EIIR & ME

Today nearly everyone on social media is coming up with their Queen stories so I decided to join the mob.

But that's not the Queen, you may say.

And indeed it is not, it's her Daddy, King George VI, a man I was very familiar with from his turning up in 3d. lucky lumps.

He had ruled the UK since the abdication of this brother, Edward VIII, in 1936 when he inherited a raft of titles, some of which are recorded on the thrupenny bit above: King of All Britons (Thank God), Defender of the Faith, and, still then (1942 mint), Emporor of India.

I first became aware of him when my teacher, Sr. Rumold, of the St. Louis order, burst into the class and announced with great glee: "children I have great news, the King of England is dead".

A blow for Irish freedom?

I was less elated later when retailing the death to my neighbour Eileen Harrington. "He's head of our church" she replied.

Mortification at the tender age of eight. But an early lesson in watching your words and knowing your audience.

So why all this stuff about him? Well, that was the day in 1952 when Elizabeth became Queen.

We only had another two years to go staying with my granny on the southside, but I remember how she became an assiduous listener to the Queen's Christmas radio broadcast - "My husband and I, ...".

I lost touch with Her Majesty at that stage but the royal family wouldn't leave me alone.

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I got an invitation in the early 1990s to go to London to meet the then Prince Charles, now King Charles III. Have no time for the man and turned it down.

But I was touched by the action of his mother during her visit to Ireland in 2011. She went to the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square and respectfully laid a wreath to all those patriots who took up arms against English rule, including those abused and executed in 1916. She was always a person who knew what she was doing and in some way this was a gesture that put a final seal on Irish independence. Can't have been exactly easy for her, but it touched many around the country.

"The Queen is dead, long live the King."

In her place we now have King Charles III. Remains to be seen how that works out. He inherits a monarchy that is more questioned than ever before, at least in my time. He, and his mother, have been caught interfering in the UK's "democratic process" to their own financial advantage. He lacks any charisma and, in my view, holds the greater public in contempt.

And, just by the way, earlier this morning, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar sympathised with the people of Britain on the death of their Queen.

Wonder how long it will take Sir MuttonJeff to spot that one and work out its implications.

It is, admittedly, an advance on how we referred to the late lady purely as the Queen of England, or even the Queen, but we are living in dangerous times.