Today we bid ‘So Long’ to Queen Elizabeth, affectionately known as Lilibet. With exuberant pageantry, solemn rituals and overwhelming eagerness from the millions who paid their respect to her, we now close this sad week and resume our lives. The inclusion of Christianity in many of her speeches became a growing theme of the Queen in the last quarter-century, as she included more explicit professions of her faith in Christ Jesus in her annual Christmas broadcasts. Pope Francis indicated this in his message to King Charles III on the day of his mother’s death: “I willingly join all who mourn her loss in praying for the late Queen’s eternal rest, and in paying tribute to her life of unstinting service to the good of the Nation and the Commonwealth, her example of devotion to duty, her steadfast witness of faith in Jesus Christ and her firm hope in his promises.”
Having lived in Malta on and off between 1949 and 1951, when her husband
was stationed in Malta on HMS Magpie, we in Malta somehow have a special connection
with her. She often said that she spent the best days of her life here among
us. The house where they lived in Guardamangia will be restored soon and
hopefully it will serve as a Royal Museum. And most probably Princess Anne was
conceived here in Malta, as the second photo shows. Prince Philip intuitively
placed two fingers on the bench when they took this photo, 8 months before Anne
was born. Maybe he was giving a subliminal hint that his bride was pregnant
again. Rest in Peace, Queen Elizabeth.
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