The Times Are Changing in Great Britain

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Just two days ago Liz Truss, the newly elected head of the Britain's Conservative Party, met with Queen Elizabeth II at the queen's vacation home in Balmoral, Scotland, and was "invited" by the monarch to form a new government, a bit of historic ceremony that made Truss Great Britain's newest prime minister.  Liz Truss is the fifteenth person so be Prime Minister of Great Britain since Elizabeth became queen of the realm when her father, George VI, passed away in early 1952.   Winston Churchill was the British prime minister at that time - and the President of the United States was a fellow from Missouri by the name of Truman!

Queen Elizabeth looked feeble, walked with a cane, and had a large bruise on her right hand when she met with Truss - but she was there, smiled for the cameras, and did her required duties in the transfer of British government power.

Now, two days later, word comes that Queen Elizabeth's doctors have placed her on a "medical watch" and she appears to be gravely ill.  The Queen's daughter, Princess Anne, is already at Balmoral, and the Queen's three sons, including Charles, the  heir to the throne, are enroute to be at their mother's bedside.

The Queen's husband and lifetime partner, Prince Philip, died in April of 2021 two month's shy of his 100th birthday, making him the longest-serving "consort" in British royal history.  Queen Elizabeth turned ninety-six this past April.  She was ten-years-old when her father became king and she was elevated to first-in-line to the throne.

Prime ministers, like US presidents, come and go, but it was beginning to look as though Elizabeth, who has been the Queen of Great Britain for over seventy years - the longest-serving monarch in British history - was here to stay.

Perhaps not.