Named the main skeletons from the closet of Elizabeth: how to gossip about the Queen

According to “secular historians” (this is a fashionable specialization in Britain that studies the life of high society), the deceased Elizabeth II does not have such spiteful critics as to deliberately multiply rumors, shaking the throne of Her Majesty.

“Gossip has been around, of course,” says Sarah Smith-Ashrafi, an Iranian-born Briton who is researching materials for a forthcoming book about the Queen and her entourage. – But these are the so-called small talk gossips – rumors for small talk. They serve not to denigrate the object of gossip, but to show that the person who tells this “news” enters the closed doors of the chosen society.

According to those who have studied these “secular gossips” in detail, they, like rumors about ordinary mortals, are divided into “common people” and “snobbish”.

– Each gossip has a specialization and an audience, – a secular historian gives an example. – Remember, among the common people, no matter what language they speak, if it is necessary to denigrate, say, a neighbor, they do not rack their brains for a long time. If we are talking about a woman, it is enough to whisper behind her back that she is of easy virtue, and the rumor will rush. About a man, in order to deprive him of respect among neighbors, for example, longshoremen, they say that he is gay. But in the port quarter, for example, another rumor of mass destruction will not pass – that he or she abuses alcohol and does not remember what they are doing in this state. For port workers, this is the norm, but in the eyes of decent middle-class inhabitants, this can also give rise to prim and fastidious horror.

The “snobbish” gossip, according to those studying the history of secular relationships, includes rumors with complicated content and the involvement of additional names and locations.

– For example, you can simply say that “the queen drinks every night”, or you can add with whom exactly and where exactly, the extended version will be “snobbish”, – Sarah Smith-Ashrafi explains.

Based on this division and with the help of experts, we have collected 8 of the most impressive rumors about the Queen, half of which are “common” and the other “snobby”. Behind each of them is a small, but share of truth, the only question is the quality of “artistic processing”. Let’s start with the Common Four.

Elizabeth II is a cannibal and maintained her tone with the blood of babies. The gossip was spread by a certain guard who allegedly ended up in the palace as part of his master’s guard. Perhaps he was just crazy or was looking for royalties from the tabloids, but there is some truth in the gossip. Ordinary people do not understand how, without any “devilry” at almost a century old, one could be so energetic and look so good.

For the queen, a double went out to people. “Doublers” are attributed by the common people to almost all the rulers in the world, but in fact only a few have such, and mainly in the Arab world. And there is some truth in the fact that in the endless many hours of rehearsals of solemn court ceremonies, which must be verified to the millimeter, the queen is really portrayed by an actress. It is inappropriate to tire a real royal person in such cases, but someone who personifies her must be, so from the queen, as from the epicenter of the show, the movements of each participant in the ceremony are verified, whether it be a parade or an appearance at the races in a new hat.

The queen worked up one of the princes not from her husband. When Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, got into a scandal with adultery, it seemed strange to the common man that his wife did not leave him for this and did not even heat him with a frying pan. Such composure, according to cockneys (the lower strata of the population), can only be shown by a woman who is “good herself.” It didn’t take long to find a candidate for the role of hero-lover: of the men, the queen retired only with Lord Porchester, the manager of the races. True, in the company of horses during riding. But horses are not a hindrance to debauchery, besides, housewives got a hint of this from a television series about the secrets of the British crown.

Elizabeth drank every night. This cockney rumor is more likely with a plus sign and is addressed to those who forbid them to pour up to their ears. He drinks every evening, and look how he looks at 96! But there is some truth here: according to the courtiers, Her Majesty really consumed 3 servings of alcohol daily. An aperitif with dry English gin before dinner, a dry martini for lunch and a glass of champagne before bed.

The “snob” four is opened by gossip that Elizabeth from her youth envied her younger sister Margaret and ruined her life. The full version of the rumor includes a whole list of names and dates, apparently designed to give the story greater credibility. And there is some truth in the fact that Elizabeth ascended the throne at the age of 25, when Margaret was 22. Having no responsibility in the form of a crown, the pretty youngest calmly hung out in hot places, had an affair with a divorced man and did other things that are normal for an ordinary girl, but completely inaccessible to the crowned. Perhaps Elizabeth envied her, but her only action against her sister was inaction. Beloved sister Peter was not only divorced, but also had several children, which made it impossible for him to marry with special royal blood. But seeing how Margaret is in love with Peter, her ruling sister could have tweaked the medieval laws and let the couple marry. But Elizabeth did not do this, but on the contrary, she sent her beloved sister out of England. As a result, Margaret was carried away first by alcohol, then by a commoner and died at the age of 72 as a wheelchair-bound woman, never having united with her only truly beloved.

The royal uncles are gay. The uncle of Elizabeth II, Prince George, who is also the Duke of Kent, the son of King George V, was in an intimate relationship with his older brother Edward VIII, who loved both men and women. And besides Edward, George’s lovers included playwright Noel Coward, chansonnier Florence Mills, Prussian Prince Louis Ferdinand and Soviet spy Anthony Blunt. The legal wife, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, allegedly served the royal uncle only as a cover. This “gossip” is confirmed by many sources, although hardly any of them actually attended the intimate rendezvous of the Duke of Kent.

And one of the uncles is actually a Nazi. This story is usually reinforced by a photo of Edward VIII frozen in a Nazi salute during an unofficial visit to Germany in 1937. This royal uncle even ruled Britain for just over ten months, but abdicated the throne for the sake of an official marriage with a divorced commoner, among whose former boyfriends there were high-ranking Nazis. After the marriage that outraged Britain, Edward and his newly-made wife Wallis went to the Third Reich in 1937, where the British ex-monarch personally met Adolf Hitler and his inner circle. All this gave rise to rumors both in German and British high circles: Edward’s wife wants to return the throne to her husband through the hands of the Nazis, and Hitler is not averse to putting a “tame” king on the British throne.

Elizabeth poisoned daughters-in-law no worse than her mother-in-law from the East End (meaning the place of compact residence of the poorest layers). “Harassment” really took place, but it boiled down to the fact that in the late 70s, Elizabeth forbade her eldest son and heir to the throne, Charles, to marry her insufficiently aristocratic beloved Camilla, approving young Diana Spencer in return. But the prince stubbornly continued to dream of his “immoral”, according to his mother, mistress, not paying attention to his young wife, who, because of this, now and then dishonored the court with her tricks. As a result, he still had to allow a divorce, however, he no longer saved Diana. But to soften the royal moral bonds, Elizabeth II went only in 2005, finally allowing the 58-year-old Charles to marry his beloved, who turned 56.