I yield to no one in my admiration for this great republic, but I’m a subject of Her Britannic Majesty and there are moments when the whole monarchy deal just falls into place for me. One of them occurred the other day, when the Queen hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for the “British music industry.” This wasn’t “British music” as in Sir William Walton and Sir Edward Elgar, but the usual leathery old caterwaulers — though most of them now have knighthoods, too: Sir Elton John, Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Paul McCartney, etc.
So Her Majesty found herself in a room of legendary rock guitarists, and apparently hadn’t a clue who they were. Introduced to Eric Clapton, she politely enquired, “Have you been playing a long time?” Passing on to Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, the Queen asked, “And are you a guitarist, too?”
Compare,
By contrast, consider Vice President Al Gore meeting Courtney Love at a Hollywood fundraiser: “I’m a really big fan,” gushed the vice-panderer. Ms. Love, to her credit, scoffed, “Yeah, right. Name a song.”…
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