The Queen being "inappropriate"

[Siwsan]

Backstory:

The Queen confessed that, since she was a young princess, she really wanted to strike a less than formal pose for an official photo but the royal advisors told her this would be 'inappropriate'. Well, I guess she figured she's 93, and the freaking QUEEN OF ENGLAND!!!! so if she wants to pose with her hands in her pockets, she jolly well will!

[samnsara]

1. i love it...good for her.

[Golden Raisin]

2. She still has that marvellous smile.

[colorado_ufo]

3. Love this!

I hope she has many more years on the throne. She is an inspiration!

[3Hotdogs]

9. Aww, poor Charlie.

[PatSeg]

13. I don't think he really wants it

He is a very busy man as Prince of Wales, doing a lot of good for people and the environment.

[colorado_ufo]

18. I suspect the plan is to bypass Charles and go directly to William and Kate.

Having one coronation instead of two would save the country an awful lot of money and would also bypass the issue of Camilla.

I agree that Charles is very content in his role and his life.

[sarge43]

28. The only way that could happen is if Parliament changes the 2015 succession law.

That isn't going to happen.

Yes, Charles may not want the job, but then neither did Queen Elizabeth. "Suck it up. At least you wouldn't be stuck with it for most of your life."

[PatSeg]

35. I agree

Though Sarge43 said the law wouldn't allow that.

[sarge43]

37. Charles can voluntarily op-out.

Either by abdicating or leaving the Church of England. The monarch has to be CofE. Pretty drastic, but he could and the job would then fall to William.

As far the expense of a coronation much of it is theater, not necessary. Charles has hinted that he doesn't want his to be elaborate.

[PatSeg]

48. That's kind of what I figured

but I wasn't sure.

I can see Charles not wanting an elaborate celebration if he didn't abdicate. I'm sure he's had enough pomp and circumstance.

[nilram]

4. Sassy!

Good for her!

[Demovictory9]

47. +1

[Ilsa]

5. I'm the Queen, I'm a great-grandma, and I ain't got no more fucks to give!

[northoftheborder]

6. Letting her true personality shine---!!

[abqtommy]

7. My Mom is 95 and one thing she and the Queen have in common is ATTITUDE! You go girls-

er-ladies! I saw the Queen in 1955 and we've both changed a lot since then.

[sarge43]

11. Yup. Attitude: One of the few benefits about growing old.

"Don't like it? Don't look at it."

[calimary]

8. Her Majesty, relaxing and being real. Hey, why not?

She’s been literally a world class role model throughout her remarkable life. Her family has brought beaucoup bucks into her country (and to her subjects) by virtue of the fact that her family itself is a major tourist attraction.

God Save the Queen.

[OMGWTF]

14. Fun Fact: The Queen has more military experience than Trump, his family and in-laws combined.

[colorado_ufo]

19. True dat!

[calimary]

22. Yep!

[sarge43]

29. Last head of state who's a WWII veteran. n/t

[pandr32]

30. Definitely! Military service is a family duty.

The Queen until a few years ago still would fix her own jeep she used for driving around her property in. She learned those skills serving as a mechanic during WW2. She can handle a gun very well, too.
She has also shown she is no fool.
The Trump family is complete riff-raff and yet she suffers them--at least temporarily. I would love to be a fly on the wall when she mentions them in private.

[sarge43]

31. Grandfather, father, husband, and two sons-navy.

"I would love to be a fly on the wall when she mentions them in private."

I suspect she knows the vocabulary. Starts with "git" then goes down hill from there.

[braddy]

32. She was never actually a mechanic, that was a publicity campaign after Germany was beaten

but just before the surrender. The Queen put on a transportation uniform for photos and went to some daytime mock training events close to home but she never actually worked as a truck driver and she spent every night in Windsor castle. You wouldn't want her working on your car, and she was not making deliveries around the country as a wartime truck driver.

It was all about imagery and you will have heck trying to get behind the same repeated basic short story of the myth, but that is how Monarchy and power works.

[pandr32]

33. Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service

She had to beg her family to allow her to join up and she trained in London. Why would you want to try to tarnish her grit?

[braddy]

34. I'm not tarnishing anything, a royal did her publicity act in the last months of the war but

that is all it was, she was never actually serving in the military as a real worker or an actual mechanic, or truck driver (why would a mechanic be pulled from that highly skilled technical work to be a truck driver by the way). We don't need to pretend that the rich and powerful in some countries are pretend military officers, especially the monarchies.

Enjoy it for what it was.

[sarge43]

39. Military drivers learn basic auto mechanics as matter of course.

Why? The beast could break down in the middle of nowhere. Especially critical if you're piloting a loaded ambulance through a combat zone.

As for pretend, Her Maj's father was at the Battle of Jutland, the naval battle of WWI as a turret officer, not a plush duty. Husband was in several battles in the Pacific, saved one of his ship. Son Andrew was in Falkland's War.

[braddy]

41. I did some driving in the Artillery and was a driving instructor for awhile, I don't recall any of

us being known as mechanics or having mechanic training, and as a "truck driver" do you think that she was actually driving trucks anywhere? If you ever dig into all this, you will see that her public appearances and her daily life were all under deep security photo op control, not driving trucks around.

[whistler162]

42. So you are 90+ years old and served in WWII!

[braddy]

43. Weird.

[sarge43]

38. Oh hell, I'll ask

Got a valid source for that?

Yes she did bunk at Windsor at her father's insistence, a compromise for letting her sign up.

[braddy]

40. I got into this years ago, it is a very difficult research because the internet is saturated with

the same basic story over and over, and totally lacking depth and details, it all just the same feel good story.
It is interesting how deeply people want to believe that she was driving trucks, working on engines and just being one of the troops.

I'm not interested enough to go back and reconstruct all the old and internet buried sources, but if you spend a couple of hours attempting to dig into the actual story you will come to see how shallow the first layers of information are and realize that it will take effort to get behind the Wartime/Monarchy/England image package.

[Dave Starsky]

45. If she did as much as change one fucking spark plug in WW II...

Then she accomplished more manual labor and military service than the orange glob in the White House or any of his fetid family and in-laws.

[braddy]

46. All stolen valor stuff sucks.

[demigoddess]

52. think you got bad intel there. She did repair vehicles not traipse around the

country.

[braddy]

53. No, she never did anything other than the propaganda photos, she came in as an officer being

assigned as a transport officer at Camberley. The course was three weeks, she didn't associate with others there, ate lunch with the officers and then was returned to Windsor Castle every afternoon and reached the rank of Captain.

Before that at age 16, she was appointed Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, the training battalion of the Grenadiers was stationed at Windsor Castle during the war as a close protection force.

[demigoddess]

58. in your dreams

[braddy]

59. Hold on to your fairy tale Princess stories of the WWII soldier/mechanic, the Monarchist depend on

people doing that kind of dreamy acceptance.

[sarge43]

10. Yeah. What can 'they' do about it?

She looks like she just left Boris Johnson dead in a ditch.

[Soph0571]

12. I met the Queen when I was eight

She was visiting our town and made a beeline cause my twin and I were really cute dressed the same and all that
And I went to a tea party at Buckingham Palace a couple of years ago! She didn't remember me, alas

On that occasion.. I had a lovely view of her back

[Siwsan]

15. Wow! I stood right next to her, twice

Once during the Silver Jubilee, as she did a 'walk about', heading to the Guildhall for a luncheon, and once when she came to Windsor, Ontario. I was just lucky enough to end up standing right at the barricades and she lingered, for a few seconds, smiling and waving.

She has the bluest eyes and most beautiful porcelain skin.

[AllaN01Bear]

16. Shes the queen dang nabbit. she can do anything she wants to

[bucolic_frolic]

17. That's letting your hair down

It just proves you really should do some of the things you want to do before you're too old to enjoy it.

[colorado_ufo]

21. That picture also makes her look healthy and vigorous!

Full of life, the way her family must see her.

[NurseJackie]

20. I love her. I'll be sad when she's gone.

[calimary]

23. I do like this photo!

Nice smile, too!

[pandr32]

24. Wonderful!

She looks fantastic!

[mwooldri]

25. Gorgeous picture :) I'd love to see an official selfie....

... with a smile kind of like that. I think that would be cool...

[Zoonart]

26. Rock it, Betty.

[wryter2000]

27. Looking good

[Brother Buzz]

36. Now is the time to really let loose and put some color into your wardrobe

When I Am Old.

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me,
And I shall spend my pension
on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals,
and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired,
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells,
And run my stick along the public railings,
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens,
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat,
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go,
Or only bread and pickle for a week,
And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats
and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry,
And pay our rent and not swear in the street,
And set a good example for the children.
We will have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me
are not too shocked and surprised,
When suddenly I am old
and start to wear purple!

Jenny Joseph

[yellowdogintexas]

44. Her Majesty dresses in some of the brightest colors available

She has the perfect coloring to wear those tones and she is easy to pick out in a crowd

[MustLoveBeagles]

49. Good for her

This a great picture of her.

[Talitha]

50. What's with the unibrow... is this a real photo?

I can't imagine her posing in front of such a dull background, either.

[Siwsan]

56. Yes, it's a real photo

The photographer wasn't expecting the kind of shoot he encountered. The Queen had decided to have some fun, and was pulling all sorts of 'model' poses. The Queen's "dresser", Angela Kelly, decided to keep and share this particular photo because it is so out of character for how the Queen usually poses. It's really more of a candid photo, probably not originally meant for release, but Angela was given permission to release it.

This, and other photos, are coming out because Angela has written an authorized book that full of photos and insights into her experience as someone incredibly close to, and trusted by, the Queen. It's said to be full of interesting, behind the scene, tidbits for those, like me, who follow the history of this monarch.

[Talitha]

57. Thanks for the info!

[3catwoman3]

51. While she has lived a life of great material privilege, it has been...

...at the price of personal freedom. Watch the PBS series The Crown if you want to see just how restricted her choices were.

This is a lovely picture (although I do wish she would wear neutral colored shoes).

[Siwsan]

54. The instant her uncle abdicated, she lost most control of her life

Her mother was a stalwart of 'tradition'. I have immense respect for the Queen Mother. Her actions during the war went above and beyond. She was a steadying force for her husband, the nation, and a loving mother to her daughters. BUT, she was also very mired in an incredibly outdated mindset. How different Princess Margaret's life would likely have been, had she been allowed to marry Peter Townsend. And how much faster would the monarchy have been, to enter even the 20th Century. I even wonder how different Princess Diana's life would have been. The Queen Mother was born at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, but was definitely raised with mid-19th century notions. It wasn't until after her death that the slow but sure changes and much more relaxed attitude of the Queen started to come forward. I've read a lot about her 'behind the scenes' real personality. It's nice to see some of it shining through to the public, at large.

And yes - the Queen's shoes! She does wear lighter ones at formal occasions but sure seems set on those black ones for every day. The article I read said that the woman who 'dresses' her wears the same size shoe, so she 'breaks in' the Queen's shoes, for her, so she will be comfortable.

[zanana1]

55. You go girl! nt