queen elizabeth
This quality makes her the best monarch of the 2nd millennium
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Queen Elizabeth has ruled the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth Nations for 70 years. In the eyes of historian Tom Holland, the monarch proved to be the best British regent of the past thousand years during this period.
Queen Elizabeth, 96, has been the figurehead of the British monarchy for seven decades. Their iron discipline, their moral concepts and their reverence for their life’s work characterize the image of power. But it’s not these qualities that make her “the best British monarch”. As historian Tom Holland explained at the Chalke Valley History Festival, it is the fact that Queen Elizabeth is “endlessly boring”.
Historian on Queen Elizabeth: “She is infinitely boring”
It is the monarch’s consistent silence with which Holland bases his statement. “She never says anything interesting. We know that she is a very witty woman, very clever. She has heroically displayed her boredom throughout her reign,” says the historian.
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What counts as boredom in the eyes of the historian is discipline for Queen Elizabeth. The 96-year-old rules almost scandal-free. If there was a scandal within the royal family, Elizabeth trusted her principle of silence. As the Queen would say: “Never complain, never explain”. From the beginning of her reign, the monarch has placed the well-being and survival of the crown above her pride.
Queen is the embodiment of constitutional monarchy
Tom Holland’s statement about the monarch is in no way meant to be disrespectful. The historian emphasizes that after Queen Elizabeth’s death, people will “experience a shocking turn of events”. For him, the attitude of the 96-year-old is the embodiment of constitutional monarchy. Holland left it open to what extent Prince Charles, 73, and later Prince William, 40, would fill out this ideal.
Sources used: dailymail.co.uk