LONDON (CAP) - As she surveyed the crowd at the Opening Ceremonies of
the 2012 Olympic Games last weekend, Queen Elizabeth II couldn't help
but be gripped by one nagging, overarching question: "What the hell
happened?
"There was a time when a monarch was a monarch," she said later during
an exclusive interview with CAP News. "Now I'm reduced to presiding over
some vulgar melange of Les Miserables
and STOMP."
She then stopped for a moment to stare out her window at Buckingham
Palace, perhaps remembering a time when a queen could, for no especially
good reason, order somebody's head removed.
"I mean, did I really just appear in some half-witted James Bond spoof?"
she asked, referring to Danny Boyle's short film depicting her as the
newest Bond girl and jumping out of a helicopter with Daniel Craig. "And
that skinny fellow with the wide face - who was that man? Everyone
knows Sean Connery is the only true Bond."
Then she paused again and finally muttered, "Wanker," to no one in
particular.
But some say the Queen might be engaging in a bit of revisionist history
when lamenting her role in the Olympics spectacle. "This type of thing
has been going on for centuries," said Walter Fernfrussen, professor of
British Studies at Oxford.
For instance in 1878, Queen Victoria made a much-publicized appearance
as "Mrs. Cripps (Little Buttercup), A Portsmouth Bumboat Woman" in a
special performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore to commemorate the 525th anniversary of the
House of Lords, explained Fernfrussen. "She was terrible, but received
polite applause," he said.
And in 1936, said Fernfrussen, Edward VIII - in one of the few
achievements of his short reign before abdicating the throne - appeared
in a series of short subjects with the Peculiar Iddesleigh Brothers, a
long-forgotten comedy trio considered to be Britain's answer to The Three Stooges.
"He spent most of his screen time having crumpets thrown at him," said
Fernfrussen.
The Queen also told CAP News she was upset that Olympics preparation had
been criticized by U.S. GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who
apparently would have restructured the entire operation much like he did
Wayne
Industries.
"Off with his head!" the Queen said of Romney, before being reminded by
aides that even if she still had that authority, it would not extend to
Romney because he is not a British citizen.
"Oh bollocks," she responded. "How about that Paul McCartney then?"
[Read the rest at CAP News.]
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