Richard Littledale
Richard Littledale
radio microphone
BBC Radio 2Janice Long Show
Alex Lester Show
Pause for Thought
Richard Littledale: Series 18, Number 1
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Monday 6 February 2012

This time 60 years ago a young woman was on holiday in Kenya with her husband. The two of them had been waved off at the airport by her ailing father before their long flight, and had left all the cares of a grey London behind in the excitement of safari. It proved to be short-lived. On returning to their Lodge on the evening of February 6th, the young woman was told there had been a telephone call from England - her father had died. For all of us, such a phone call rocks our world. The walls cave in around us, a kind of blackness descends, and the whole world looks different. For this particular young woman there was an added element, though - Elizabeth Windsor had just become Queen.

Later on this year there will be all kinds of razzamatazz for the Queen's diamond jubilee. There will be parades and flags and street parties and a royal barge procession and even an Olympic venue named in her honour. Right now, though, in the wee small hours of the night, it's a good time to remember a young woman who took on an enormous burden the service of her country. From the moment she put that old-fashioned phone down in its cradle, her world would never be the same again.

The Queen gets sackloads of mail every day, especially from children. They ask the kind of things that adults would find too silly - like 'who's your favourite corgi?' and 'what do you have for breakfast?'. My favourite, though, is this: 'dear your majesty - is your crown very heavy?' I don't know what she replied, but I suspect that the answer is 'yes'. Maybe the crown itself isn't that heavy - but all the burdens that go along with it must be quite a weight to bear.

The Queen makes no secret of her faith, and often describes prayer as a great source of strength and comfort. When the days are unpredictable, and life can change forever in a moment - that seems like the best way to handle it.

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© BBC 2012
This talk by Richard Littledale was first broadcast as BBC Radio 2's night time "Pause for Thought"
at 01:30 during the Janice Long show and at 03:30 during the Alex Lester show.
It is reproduced here by permission of the BBC.