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November 20, 2006
The Queen
Last night I went on a birthday outing to Ithaca for dinner and The Queen. I'm with her - England is admired for its restraint - but what we admire is now an imaginary or historical England. Is there any stiff upper lip any more? I doubt it.
I liked the movie - but then I liked Skeleton in Waiting for the same sardonic guess at an inside view of Buckingham Palace.
On a professional line, I read Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies at a formative age and understand the difference and confusion between Monarch and person pretty clearly. Percy Ernst Schramm's Herrschaftszeichen und Staatssymbolik and Kaiser, Rom, Renovatio are very important books for my line of interest in those wacky Carolingians, too. Image has always been paramount for rulers, however they want to play it. This movie does a good job of showing why Tony Blair might appreciate the job Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II manages to pull off.
Oh - best line? Delivered by an equerry (I guess) to Tony Blair: "It's Ma'am as in ham, not Ma'am as in farm."
Posted by CrankyProfessor at November 20, 2006 7:54 AM
Comments
I believe the Queen is HM the Queen, while her children (and possibly the Duke of Edinburgh) are HRH.
....yep, you're right. --MCT
Posted by: Another Damned Medievalist 
at November 21, 2006 8:57 AM