Category: her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth the Second

Queen Feature for Cool

Originally broadcasted in 2000 – full transcript follows – all rights reserved

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INTRO:
Do you have a King or a Queen in your country? If you are listening from an English speaking country, chances are that the royal family of Great Britain was once the head of your country, or that the Queen still is your country’s head. Queen Elizabeth the Second is not only the representative head of various Commonwealth countries but also of is the head of the Church of England. All this makes her sound like a very powerful woman. Daniel Zylbersztajn went to investigate what young people in England had to say about her:

[anthem music only god safe the queen 20’’ ]

Vox Pops:

VP1 “She is gorgeous”
VP2: “ I think she makes a fairly good head of state!”
VP3: “She rules!”
VP4: “She should get a job and stop taking the tax payers money!”
VP5: “Well she is not as beautiful as our president!”
VP6: Maybe she is old, but she is cool!

[Daniel] Many ways to describe this one person her majesty the Queen Elizabeth the second, who has been Queen now for almost fifty years assuming official duties when she was only 16 years old. The Queen doesn’t only own expensive crowns kept for her in the Tower of London, she may be the richest woman in the world, owning over five billion pounds sterling. She can summon and dissolve the British parliament and is also the supreme legal power in the country. Post-boxes and coins in Britain bear her emblem or picture. But not everyone gets the honour to meet her. It are mostly distinguished and honourable persons that get to meet her. Cynthia and Mathew from Cornwall in England are two persons who met her recently. Both of them study for their A-Levels at the moment. Both of them were winners of an essay competition on the Second World War, and their first price was to meet the Queen. What better people than them, to give you a first impression of what the Queen is like.

[Cynthia] “Good Afternoon your majesty! I had to courtesy when I met her, and refer to her as your majesty!
[Matthew] You have to shake hands and say Good Afternoon Ma.
[Cynthia] When we met her she wasn’t as scary really as we thought, I don’t think!
[Matthew]She is really nice and not what you’d expect. She was really normal. She is only small as well, she is only about five-foot tall.

[Daniel] Only five foot? I always though she must be of gigantic measures, judging her powers. I asked Cynthia and Mathew what they felt the Queen was all about:

[Cynthia] The royal family serve a big purpose. They stand for Britain, without standing for politics. And they, you know, even though , the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are really quite old now, they continue to work all the time, representing the country at some many things.
[Matthew] They are definitely a role model for everyone in England and the world really! Because everyone should aim to be like them!
[Cynthia] I don’t think that the royal family are role models for the rest of us. I think it is too much of a burden to be place on one family! But the mannerism and the behaviour of the Queen and of the Duke of Edinburgh, of the royal family, are different to em, for example leading politicians in the country.

So there you are. Well most politicians do not rule for 50 years, so of course the Queen would have a very distinguished and settled routine. For most people the Queen is still only something they see on their TV, or maybe on a post-card. Opposite Buckingham Palace, the large London residence of the Queen, there are many shops where you can buy items that de-picture the Queen Mr. Barzu is the store-owner of one these shops:

[Mr. Barzu]:
The most popular items that we sell, related to her majesty the Queen are:
Postcards, trays and mugs celebrating the golden wedding anniversary, also coronation, these items are very popular with people from abroad, especially the Germans, Australians and the Americans and the students from schools. We often see her majesty the queen driving past. Once I waved and I was greeted with a smile and I thought it was very encouraging!

Mr Barzu must have been on cloud nine for an entire week. I think he should always wear a sticker or T-shirt saying: I was smiled to by the Queen!

The Queen in Britain is still as popular as ever. In fact she has recently revamped her image and skills and even tried to understand how computers work, which is more than for many people over the age of seventy, although she is apparently not on e-mail as yet.

For Cool I am Daniel Zylbersztajn from London, leaving you with some more impressions of people on the streets of London when I asked them about the Queen:

[anthem music only god safe the queen 5’’ ]

accompanied by
Voice 1, male: God save our gracious Queen!
Voice 2, male, long live our noble Queen!
Voice 3, female: God Save the Queen

At 17” anthem Vox pops set in

VP1: She is a drag queen!
VP2: She is not the real Queen. They’re fake, they’re not the real kings and queens on this planet, she is just sitting on fortunes that are not hers
VP3: Ah, she is all right! Wears awful cloths though. She needs to get back to the sixties, when she used to wear shorter skirts, I think!

[Anthem finishes] male voice: God Save the Queen!