Peter Morrison / AP, file
A couple pay their respect at a picture of Queen Elizabeth II on the Loyalist Shankill Road in west Belfast, Sept. 10, 2022. Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, died Sept. 8, 2022.
Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Thank God for saving the queen all of these years.
I am not a big one for monarchies — mostly because the folks who created the United States of America weren’t high on the idea — but I have always had a warm spot in my heart for Queen Elizabeth 11.
I feel like I have known her all of my life. I have.
Let me explain. Back in the very early days of Las Vegas, I mean the very early days when my older sister and I were very young and my younger sister was barely a younger sister, there were very few people who lived here who weren’t cowboys or underworld characters looking for a better life.
The cowboys grew up rough and tumble and the mobsters grew up even rougher, so manners, civility and respect for authority were in short supply.
My mother was a war bride. And she fancied herself a former member of the British Empire, at least that’s the way she carried herself and her dignity throughout her life.
And she was going to make sure that her children learned the proper manners, respect and the dignity of civilized society that she knew growing up even though growing up in Las Vegas at the time made such a task more difficult. In short, not too many people were reading from the same book.
But she had an ally, no less than the brand new queen of England.
In those heady days of the new world of Las Vegas, it was not uncommon for heads of state, heads of corporations and heads of families to visit Las Vegas. And it was never a rare sighting when one of those important people made it to my parents’ home for a visit. At least that’s how I remember it because it is important to the story.
It could not have been out of the realm of reason, therefore, for my mother to consider the possibility that one day this brilliant young queen would come to Las Vegas and, of course, make her way to Barbara’s house.
And that is all the impetus my mother needed to pound it into our heads that whatever the other 5- and 6-year-old kids were doing up and down the street and across our small town, her children would grow up with impeccable manners.
Why? Because when Queen Elizabeth came “a calling” my mother would not be embarrassed by a bunch of wild , unruly and ill-mannered kids! It was simple logic and even simpler to comprehend.
And we did, especially younger sister Janie who naturally took to things and stories about princesses and queens.
And so, we grew up with manners and a sense of civility around the dinner table that would have made any parent blush with pride. But it didn’t take all that long for the Greenspun kids to realize that the odds were very long that the queen of England would ever come to Las Vegas, let alone our humble abode.
But the manners stuck. None of us has ever fallen short when it came time to pick up the proper fork or spoon or know what to do with our napkin or where to place our hands during a meal. Well, mostly.
But, more importantly and important today, were the manners of civility and respect that Queen Elizabeth channeled through my mom to us. We know how to behave in a proper society — well, mostly.
It is quite evident no matter where you look these days that civility is lacking at almost every level of human endeavor. It is also evident that most people wish that were not the case.
As I have watched the people of England mourn the loss of their queen, the common theme is the respect and admiration and love they had for their monarch. It mattered not what she did or didn’t do, it mattered only that she did it with the welfare of her people as her top priority.
That was the oath she swore and she lived it throughout her life. It remains to be seen what happens next. King Charles III, her son, has a difficult road ahead if he wants to continue to live the example his mother set for 70 years. As is often the case, when Mom leaves the scene the kids run amok. It seems the same is true across the British realm.
But for the Greenspun kids, even though we never got to meet the queen, we were prepared. And for that I am grateful, both to my mother and to the queen.
God rest the queen, God save the king, and I wish to God that those who come after me continue to be civilized and well-mannered.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.
