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| The Queen meets the American President and First Lady at Windsor Castle, 13 July 2018 (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) |
In September 2015, as the Queen neared yet another royal
record – becoming Britain's longest-reigning monarch – the historian David
Starkey paid tribute to the sovereign's careful, non-controversial approach to
her role, dubbing her "Elizabeth the Silent."
Indeed, silence has been a hallmark of Queen's six
decades on the throne. In a world where everyone seems to have an opinion on
every subject, the Queen has been resolutely tight-lipped about hers. She does
not share her personal political views with the rest of us; the only hints we've
gotten of her politics have come second-hand, through the whispers of party-goers,
courtiers, and even the occasional indiscreet prime minister, never confirmed
and never clarified. Andrew Marr wrote in 2012 that the Queen "has never 'confessed'
or reinvented herself. When something hurtful or wrong is reported she bites
her tongue. As a young woman she was a global superstar, but she does not play
to the media in a gushing way and certainly does not court them." In a
monarchical world where image is everything, Marr argues, the Queen simply "has
no image" at all.
This silence – this lack of defined image – allows for
much interpretation. The Queen is a cipher: she can be everything or nothing at
the same time. Since she doesn't express her own feelings, thoughts and
opinions are often assigned to her. She becomes a sort of mirror, reflecting
back any opinion that the holder wishes to project upon her.
And that brings us to the matter at hand. This week, the
press has gone wild over one of these projections, a theory that argues that
the Queen hasn't actually been silent at all – but instead has been
telegraphing us secret messages about her politics. Her preferred method of expression?
Her jewelry – specifically, her enormous collection of brooches, the glittering
ornaments that she pins to her coat or dress for nearly every public
engagement.
Unsurprisingly, this new theory about the politics of
Elizabeth II's jewelry has come courtesy of two of the defining entities of 2018:
Twitter and Donald Trump.
