Queen Elizabeth II: Publicly Steady, Privately Humorous

Queen Elizabeth II during The Queen's Birthday Party in 2018. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Since ascending the throne in 1952,Queen Elizabeth II has successfully presented herself as an inscrutable, unquestionable image, who seemingly remained calm and steady despite political instabilities and scandals that rocked her family.

Despite being one of the world’s most famous personalities, the queen remains private and self-contained. Biographer Sarah Bradford calls this her “strength,” which allows her to ease in and out of the stress and pressure of her job.

Like her father, King George VI, the queen enjoys attending public functions, a keen liking she had nurtured ever since she was a young girl. She once shocked her grandmother, Queen Mary, when she sheepishly told her, “Grandma, we can’t disappoint these people who’ve been waiting to see us.

Despite the cordiality and the friendliness she shows to anyone she meets, it is apparent that Queen Elizabeth II could “rarely let herself go with people,” Bradford writes. Had she been another person, she could have made friends  with many. But that would never be the case. A contemporary quipped, “She’d be a most wonderful friend if only she weren’t the Queen.” In private, she is gifted in mimicry, possessing a good sense of humor and enjoys a good laugh. In public, she has to inhibit and repress her emotions.