Honestly, the Queen and I had a moment

It’s true — I am a bit full of myself.

However, never before have I felt more justified in my ongoing sense of total self-satisfaction. My loyal royal loyalist readers, I met The Queen.

There are those rare occasion when one’s own sense of importance in the cosmos is affirmed with interest. July 3 in Winnipeg was one of those moments for me.

There I was, standing on the side of the road from the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport. It was an otherwise uneventful morning on a sleepy street on the outskirts of the Heart of the Continent.

In fact, the only thing out of the ordinary was the police presence along the median, as well as the occasional slack-jawed gawker sporting a camera and set of binoculars (myself included).

Her Majesty was in town, bringing a piece of the site where the Magna Carta Libertatum was once signed, so that it could become a part of the city’s human rights museum under construction next to the Forks.

All this was indeed a royally awesome reason for one to celebrate the muggy Manitoba July outdoors and slap on a little suntan lotion, all in preparation for some queen gazing. And boy, did I win big in that game!

I don’t know what it is about the Queen of Canada that makes me so gittish. I’ve seen my share of celebrities before (i.e., Wayne Gretzky, Brad Wall, Myles Fish), but somehow the chance to gaze upon our executive and the loving mother of the Commonwealth of Nations just seemed extra special.

Strange it is that so much media scrutiny regarding the Monarchy’s role in Canada seemed to accompany her most recent visit. After all, there were a lot of people (thousands upon thousands upon thousands) showing up at the Forks in Winnipeg for Queen Elizabeth’s formal presentation.

She certainly seems to garner a lot of respect and praise. Along with me, I couldn’t see anyone at that Winnipeg event not hooting and cheering, as if the saviour of the world had just arrived in a large and stylish pink hat.

I find this country’s relationship to the monarchy rather interesting. While grasping at any piece of Canadiana seems to be a national pastime in our continuous need to define ourselves as separate from the Americans (e.g. “I am Canadian” Molson ads), something as uniquely Canadian as our Monarchy seems less celebrated than tolerated . . . that is until the Queen comes to town.

I suppose it’s important to question whether it’s her symbolic position within the Canadian governing body that people come out to celebrate, or is it the Queen as a celebrity that gets people so clap happy. If that’s the case, then I guess it is entirely possible there is no need for a monarchy in Canada.

However, I can’t necessarily say that is the case. I’m not ready to give up on our relationship with this very old and respectable institution (that is “respectable” minus some of the tabloid family dysfunction that shows the Windsors as more normal than one might expect from royalty).

My own affection for Her Majesty certainly got a boost last week. We shared a moment. Prior to her formal presentation at the Forks, her entourage had to transport her from the airport to the Lieutenant Governor’s residence.

It was just a split second, but she looked right at me, smiling that Queen Elizabeth smile and waiving that Queen Elizabeth waive. I was definitely awe struck by the entire occasion, even though it was just her in the backseat of a black car zipping by at 80 kilometres per hour.

Still, she looked right at me (she had to, since at that moment nobody was next to me). I managed to collect myself enough to press “click” on my camera, but I must have looked somewhat silly, smiling and waiving frantically as if I were a five-year-old child seeing his grandma for the first time in weeks.

I imagine it’s a look she’s used to seeing.