Queen Elizabeth walks with a cane, but it’s not an ordinary one

The Brits are already happy that their queen is appearing in public again. But your unusual walker might make you ponder.

The Queen was also seen at Paddington Station in London on Tuesday for the opening of the Elizabeth Line.

Andrew Matthews/Getty

Finally she is back. Britain had not seen their otherwise ubiquitous queen since March. The opening of parliament and other important appointments that she normally attends passed without her. The palace had explained her absence with vague explanations about her limited mobility, which nourished rather than weakened any concerns about her specific state of health.

At the weekend, however, she arrived in the black Land Rover for the Royal Windsor Horse Show, which kicked off the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, her coronation anniversary. She was already joking in the car, seemed relaxed, looked fabulous and basically as always: with a wavy hairstyle, precise make-up and a Hermès headscarf. Two days later, to the delight of her subjects, the Queen reappeared for the gala that concluded the event.

A rustic forked branch

The gray cloak that she wore loosely around her shoulders looked a bit unusual on the woman who has always preferred tightly tailored, candy-colored clothing. But more than anything else, the cane that the 96-year-old used for the short walk to her seat in the stands caught the eye. The remarkable prop seemed to reach almost to the shoulders of the diminutive queen. Instead of a knob or handle, it was branched at the top, like a cross between a rustic branch fork and a subtly decorated walking stick.

The antique-looking accessory gave the Queen the appearance of a shepherdess, but also – especially in combination with the gray shawl – brought back memories of Gandalf, the wise wizard from «Lord of the Rings». Although the royal family is otherwise excellent at carefully chosen symbols, one can assume that this association was not intended.

Perhaps the walking stick is an heirloom, or it reminds the queen of times when she could still walk briskly in forest and field. The Queen has occasionally been seen wielding a cane before. However, her walking aid has never been so unusual. And so the insistence on the dignity of old age may also produce strange blossoms in the case of the most prominent old lady in the world.

But she is definitely making a publicly visible concession to her age, which she has so far seemed to ignore stoically, by using the cane. And the choice of occasion, an event she has attended regularly since childhood, may suggest that she is finally choosing passion over duty. Of course, this act by the woman, who once said about her role: “I have seen to be believed,” is not entirely apolitical either. You have to see them to believe in them.

Helen Mirren bows to the Queen

So when she unexpectedly appeared at the gala, the audience gave a round of applause. According to the organizers, the Queen was celebrated as the “beating heart of the nation”. Because if the Queen, who doesn’t like surprises, has always been on time to expect, these days you never know for sure whether her health will allow her to go on official duty.

One of the highlights of the celebration was a performance by Helen Mirren, who has played the role of Queen on several occasions in the past, both in film and in theatre. This time Mirren embodied the royal predecessor of the incumbent monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, and declaimed her most famous words: “I know that although I have the body of a weak, powerless woman, I have the heart and marrow of a king, a king at that from England.” A sentence that also applies to her successor.

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