Queen Mother dies

[wagstaff]

With the level of fawning displayed in newspapers like the Herald Sun that treat her like a monument instead of a human being, it's interesting to read some more detailed profiles of her in other newspapers today.

For example in The Australian today:

She was also sceptical about the ability of black colonies to govern themselves and was something of a fan of South Africa's apartheid leader, PW Botha, even making it known to Rhodesia's Ian Smith through private channels that she did not share the British government's objections to his stance against majority black rule.

Or from The Age today by Gerard Henderson:

The fact is that, in the late 1930s, George VI and his wife were among the leading cheerleaders in favour of Neville Chamberain's policy of appeasing Hitler. Had the monarchy's advice been accepted, the Nazis would have conquered continental Europe.

and

As Andrew Roberts points out in his biography of Lord Halifax, 'The Holy Fox', in November 1939, she sent Halifax a copy of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'. In her accompanying letter, the Queen Mother made reference to Hitler's "obvious sincerity".

The thing that has disturbed me about all the praise and adulation that the Queen Mother has received people have had trouble stating why they admire her so much beyond generally stating that she represented 'grace' or was the people's Royal. It seems that people are showing their admiration for her purely because of her status and because they've been told by the media and the government putting their spin on the situation.

Who knows what she was really like, but one doubts that the public persona of her has little to do with reality.

 

[Bee]

Originally posted by Docker_Brat
Ahh fer Christ sake, she was 101. Why is it so sad?

If she had to queue up in the public health system like most people of her generation, she would have died 30 years ago.

Why was she so wonderful? What did she ever do to make life on earth better for anyone? All she did was smile, wave and drink gin. Great life if you can get it, it's not as if she found a cure for cancer or something.

Why shed a tear for someone born into a priveleged life? It is the same mentality that says we have to have minute silences for Americans but not even give it one thought when hundreds of Afghans die in an earthquake.

Totally agree. No doubt sad for her family who loved her, but it's just as sad for normal everyday people when a loved one dies.

And why is it such a shock? She was 101 years old for Christ sake!

Sad for her family and they have the right to grieve, but as far as I am concerned it is just one less in a regime that I will be glad to see gone forever in Australia.

I don't mean to offend anyone, but a royalist I am not!