Our Queen Elizabeth

Every country has its iconic figures who become symbols and trademarks for the citizens. We in Canada have a few who stand out above all the rest and our Queen is by far the most outstanding. As a young girl she was thrust in the role as Queen when her father died suddenly at a young age.

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited our island in 1949 and all the school children from Cape Breton had the opportunity to see her first hand as she came ashore from the royal yacht Britannia. Sydney was the meeting place and as thousands of people came out to see their Princess she passed only a few feet from we school children. She looked so young and beautiful that she won the hearts of the people attending that gathering.

In our family the Queen was respected and the Princess was likewise as the future Queen. Little did we know at that time Elizabeth would be our Queen in a few short years. On her coronation Queen Elizabeth gave a profound statement when she swore to serve her country and the commonwealth with all her strength and ability.

For the past 60 years she has done that and more. She performed her duties in a most royal manner and managed to keep the largest group of nations together in the form of the Commonwealth of Nations. In our democracy our queen is only a symbol of power as her appointed Govern General is the working partner in our government system. The Queen has such appointees in every country within the Commonwealth except the ones who chose to be a Republic.

Some people frown on the idea of having a Queen but the majority of people live with the idea of a Monarchy. Her strength is having the ability to be a sober, second thought on big questions and she has done that to perfection. Every prime minister of England met with her almost weekly for help and advice.

There is still a place in our society for our democracy with  symbolic head of state. Personally I cannot see a change at this time but we can all agree that if you have such a leader we have had the very best for 60 years. Support for Queen Elizabeth has never been stronger and we wish her many more years as our Queen and wonderful world leader.