For Queen Elizabeth II

The late Queen was not known for making ostentatious progressive gestures, but her decision to send a telegram of condolence to Peter Pears after the death of Benjamin Britten, in 1976, was a quietly significant one. Britten ended his life in a position of exalted privilege, holding a peerage that the Queen had bestowed on him. Yet homophobia shadowed him all along, and shaped perceptions of his work after his death. The telegram implicitly honored a gay relationship in what may have been an unprecedented way. I always thought warmly of the Queen for this ̉reason — that, and the fact that she somewhat resembled my mother, who adored her.