Yes, the Queen has her haters

On the one hand, you have David Beckham, once the world’s greatest soccer player, waiting in a 10-hour queue (British for line) to say goodbye to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

On this side of the pond, we have former Courier-Post and Daily News writer Chuck Darrow, and former Daily News and Philadelphia magazine editor Larry Platt, both making the same dyspeptic point: Didn’t we fight a war to get rid of these people, meaning the Royal Family?

Talk about holding a grudge!

Yes, we cast off the Royals, about 250 years ago, but in the last two centuries, every time the U.S. has needed a friend, Great Britain has been at our side.

And for almost half of that time, Queen Elizabeth has been there, never speaking an ill word against her former colony. More than an ally, she has been a true friend. 

Darrow and Platt seem to share a weird fetish, as if to prove their Americanism, they have to hate British royalty. Platt makes the stunningly obvious point that the monarchy is based on “inequality.” And America isn’t? — income, gender, race, religion, height, weight, personal attractiveness. 

It is the Brit’s monarchy, not ours. As card-carrying liberals, Darrow and Platt you’d think would subscribe to honoring other people’s traditions, at least when they are harmless. The local boys are out of step with the majority of the world and must be seething about the all-out media coverage.

Yes, Great Britain was guilty of the same sin as every other great power — throwing its weight around taking over territory through colonialism. Yes, it was an early slave trader, but may have been the first nation to ban the slave trade.

Other colonial powers? France, Belgium, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Spain, and the U.S.A., plus some lessers. And what was left of the United Kingdom’s colonial power was mostly ended, peacefully, during Elizabeth’s reign.

Back to Beckham. I believe he could have made a phone call to access a side door to Westminster Hall. I believe he opted for the queue out of respect for the late sovereign. “We are lucky as a nation to have had someone who has led us the way her majesty has led us, for the amount of time, with kindness, and caring, and always reassurance,” he told a reporter. 

He said she was special “and will be missed, not just by everyone in our country, but everyone around the world.”

Well, not by Darrow and Platt and others like them who feel the need to scratch the itch by virtue-signaling against the monarchy. 

Unlike them, I saw the queen crowned in 1952. I was 11 and watched it on a black and white TV which was as grainy as the black and white pictures I saw from the moon 17 years later.

At the time, the queen bore a passing resemblance to my mother — about the same build, complexion, hair color and sensible shoes. But that didn’t create the respect I gained for her during an unbelievable 70-year reign. 

The respect grew slowly over the years as she maneuvered through various crises, mostly arising within her own family, called The Firm.

Longevity contributed to the inevitably that she is seen as the symbol of Great Britain not just by the Brits, but by the world as well. And that explains why some 70 heads of state will attend her Monday-morning funeral. It also explains the five-mile long queue for mourners who wanted to pay their respect, some waiting as long as 24 hours to do so.

Can you imagine the devotion to do something like that? The respect? The love?

If you’ve ever been to Britain,  chances are you saw  the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The costumes, the drill, the horses, are impactful. And now, with the funeral, out comes the pageantry of a reign that stretches back more than 1,000 years. The sense of history is overwhelming, along with the medal-bedecked military costumes, the music, the architecture, the perfect execution of movements. 

Maybe because she was a triple threat — head of state for Great Britain and 14 realms (former colonies), head of the church of England, and  commander-in-chief of the military. 

That’s quite a load, although the monarch has no real power, just the “soft power” of leading by example. 

On a scale of 1-10, I think her subjects and the world is giving her a 9. Not a 10, because that would be perfection and you can’t have that when a few are sitting in the bleachers, dropping peanuts shells, spilling beer and booing people far more accomplished than themselves.

Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth, our steadfast friend.