Why Prince matters and the Queen Doesn’t.

First, let me join the throng of people across the world in saying a most lyrical and spiritual ‘rest in peace’ to the iconic artist that was Prince. I, like may others, grew up listening to his music. I didn’t always like it. He wasn’t always my cup of tea, but I’m in no doubt of his influence on the world of creativity and the lives of many, many people.

Now, let me come to the crux of this post. Yesterday, as you couldn’t help but be aware, was  Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday. Apparently, the very fact the woman made it to that age is supposed to be something to praise, an achievement to outshine most others. The very fact she made it to ninety with all the benefits of a very, very wealthy woman are, it seems, of little consequence when it comes to the hundred’s of millions that somehow feel they truly know the soul behind the face.

If the media, and thus the sheeple are to be believed, the queen is a wonderful person. She’s witty, intelligent, compassionate. Is she? Is she really? I don’t know her. Do you know her? She always looks positively fed up to me, her expression more often than not one of bland, non-emotion until she has to paste on a smile – which I admit could earn her an accolade in itself. Though I’m not sure chronic jaw ache is enough to qualify a life of luxury. Basically, if I had to go on what I know, what I see, I’d say she seems far less interesting and warm than the little old lady I sat at the bus stop with last week. However, that little old lady, with her aching bones, and minimum income had made it all the way to ninety without the back-up of private physicians, servants, paid vacations, etc..

And then there’s this…

What has Elizabeth even done? What mark has she made on history? Basically, if you read the popular press, she’s ‘been’ there, standing tall, fighting the good fight alongside her people. Well that’s nice! In all those sixty-four years on the throne her legacy, her stamp on the world will be smiling, waving, and having a strangely alien ability to convince everyday folk she’s ‘just the same as them’, with no heirs, graces, or bodyguards.

The last ‘great’ female monarch, her great,great-grandmother Victoria, may have ruled fewer years (just), but in that reign she stood at the head of the British Empire, ruling a quarter of the world’s population. She had a whole era named after her, for goodness sake – I mean, who else does that these days?

I’m not saying Victoria was any different constitutionally, or any better a person; I didn’t ‘know’ her personally either. She was still a figurehead under the laws of democracy. But when it comes to a woman to look up to, by golly, she had the form. Fair enough, people might have loved her, and probably for nothing more than the fact she was ‘there’ at the head of things. However, if you’re gonna be put on a pedestal for doing very little, you might as well give the impression it’s impressive. She even survived six assassination attempts.

Plus, Victoria was actually known for her using her influence to affect change for the poor, being in favor of the Housing Commission. That’s a substantial thing to do for those less fortunate than yourself – and something I’ve no similar evidence of with our current queen.

And I think that’s it for me. I am not into the politics of envy. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the wealth of others compared to my own lack of fortune. I bear Elizabeth no malice for her accident of birth. But why couldn’t she mark her milestone birthday with a minded trip to a homeless shelter, a nursing home, one of the many much-needed social ventures that are closing down due to the cuts made by her current government. She could have dished out a large chunk of money to many folk to whose lives it would have made a great deal of difference. possibly even saved a life or two – yet, she did not do this. She went for a very expensive stroll in London while people came to look upon her and bask in her brilliance. Bit conceited if you ask me – and a total waste of a wonderful opportunity.

In comparison

Then, on the same day, we have the death of a man, conveniently for this post known as Prince. No saint, I’m sure. No paragon of virtue, highly unlikely, as most human’s are not. But he touched people’s lives and souls with his words, his music, and his charisma. This wasn’t altruistic of course. He got something out of it. Money, fame, the ability to share his talents with the world as and when he wanted. But I and millions of others remember moments that were accompanied by something he created. He left an indelible mark.

There’s no right or wrong in this. One does not be ‘the Queen’ or be Prince’ and never the twain shall meet. I have no idea if Prince ever shared freely of his earnings. Maybe he was as miserly as the next very rich guy. But, albeit unintentionally, he shared something valuable with the world and he’ll long be remembered for it.

In comparison, the queen has the ability, the funds, the opportunity to make a massive difference to the lives of anyone she chooses, yet she squanders that every day she still breathes. She watches as that little old day I talked to at the bus stop dies of hypothermia in her cold council house. She watches as a disabled youngster and their struggling family lose their home due to ‘her’ government having deemed they have one more bedroom than is entirely necessary. She watches as yet another Sure Start centre closes down, depriving many children of a better start in life.

Fine, so if she’d made music those folk would have been no better off and she’d be no more of a decent person, but it’s all comparative. Prince was one guy who created something that could reach out to people – and he did. The queen is one woman with the wherewithal to affect real change – and she never does.

So why does this all matter?

It matters because at the heart of all this are us, people. Our views on such things reflect our moral standing, our sense of right and wrong. They show who we are in society, how we care, or don’t as the case may be.

While we are looking to the face of a woman born to privilege as our direction for sunlight and greatness we miss the small people, the ones whose lives were not so publicly recognised. The ones whose fights and struggles went by without a soul to wish them a happy 90th birthday – if they even made it that far.

I worry that so many British people travelled so many hundreds of miles to line the streets of London for the hope of a passing glimpse of someone they’ll never get to even to speak to, just because she didn’t die before ninety, when they could have found their closest ninety-year-old neighbour and chatted with them for a couple of hours. I worry that so many British people would rather spend too much of their own cash doing all that and then telling any journalist with a microphone how wonderful the queen is when in actual fact, they haven’t the faintest idea of what kind of person she is. She may be the last person you’d ever want to meet for all they know, given that their only knowledge of her are carefully prepared press-releases and well-rehearsed speeches and interviews.

Indeed, had every one of the folk that spent so much of their day ‘following’ the queen yesterday spent just one hour with some of our vulnerable and lonely citizens, it could be argued something wonderful might have been felt rising above the nation, such would be the real power of well-intentioned human interaction.

Some of those citizens are right at this very moment struggling to make ends meet. They are having to choose between heating and eating while we coo and wave at someone who has never had to make that choice – not once. What does that say about us?