February 11, 2009 4:57 PM
- Text
The Queen Visits America
(CBS)
For a show that opened in 1952 — and has never missed a curtain — you might have thought the viewing public would have tired of it by now. But this show has got legs like no other.
It's a show with a somewhat perverse appeal. Instead of giving its audience something new all the time, it gives it the same old thing over and over.
Watchers of the main attraction of that show, England's Elizabeth II, would have it no other way.
"Thank God she never changes. That would be fatal," society editor Victoria Mather told CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mark Phillips.
Elizabeth's first state visit to America was in 1957. Then, ties were narrow, cars were big, and Dwight Eisenhower was president.
Then, the 31-year-old monarch said, "I express to you the friendship and respect felt by my people of every race and creed in the British Commonwealth nations."
Presidents have come and gone, fashion has changed over the years — even if hers hasn't very much — but the show has always gone on.
Elizabeth, who just turned 81 and is in the 55th year of her reign, is now on her 10th American president.
And from Churchill to Blair, she's been through 10 British prime ministers. Yet with all the exposure she's had over the years, this little woman in big hats has somehow managed to combine a massive public profile with a remarkable degree of personal privacy.
About her family, we seem to know everything: Her lovelorn son Charles, now happily married, at last. Her grandchildren, harry who likes a party and now is off to war, and William, who recently dumped his not-posh-enough girlfriend.
But for the queen, beyond the pageantry and the jewelry, there's mystery. Almost nobody knows what's she's really like or what she really thinks, although almost everybody seems to have an opinion.
"It is a kind of mother/grandmother figure, the slightly correct bosom of the nation," says writer David Starkey.
"What she symbolizes is the British people's political immaturity," says author Will Self.
"She's just amazing, I mean, she's one of our leaders, isn't she?" says one child.
It's a sense of mystery that has served her well.
The brilliant, brilliant mystique of the queen is that we know so little, and the crumbling of the modern royalty is that we know too much.
The world may now know a little more about the queen because of the popularity of
"The Queen," the movie of the same name featuring Helen Mirren's portrayal of her during the aftermath of Princess Diana's death.
We'll never know if that portrayal was accurate but in show biz terms, the queen — the real one — is hot.
"The Queen" has been extremely good for the queen.
"Helen Mirren is a lot younger than the queen," says author Will Self. "Helen Mirren is a better actor than the queen, Helen Mirren has a more melodious voice, Helen Mirren has acted as a superb saleswoman for British industry. I understand the sale of Barbour waxed jackets went through the roof in the States after the movie appeared."
It's a show with a somewhat perverse appeal. Instead of giving its audience something new all the time, it gives it the same old thing over and over.
Watchers of the main attraction of that show, England's Elizabeth II, would have it no other way.
"Thank God she never changes. That would be fatal," society editor Victoria Mather told CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mark Phillips.
Elizabeth's first state visit to America was in 1957. Then, ties were narrow, cars were big, and Dwight Eisenhower was president.
Then, the 31-year-old monarch said, "I express to you the friendship and respect felt by my people of every race and creed in the British Commonwealth nations."
Presidents have come and gone, fashion has changed over the years — even if hers hasn't very much — but the show has always gone on.
Elizabeth, who just turned 81 and is in the 55th year of her reign, is now on her 10th American president.
And from Churchill to Blair, she's been through 10 British prime ministers. Yet with all the exposure she's had over the years, this little woman in big hats has somehow managed to combine a massive public profile with a remarkable degree of personal privacy.
About her family, we seem to know everything: Her lovelorn son Charles, now happily married, at last. Her grandchildren, harry who likes a party and now is off to war, and William, who recently dumped his not-posh-enough girlfriend.
But for the queen, beyond the pageantry and the jewelry, there's mystery. Almost nobody knows what's she's really like or what she really thinks, although almost everybody seems to have an opinion.
"It is a kind of mother/grandmother figure, the slightly correct bosom of the nation," says writer David Starkey.
"What she symbolizes is the British people's political immaturity," says author Will Self.
"She's just amazing, I mean, she's one of our leaders, isn't she?" says one child.
It's a sense of mystery that has served her well.
The brilliant, brilliant mystique of the queen is that we know so little, and the crumbling of the modern royalty is that we know too much.
The world may now know a little more about the queen because of the popularity of
"The Queen," the movie of the same name featuring Helen Mirren's portrayal of her during the aftermath of Princess Diana's death.
We'll never know if that portrayal was accurate but in show biz terms, the queen — the real one — is hot.
"The Queen" has been extremely good for the queen.
"Helen Mirren is a lot younger than the queen," says author Will Self. "Helen Mirren is a better actor than the queen, Helen Mirren has a more melodious voice, Helen Mirren has acted as a superb saleswoman for British industry. I understand the sale of Barbour waxed jackets went through the roof in the States after the movie appeared."
- 1
- 2
- Next Page »
-
Scott Conroy Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.
Follow on Twitter »
Latest Now in Sunday Morning
- Glen Campbell on getting off drugs
- Almanac: Indiana's pi bill
- Ben Stein: Facebook and American Airlines in the news
- A different side of Cary Grant
- The Super Bowl by the numbers
- Natural silence: The Kartchner Caverns
- Sunday Passage: Angelo Dundee and Don Cornelius
- A typewriter renaissance
- Wallis Simpson: Another look at "That Woman"
- Ben Stein: Wealth and misery in the news
- How hairstyles make the woman
- Cary Grant: Debonair dad
- Hazing: A dangerous tradition
- Seeking an end to hazing deaths
- The Super Bowl of hair
- Wynton Marsalis
- Top ten rudest U.S. cities
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook
on CBS News
- UK gov't: Press must face tougher penalties
- Bahrain's ailing Gulf Air secures $80 million loan
- Pop queen Whitney Houston dies at age 48
- Pop queen Whitney Houston dies on eve of Grammys
on Facebook
- Whitney Houston 1963-2012
- Adele sings a cappella for Anderson Cooper
- Remembering Whitney Houston 1963-2012
on CBS News
