A Clinking of Toasts 2003: A Certain Gracious Lady
A Certain Gracious Lady is a toast written by Doug Elliott and published in the Canadian Holmes (Vol. 26 No. 3, Spring 2003).
Doug Elliott's 2003 toast humorously and warmly praises Queen Elizabeth II as a resilient, widely loved monarch whose fifty-year reign echoed Queen Victoria's greatness, concluding with a Sherlockian tribute to "a certain gracious lady" worthy of Holmes's emerald tie pin.
A Certain Gracious Lady
She is hardly rivalled as a British monarch, man or woman. Thrust into great responsibility as a young woman, she soon developed her own voice, her own power of command, and a public persona that her people grew to love. She was one of only two British queens to have children, and thus to face both the challenges of motherhood and the demands of leadership. She travelled widely, making use of the most modern modes of transportation. During her long rule, Britain underwent monumental changes: cultural, intellectual, economic, scientific and industrial. She weathered tempestuous times within her own family and emerged from a storm of scandal with her personal reputation unscathed. Her Golden Jubilee was a time of widespread celebration, when Britons paused to take pride in their accomplishments and cheer the stability of her long rule. She twice saw her subjects off to war, and twice welcomed them back victorious. Even in later years, she demonstrated a remarkable and contagious energy and optimism.
She is not the first to celebrate 50 years on the British throne. And she is not the longest reigning British monarch; that was Queen Victoria.
I give you a certain gracious lady who was, regrettably, 100 years too late to present Sherlock Holmes with an emerald tie pin!
To Her Majesty!
- Doug Elliott M.Bt. BSI
- The Bootmakers of Toronto
- Article courtesy The Bootmakers of Toronto.
