The Queen at 90 — an individual as well as an institution

She’s grown from a young princess to an entire generation’s Grand Mother

I clearly recall the morning in February 1952 when I awoke at age five to sad music on the radio and the announcement, “The King is dead.” That day in kindergarten we sang “God save the Queen” for the first time.

The year before I stood with my dad on a rainy Calgary day to watch Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip pass in a plastic top convertible.

My first movie in a theatre was “A Queen is Crowned,” which I saw with my mother and brother after waiting in a two-block lineup on the street to get in. I remember the golden coach the Queen rode to the Abbey and the crown being placed on her head. The only words I recall was her line, “These things I promise to do.”

In the next months I watched for money to appear with Queen Elizabeth II’s picture. Coins came out first, bills a year later.

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker invited the Queen to open Parliament in 1957. My Grade 4 class studied the ritual, acted it out and watched it live on blackand-white TV.

Of the speech from the throne, all I remember was her quoting “the earlier Elizabeth.”

“Though God has raised me high, I count this the glory of my crown: that I have reigned with your loves.”

As the Queen celebrates her 90th birthday on Thursday, what follows are observations from someone who turned 70 this year.

The Queen’s life can be looked at in phases: a getting ready, an intensive work focus and a golden second blooming.

Elizabeth’s preparation for her royal responsibilities began a decade before she was in direct line to the throne.

With her uncle Edward’s abdication in 1936, Elizabeth’s father, George VI, was thrust into the spotlight and she began training in earnest to succeed him. This included wartime service as a driver-mechanic.

After the war she made public appearances on the King’s behalf. She married a man she loved and welcomed her first two children in five years of largely stay-athome family life.

Her father’s death, leading to her accession and coronation, made her more than a full-time working mom. Her responsibilities took her around the world, away from home and family. She accepted this as part of a job that was 24-7.

She followed advice and precedent. Her first prime minister, Winston Churchill, mentored her in his last three years in office.

The second phase of the Queen’s life saw her leave her own mark on the role she inherited. It included her 1957 visit to Canada, a place her mother had said “made us,” referring to George VI’s new confidence after his Canadian tour.

She no longer chose British prime ministers after 1963, but continued to keep her PMs accountable in weekly audiences that one likened to “being on the psychiatrist’s couch: kindly, supportive and extremely perceptive.”

Affected by the abdication crisis that upset the accepted order, she found it hard to understand a generation with few limits and greater disconnection. Limiting the marriages of her sister and first three children to “safe” choices over ones that were contentious proved counterproductive. All four broke up, three in the 1992 “annus horribilis” that also saw Windsor Castle badly damaged in a fire.

In public vulnerability amid upheaval she showed a strength that marked the third phase of her life. When most people take retirement, she made a new beginning, rebuilding her family and assuring the succession.

She has focused on Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, beginning with their 2011 wedding that showcased the family ahead of her Diamond Jubilee. She mentors them regularly, including in international matters where her son has shown less interest.

She shows a joy in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren that earlier times could not understand: a Grand Mother in both senses. Where Victoria built marriage-based alliances, Elizabeth II has a voluntary world network of leaders, citizens and sages who love and respect her.

Entering a tenth decade — and fourth phase? — she is using monarchy and matriarchy to inspire a renewal of family and humanity.