You don't have to be a diehard monarchist to admire and respect Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the woman who is now celebrating her 60th year on the British throne. Queen Elizabeth the Second, in addition to being head of state of 15 other Commonwealth countries and head of the Commonwealth, is the most widely travelled head of state in history and has presided over the transformation of the colonial Empire into a Commonwealth of equal states and has seen her own country forced to scale back its role from its once dominant position at the centre of that empire.

Her father, George the Sixth, died in his sleep during the night of June 5-6, 1952. I was attending elementary school in Duncans when our head teacher related the story of how the then Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, had attended a state dinner at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya and upon returning to the nearby Sagana Lodge, received the news of her father's death. An entry in the Treetop Hotel visitors' book by a celebrated hunter, Jim Corbett, captures both the sexism of the day as well as the historical import of her visit: "For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a princess and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience she climbed down from that tree the next day a Queen."

She was by no means a "young girl" but a grown woman of 26. The thrilling experience she described was quite real - the hotel began as a treehouse on a rise overlooking a water hole where a variety of Kenya's noted wild life - zebras, rhinos, wildebeest, antelopes, lions and many others - would go to drink, even at night. The guests could view the animals from the safety of its rooftop-viewing platforms. The young royal couple had just begun a trip which was to take them to Australia and New Zealand, but on receiving the tragic news returned to England right away. Her father's health had begun declining in 1951 and Elizabeth stood in for him at public events.

Elizabeth was born at her maternal grandmother's house at 17 Bruton Street in the London district of Mayfair in 1926. Thirty-six years later, when Jamaica became independent, it installed its first High Commission at the other end of that street. When she married Philip Mountbatten, Prince of Greece and Denmark, in 1947, Britain was still reeling from the brutal blows of World War II, and she had to use ration coupons to buy her wedding gown. Feelings against Germany were still extremely raw, and none of Philip's German relations - including his three surviving sisters - were invited. Neither was her uncle, the former King Edward VIII, who had made himself persona non grata to the family.

In fact, Elizabeth, the Queen mother, despised him intensely because she felt that by abdicating from the throne, he had thrust her husband, the shy and modest Bertie, into the unforgiving crucible of the monarchy. Edward was a dissolute playboy with no stomach or discipline for the role he was born into and who ran with a fast crowd. He thumbed his nose at the rules - ridiculous as they may have been - and quit the throne in favour of his social-climbing American divorcee, with whom he spent the rest of his life in gold-plated exile. Edward used to tease his younger brother for his stutter which was a major impediment for a public figure and which he struggled mightily - with some success - to overcome.

In taking on the role thrust so suddenly upon the princess, there was no question of what her regal name would be - she chose "of course" to remain Elizabeth, and swung into position with a sure-footedness way beyond her years. She had demonstrated wisdom and determination as a teenager, and the year she turned 21 toured southern Africa with her parents. While on that trip she made a birthday broadcast in which she pledged: "I declare to you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."

As it turns out, her life has been long, and it appears she will be here for quite a spell longer - after all, her mother surpassed the century mark before she died. It is true that the royal household has access to the finest medical care available, but this monarch has enjoyed rugged good health, bolstered by her strong discipline.

The worst patch in the queen's long sojourn was in 1992, which she confessed was her annus horribilis - horrible year. Her second son, Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, separated, followed quickly by the divorce of her daughter, Anne, from Mark Phillips. That autumn, while visiting Dresden, Germany, demonstrators threw eggs at her and in November a serious fire extensively damaged Windsor Castle. Then in December, Charles and Diana formally separated. The public was transfixed by the soap opera which that marriage had become, and they finally divorced in 1996.

The queen made a mis-step in her seemingly aloof reaction to Diana's violent death in Paris a year later. She was at her holiday retreat, Balmoral, when the crash occurred, and kept Diana's sons there for several days while public demonstrations of sympathy grew and spread. Finally, the day before the funeral, the queen made a broadcast expressing her feelings as a grandmother and of her admiration for Diana. That dispelled much of the public hostility.

But criticism and public scrutiny of the royal establishment continued, and in a speech the queen noted that criticism comes with the job, but it should probably be done "with a touch of humour, gentleness and understanding". The next year, in 1993, the government brought in new rules cutting back on the royal family's subsidy and requiring for the first time that the House of Windsor pay income taxes like everybody else.

By the time her Golden Jubilee came, in 2002, she was hit with the twin blows of the deaths of her mother and sister Margaret. Never mind - she soldiered on, going on a tour of her realms beginning with a visit to Jamaica in February. She found the farewell banquet at King's House "memorable" because of one of the power cuts which were frequent at the time.

What has kept the queen going is her rock-ribbed sense of duty, which has led her to keep up with developments in all the countries of which she is head of state. She carries herself with decorum and dignity, seeming somewhat old-fashioned in the brave new world of media openness and celebrity. Yet Elizabeth has made concessions to that new world, allowing cameras greater access to the palace to lift the curtain which had veiled the goings-on seemingly forever. But she remains at arm's length - maintaining some of the royal mystery by keeping her thoughts to herself and declining to be interviewed like a hungry Hollywood starlet.

That explains her extremely strong hold on the monarchy and the sentiments of her subjects, both in Britain and in the dominions. But as Prime Minister Simpson Miller noted as she began her term of duty, becoming a republic with your own indigenous head of state is no disrespect to the gracious woman who has reigned with sagacity and discretion for six decades. Remember that of the 54 independent countries which make up the Commonwealth, 38 are republics and only 16 have the queen as head of state.

keeble.mack@sympatico.ca

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