The queen waved at me. A sovereign’s wave, and I waved back. At age 30, and only five years a queen, she saw a family of four walking along the White House fence. I saw a beautiful woman looking out from her limousine on a motorcade to the British Embassy to meet President Eisenhower. It was Oct. 17, 1957. The next day I would turn 16. We were visiting my brother at college nearby.
The young queen smiled her sovereign’s smile and gave her sovereign’s wave – fingers together and straight, the wrist rigid turning from the elbow. A wave she would give a billion times during her 70-year reign. My wave started at the shoulder, down through my elbow and out to my open hand – an exuberant American teenager’s wave. The family laughed out of surprise and delight and the chance of it. The memory always brought us smiles.
RIP Queen Elizabeth II (Sept. 8, 2022).
Susan Pickford
Portland
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