Forever England
My Mom was always a proud citizen of the United Kingdom. But she would never call it that: to my Mom and her generation, it was always England. She made the point herself, even in death almost ten years ago. On her orders (and I do mean orders) written on her headstone is the Rupert Brooke poem:
“If I should die think only this of me, that there is some corner of a foreign field that is forever England”.
And Mom’s politics were a little bit complicated. She was a child of the English school system, what Americans would call a private school education at a Sacred Heart Convent School in England followed by two years of “finishing school” in Belgium. When she returned, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature (I can hear her say that now – English Lit-tra-ture). And yet, she would tell vague stories of hiding Irish cousins from the British police, and in her words, her pre-World War II politics were “a bit rosy” as well.
Duty
But her service in the Special Operations Executive, and the sacrifice of so many of her generation cemented her loyalty to the country, and to the Crown. As I was growing up we had legendary wide-ranging discussions at Mom’s dinner table with eclectic groups of friends. But criticism of the Crown was not allowed. So while Mom was the major “liberal” influence in our life here in America (Dad was a “Rockefeller Republican), I think she was a more Conservative citizen of the United Kingdom. She didn’t vote there, and was as committed to the United States as any American. But she stood for the institutions that represented the British Empire, and was quietly sad as those were diminished.
And Mom had a very personal affiliation with Queen Elizabeth. It wasn’t that she personally knew Her Majesty, but Mom very much related to the story of the young woman who was unexpectedly thrust into the role of heir apparent. Her father, King George VI, was never supposed to be the King. Her uncle, King Edward the VIII, gave up the throne for “the woman he loved”, leaving his brother the throne.
Parallel Stories
Elizabeth was eight years younger than Mom, a teenager during the War. But she pitched in, becoming a driver and even a mechanic to help the War effort. And she took on the role of Heir Apparent, and then, at twenty-six years of age, as the Queen. Life unexpectedly changed her life’s course again and again.
And that’s the way Mom’s life was as well. Her course was set, the fiancé of an Oxford man, enjoying the racing excitement of the pre-War social life of London. But the War altered all that. Her fiancé was killed in the Battle of Britain, and she became a “spy” for the SOE, risking her own life in Nazi territory. Like Edward, she fell in love with an American, and gave up her family and the nation she loved to come to home with him.
Her life social and joyful life became deadly serious and focused. After they came to America, Mom and Dad had a wonderful life, doing remarkable things and enjoying sixty-five years of marriage. But, like Elizabeth, it wasn’t the life either expected. So Mom more than related to the Queen, and stoutly defended the royal family.
Prince Phillip
Prince Phillip Mountbatten, the husband to the Queen died this morning at ninety-nine years of age. Phillip accepted a lifetime as the “consort” to the Queen, a helpmate and supporter who was consigned to a secondary role, literally walking a step behind his wife. Like many of the rest of the Royal family, Phillip had his flaws. But he did his duty. That’s what Mom would have said.
And she would have been sad today. Sad for England, and sad to see the last of her generation leaving the world.
And so very sad for the Queen.
