Wield Your Handbag Until The Day You Die

Five years ago, on the 65th anniversary of D-Day there was a bit of an issue about the fact that the Queen of England didn't travel to France for the commemorative ceremonies. Prince Charles attended instead and I blogged about it here. More recently the Queen's PR people have indicated that she is winding down her international travel, which at age 87, turning 88 on April 21, she is certainly entitled to do. So I was surprised to see that she and her 92-year-old husband Prince Philip, who turns 93 on June 10, are in Rome this week, meeting the President of Italy and the Pope. I'm even more surprised to learn that five years later, she is planning to go to France for the 70th anniversary commemorations. 



Here's the official announcement, from the Royal Family's website, and note the oh-so-correct wording, "at the invitation of the President of France":

The Queen, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, will make a State visit to France from 5 – 7 June. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness are visiting at the invitation of the President of France, President Hollande.

On 6 June The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will attend events in Normandy to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

On 6 and 7 June Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will attend State Visit events in Paris and be received at the Elysee Palace by President Hollande.

In The Diana Chronicles, Tina Brown describes the Queen's work ethic as "Royalty 101, ... you get out there and wield your handbag until the day you die," and it looks like she was right.