When a man opens a car door for his wife, it’s either a new car or a new wife.
– Prince Philip
Two royal families were in the media spotlight recently – the British and Japanese royals. The British royal family was the focus of media attention because of a health scare suffered by 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth. Recently, after hosting a reception for the Global Investment Summit at Windsor Castle, the queen had to cancel a trip and stay overnight in a hospital for “preliminary investigations” on unspecified health issues. Everyone, especially her immediate family, naturally was worried about the ageing monarch. According to The Telegraph, after the health scare, the royal family started a new working model to make sure she would no longer appear at events on her own. The doctors also ordered her to rest.
However, a few days later, the queen returned to business as usual and hosted two virtual appointments from Windsor Castle. First, she met Gunn Kim, the Korean ambassador to Britain, and then Markus Leitner, the Swiss ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Queen Elizabeth, the longest reigning living UK monarch, is indeed a very strong woman who remains committed to her royal duties. After her beloved husband and Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip died on April 17 this year, many people expected her to relinquish the throne in favour of her son and heir, Prince Charles and “fade away gracefully”.
However, despite the huge hole in her life left by Philip’s death, the queen returned to royal duties four days after his demise.
Blessed are those who live to be as old as Queen Elizabeth. According to a news item on the Eat This, Not That! Website, there are a few factors which have contributed to the queen’s incredible longevity.
Among them are access to top-tier medical care, an adoring populace, an army of adorable corgis to keep her active as well as the queen’s habitual drinking of four strong cocktails a day just before lunch.
Queen Elizabeth is also a great believer in sensible exercise and her preferred form of exercise is the daily walk she takes with her beloved corgis.
The monarch also rides horses as part of her daily routine and sticks to the same meals every day. Quoting Brian Hoey, author of “At Home with the Queen”, the website article reveals that Queen Elizabeth typically has cookies and Earl Gray tea upon waking, followed by toast with marmalade, yogurt with maple syrup or cereal for breakfast.
The queen also loves fish and vegetables for lunch, tea and cookies or cake for a snack, and meat or fish, like pheasant, venison, or salmon, for dinner.
After her recent health scare, Britons and well-wishers throughout the world hope Queen Elizabeth will get well soon.
The Queen succeeded to the throne on February 6, 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI. Over the decades, she has become one of the most recognised women in the world and Britain’s best-known cultural icon.
Meanwhile, the Japanese royal family was in the news recently because Princess Mako, a niece of the current emperor, married a commoner Kei Komuro. But there was no big televised event or talk of the wedding gown or cake.
Instead, the couple opted to forgo the typical royal wedding fanfare and register their marriage at a government office.
Mako and Komuro met at the International Christian University in Tokyo and were engaged four years ago, They initially planned to marry in 2018 but the wedding was suspended when a financial dispute involving Komuro’s mother emerged.
Komuro then left for law school in New York and only returned to Japan recently so he could marry Mako.
Mako had to relinquish her royal status as the law in Japan required a princess to “leave the imperial family upon marriage to a commoner”. This means any children she has will not be in line to the throne, which is already short of male heirs who can succeed the current monarch.
Mako also turned down a US$1.3 million payout that the Japanese government offered to women who lost their royal status upon marrying.
Her father, Prince Akishino, told NBC News that he was initially against the relationship but now approved the “unprecedented marriage” because his daughter and Komuro had “never wavered” amid all the public attention.
In my opinion, the recent media spotlight on the British and Japanese royal families showed us that except for their royal blood, royalties are not that different from other homo sapiens. They may have access to advanced medical care and tons of money in the bank, but like the rest of us, they also face challenges in their love lives and will grow old, fall sick and die one day.
