The Queen’s Christmas message in 2002 was unusual. She explained, briefly, her approach to her role. One could even say that she ‘opened up’:
‘Each day is a new beginning, I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God.’
Her Majesty has spoken countless times subsequently. Her collective speeches have included many hundreds of thousands of words. In which, paradoxically, she has said very little. If asked to quote our monarch of seventy years, many of us would immediately jump in with two words: ‘Annus Horribilis’. And then struggle horribly.
I asked a colleague renowned for his encyclopaedic knowledge of speeches. He remembered ‘Grief is the price we pay for love’, her beautiful, stoical observation on the passing of Prince Philip.
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