netflix, watch "The Crown." I have a newfound respect for her

and the other royals. Yeah, yeah..royalty and all that but they really do give their lives for this job.

[Rollo]

3. Just finished "The Crown"...

While it did give me a much greater appreciation for the pressures and restrictions on the British monarch, it also revealed a lot of not so positive things:

1) Elizabeth was given a substandard education that omitted basic knowledge that any secondary school kid would know. She tried to fix this after becoming Queen but appears to have given up once her tutor assured her that the education she did get - as to the details of the British constitution - were appropriate for her role in life.

2) Despite that, Elizabeth was unaware of the details of the Royal Marriage Act, which made her promises to Margaret that she could marry her Captain after she reached the age of 25 hollow and cruel. If Elizabeth truly had been properly educated for her role as sovereign, shouldn't she have known these details as well?

3) The gross hypocrisy of the British Royal system and the Church of England that barred marriage of royals to divorced persons if the former spouse was still alive in the face of the fact that the founder of the Church of England, did exactly that: married Anne Boleyn while his ex-wife Catherine was still alive and kicking.

4) It perpetuates the myth that sticking to obsolete notions of marriage and divorce are part of what makes the monarchy special and keeps it alive: British public opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of letting Margaret marry a divorced man. If anything, if Elizabeth had done all she could have to get them a dispensation, it would have strengthened the monarchy rather than diminished it. Flash forward to the debacle of the marriage of Charles and Diana.

5) The white washing of King Edward/David. This man had some definite problems, culminating in his hypocritical advice to Elizabeth not to allow Margaret to marry the man she loved, despite that he had done EXACTLY the same thing himself. And his lamentable cozying up with Hitler and the Nazis is completely omitted.

6) I don't think Elizabeth is stupid, but she is ignorant of many commonplace facts. In their place, she knew all about protocol, horse racing, needlepoint, and dogs.

7) The Royals appear to have struck a Faustian deal: give up their natural curiosity, their freedom to marry anyone they choose, and to live where they pleased, in return for a life of luxury, adulation, and quite limited royal prerogative. In other words, they all have been bought off by the institution of the royal family they refer to internally as "The Firm". They are, in fact, the ultimate Upper Class Twits of Monty Python fame.

[canetoad]

7. Keep in mind

That this TV series was made with no participation from any members of the Royal family. Unless an event or conversation played out publicly and was witnessed and recorded, it may very well be fiction from the script writers. Thus is fake history born.

John Lithgow called it, "speculative fiction".

[Rollo]

11. I figured as much...

Since it came from Netflix, and not the BBC.

I thought it was interesting that the same actress who played Anne Boleyn in "Wolf Hall" was cast as Elizabeth II in this drama. She's a good actress and the performance was flawless, but I wonder how much her portrayal of Anne as a rather scheming and vindictive Queen informed her portrayal of Elizabeth II as a rather dull and unsympathetic monarch.

And I thought they should have included her giving one of her Corgis a treat after it nipped at somebody's heels, LOL...

[mfcorey1]

13. I agree! That is a powerful series. I am binge watching it now!

[MANative]

2. I second the recommendation for "The Crown." Fascinating look at royal lives...

especially of Prince Philip. Probably one of the more sympathetic views of his life, but if accurate, he really did sacrifice quite a lot to marry Elizabeth. Interesting take on their relationship, too.

[trixie2]

9. Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest reigning monarch in history

I also liked how The Crown brought up the often detrimental doings of the Queen Mother. I am a huge history buff and in reality she was something else.

[kickitup]

4. I have enjoyed "The Crown" as well. Puts her in quite another light for me.

[monmouth4]

5. My maternal grandmother was born in England and "kept up" with the Queen, especially after

the abdication by her uncle. Grandmom was infuriated with him for years and would educate me on all of the royal activities. I remember when Charles was born..Wow, I'm old..

[UTUSN]

6. Well, I admire you more. That said, she's behaved well for her billions. & her parents

and she helped (yeah, A LOT) in WWII

[dflprincess]

8. I hope she gets better

I'm looking forward to her snubbing the Trumps should they make a state visit to the U.K. When you're 90 all you have to do is use your age as an excuse to get out of doing something you don't want to do - even if you are the Queen.

[pipi_k]

10. Oh I dunno...

I think she's much too civilized to act in such a manner.

However...

I would love to see Sarah Ferguson poke Trump in the ass with her umbrella.

[dflprincess]

14. I'm sure she would do it in a most regal manner

(and Trump would probably be too dumb to catch on).

While I have not doubt she'd follow protocol I doubt it would appear like she was enjoying the visit or that she'd consent to do a humorous ad for the Invictus Games as she did with Prince Harry and the Obamas (I can't see Harry bantering with Trump the way he did with the Obamas - Trump just wouldn't get it and would probably think the prince was actually threatening him).

Or she could just use her age to get out of a meeting (my aunt who is 94 says age makes a great excuse for not doing what you don't want to do), the rest of the immediate family could all be scheduled and Trump would wind up being greeted by someone who is like 200th in line for the throne.

If you haven't seen the promo I'm referring to:

[Rollo]

12. Trump might want to wear ankle armor...

Just in case QE2 whispers, "Release the hounds!" during the royal reception...

[okasha]

15. Be nice to Her Majesty.

We may need to ask her to take us back.