Those of you in this community who are Englishmen, or who are Commonwealth members, can be justly proud of having a truly great woman as your sovereign and head of the British Commonwealth. As a young woman in the Second World War she was a member of the British Army, and both she and her family insisted on no special treatment - unlike some wealthy and/or influential people in our country whose offspring have very much received special treatment - by request. As such she is, I believe, the only WWII veteran head of state anywhere in the world. One carefully-researched biography states she was able to completely strip and then reassemble a vehicle's engine, reinstall it, and drive it away - a requirement for her position description. She knows what dirt under the fingernails is, which is undoubtedly one reason she connects so well with virtually anyone wherever she goes (interesting aside - Queen Elizabeth the QM learned how to operate a locomotive and in fact did so while on a visit to a railroad facility during WWII; she was also a first-rate pool shot).
Prince Philip is quite a character in his own right. As a young sub-lt in the RN he served aboard, I think, HMS Warspite in the Med and was shot at in earnest more than once, as well as bombed. At Cape Matapan he was in charge of one of the ship's searchlight batteries, an unenviable position at the best of times in a night battle. Thus he took the same risks as anyone else on the ship, right down to the lowliest seaman.
Dad was born a Canadian but became a U.S. citizen by choice in WWII during his Army service. My early years were spent in metro Detroit, and as we received Canadian TV easily I recall watching the Queen's yearly Christmas address to her Commonwealth many times. Although he was an American citizen and had seen combat to protect this country, he never missed what the Queen had to say. Respect.:salute:
and a couple 
just for (sorta) outlasting me.
