In Shakespeare’s lifetime, several of his plays — including Love’s Labor’s Lost and The Merry Wives of Windsor — were performed for Queen Elizabeth I at her Court. (Read more about her here.) For all of the historical fascination that this royal patronage holds, we wish to focus here on Shakespeare’s connection to another noble figure: Queen Elizabeth II.
How to pay tribute to a truly majestic and beloved monarch?
For King Charles III, the only answer was to turn to Shakespeare. In his address to Parliament, Charles borrowed from Henry VIII to describe her as “a pattern to all princes living.” And in a public address, he closed with the loveliest blessing of all from Hamlet: “May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
In recent days, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon has published a compelling overview of Queen Elizabeth II’s decades-long relationship with Shakespeare’s legacy. He represented, simply, a golden thread across her lifetime: From her youth as a Princess reading Shakespeare’s works to her reign as Queen, she often visited Stratford.
Shakespeare knew that “all the world’s a stage” — and how beautifully did Queen Elizabeth II ever grace it for so many important years.
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