For my friends over the pond in Britannia, I thought I'd focus on events there rather than in France or the U.S.... I just read that Queen Elizabeth II is 80 years old today! She looks in remarkably good health and can you believe she had something like 20,000 birthday cards and 17,000 emails wishing her well? (It's not too late to send your best wishes! I just sent mine -- how often do you get the chance to wish a Queen a happy birthday? -- so make that 17,001 emails.)
Maybe the secret to that kind of longevity is having the support of thousands and the fortitude to endure during 53 years on the throne, and still counting. She's had to put up with a lot, too. The world has changed since she took the throne. Her son's infidelities with Camilla, the divorce, Princess Diana's untimely death and having to help her young grandsons through losing their mother, all the Diana and Fergie stuff the Queen clearly didn't like (these modern women today, how dare they have minds of their own!)... but she's still there, isn't she, so she must be doing something right.
No disrespect intended, but do you ever wonder if Prince Charles is thinking, "Will I EVER get the chance to be King?" because his mother just keeps going and going, like the Energizer Bunny. He's not getting any younger, either.
