HEROES My & VILLAINS 2022

From the Queen to cocky Corden and hapless Harry...

WHAT a year. Three prime ministers minimum, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ad infinitum. Along with Putin and Zelensky, Rooney versus Vardy, and Brad Pitt in a skirt.

There was the Oscars slap, the World Cup, the surge of inflation around the globe, the return of the humpback whale, the population surge to eight billion and the emergence of the Omicron variant — and you can’t blame them all on Liz Truss, although some tried.

As we stride through the darkness into a new dawn, here are my heroes and villains of 2022. Wade with me now through the celebrity shallows as we contemplate those who made us thrill and those of whom we’ve had our fill this year.

ROYAL ENCLOSURE The Queen, RIP

The last images of the Queen were taken at Balmoral. There she was, leaning on her walking stick, offering a hand to new Prime Minister Liz Truss, still doing her duty at the age of 96.

Is there anyone who can compare to our Queen? No one. What a life she had, what a difference she made, how well she lived, right to the very end.

‘ She made history, she was history,’ said Kirsty young during her BBC broadcast from Windsor. It was the perfect summation of an impeccable life of service. yet the Queen’s passing, the mourning and then the funeral itself brought out the best — and the worst — in many.

Heroes

LeT us toast the quiet dignity of the ordinary people who queued for hours to say their own farewell to the Queen as she lay in state at Westminster hall.

It was so moving when they finally got their moment. A quiet nod of the head, a small bow, the determination to say goodbye to their monarch.

Is it possible that King Charles could ever inspire such devotion or respect? I doubt it. But not everyone behaved so well.

Villains

HOLLY and Phil, booo! The ITV daytime television hosts went from heroes to zeros for skipping the elizabeth line.

Despite their panicky explanations that they only barged to the front of the queue on behalf of ‘the millions of people in the UK who haven’t been able to visit Westminster in person’, public condemnation was strong.

As a nation we were not born to run, we were born to queue. And anything that upsets queue etiquette upsets us. Deeply.

And more heroes

PLEASE, a special equine heroine medal for emma, the Queen’s pony, who trotted along to say goodbye to HM at Windsor.

‘I think she probably had some sort of sixth sense that her Majesty wouldn’t be riding her any more and she did her proud by standing there so respectfully,’ said head groom Terry Pendry.

And finally on the 2022 royal beat, a special heart-shaped medal for Major Johnny Thompson, the handsome kilted equerry. In the autumn of her years, the dash he deployed when carrying out his ceremonial duties did much to brighten up a sad old lady’s life. Mine, not the Queen’s.