The Queen will be 88 on Monday. Long live the Queen! That’s what we want and, happily, having seen Her Majesty at close quarters this week, I reckon that’s what we are going to get.
Indeed, the actress Angela Lansbury, also 88, who came face to face with the Queen when she collected her DBE this week, tells me: “She’s clearly fighting fit. She has that incredible stamina and that flawless complexion. She’s a marvel.” It takes one remarkable old trouper to recognise another.
The late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother lived to be 101, and there is no reason to think that the Queen – with a better diet and more vigorous lifestyle – won’t live even longer. On September 11 next year, Elizabeth II is set to outlast Queen Victoria by becoming the longest-reigning monarch in our history.
And the Queen, as she approaches her 10th decade, is a lot busier than her great-great-grandmother ever was. This month alone she has hosted an assortment of receptions and dinner parties, unveiled plaques, greeted ambassadors, saluted sea cadets, flown to Rome for lunch with the Italian president and to meet the new Pope, and hosted a three-day state visit by the President of Ireland. » | Gyles Brandreth | Saturday, April 19, 2014
