Media Perception
Elizabeth has attended many cultural events as part of her public role. Her first appearance on live television in Canada was in Prescott, Ontario, in 1959 when, as Queen of Canada, she opened the Saint Lawrence Seaway. She has given an annual Christmas Message to the Commonwealth every year apart from 1969 since she became Queen; in 2001 the Royal Christmas Message was webcast on the Royal website for the first time, and in 2006 it was made available as a podcast.
The journalist and BBC Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys has long stated that his career ambition is to get the first full interview with the Queen. In 2006, the Queen came close to an orthodox interview when she agreed to be portrait-painted by the popular Australian artist and personality Rolf Harris, who engaged in small talk with her, on film, and with Palace permission. It was shown on the BBC, CBC and ABC. However, their conversation ventured little beyond previous portraits of the Queen and Royal art history in general, and the Queen's responses to Harris's conversational overtures were notably crisp and monosyllabic. The 1992 BBC documentary on the Queen, Elizabeth R, directed by Edward Mirzoeff on the fortieth anniversary of her accession, attracted record audiences for a factual programme.
The BBC, however, along with RDF Media Group, became the target of Her Majesty's lawyers, Farrer & Co, after the broadcaster aired a documentary trailer for Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work which was edited in such a way as to make it appear as though The Queen had stormed out of a photo shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitz. The BBC had earlier apologised for the misrepresentation, which was fuelled by BBC1 controller Peter Fincham describing the Queen as "losing it a bit and walking out in a huff," but the Queen and Buckingham Palace were not satisfied with the results and pushed to sue for breach of contract.
The Queen is the subject of "Her Majesty", written by Paul McCartney and featured on the Beatles' album Abbey Road (1969); McCartney played the song at the Party at the Palace concert during the Golden Jubilee in 2002. In 1977, The Sex Pistols issued "God Save the Queen", which became a controversial hit single, inspiring the punk rock movement with its lyrics suggesting there was "no future" and comparing England to a "fascist regime." The Smiths released the song and album The Queen Is Dead in 1986. The Pet Shop Boys have a track called Dreaming of the Queen. The Queen is the subject of 'Elizabeth My Dear,' which appears on The Stone Roses' eponymous debut. The Queen also plays detective in the Her Majesty Investigates series of mystery novels by C.C. Benison, which includes Death at Buckingham Palace and Death at Windsor Castle. The Queen is the subject of "The Queen and I", written by Sue Townsend
In 2006, she was portrayed by Helen Mirren in the Golden Globe- and Academy Award-nominated Stephen Frears film The Queen, a fictional account of the immediate events following the death of Princess Diana. The film ended up as the most critically acclaimed film of 2006. Mirren, who had been appointed into the Order of the British Empire in 2003, won the Oscar for her work in the film and, in her acceptance speech, she paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. "For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle," she said.
In a 2006 book, Who Owns the World: The Hidden Facts Behind Landownership, Kevin Cahill claimed that Queen Elizabeth II holds ownership of one sixth of the land on the Earth's surface, more than any other individual or nation. This amounts to a total of 6,600 million acres (2.7×1013 m2) in 32 countries. However, this is based on the legal technicality that the Crown as an institution owns all the territory over which it rules, like any government of a non-allodial state. This land does not belong to the Queen personally, but to the governments of the respective realms over which she reigns.
Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, has given the British royal family working-class nicknames, as though they were characters in a soap opera. The Duke of Edinburgh is "Keith" or "Phil the Greek", Princess Margaret was "Yvonne", and Diana, Princess of Wales, was dubbed "Cheryl". Queen Elizabeth II's nickname is "Brenda".
Read more about this topic: Personality And Image Of Queen Elizabeth II
Famous quotes containing the words media and/or perception:
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