Former student of the École normale supérieure and Sciences Po, David Brunat has been a member of the cabinet of several ministers. In addition a writer and communication advisor, he notably published Giovanni Falcone, a lord of Sicily , which appeared in 2014 in Les Belles Lettres.
"Worried is the head which wears a crown" , makes Shakespeare say to the king of England Henry IV in the room which bears the name of this sovereign carried away at the beginning of the 15th century by a frightening infectious disease: leprosy.
What would the greatest English playwright say today if it were given to him to write about Elizabeth II, so serene in adversity, impassive but human, sensitive, mistress of herself, in a word: royal? Quite the contrary, without a doubt.
For under this crown, as we eloquently saw on Sunday evening, it is not a blowing storm, but a spirit of calm that one does not dare to describe as an Olympian although it is well worth that of the gods; it is a manifest and majestic composure (that good composure which could not lie), a phlegm which is not only British, not simply monarchical, but which belongs in proper to this queen whose character and destiny were forged in the test of war, blitz, bombs, the struggle for freedom, and the sometimes arduous struggle itself to keep the brilliance, popularity and dignity of the Crown in storms. despite the turpitude of those around him, scandals and tragedies, from the disappearance of Lady Diana to the involvement of her son Andy in the Weinstein affair, not to mention the rebuff of her darling grandson Harry taking her clicks and his slaps away from Albion with his sweetheart who was suffocating, it is said, at the Court of His Gracious Majesty.
Measure for measure, Elizabeth would have reason to be worried. The world trembles, here it is as in Macbeth "full of sound and fury" , similar to an insane fable told by a madman, an idiot, a malevolent.
We did not wait for this crisis to know what model of resilience the Queen represents since her accession to the throne in 1953.Great Britain is hit hard by the epidemic after having kept it at a distance for a long time, snubbed, denied with a sort of island morgue. The heart of political power is reached. The current Prime Minister, this stirring and disconcerting concentrate of Falstaff and the buffoon Feste of the “Night of the Kings”, is currently in the hospital.
The Queen is not even spared in her innermost circle since her son and heir to the throne was infected like any of her Subjects by the Covid-19, which does not distinguish rank and label and which, in its blind equalizing power, bases itself on the Great as well as on the humble.
We did not wait for this crisis to know which model of resilience represents the queen since her accession to the throne in 1953. Model of duration, constancy, endurance, adaptation, intelligence of situations and people, of political sense cleverly hidden under a mask of constitutional reserve and truly royal discretion; model, for all these reasons and others still, of leadership, without any fault, without any excess or slippage for so many years (apart from a few dress outfits with bold colors), without any childishness even less, and with a keen awareness of his duty and of what Louis XIV called "the profession of king."
But the treacherous epidemic which strikes Albion like the rest of the world comes to further enhance, if it were necessary, the legend and the stature of this robust sovereign like the Tower of London while she has 93 springs and will celebrate a 94th in the course of this month of April when, alas, the lives of so many people hang by a thread.
The four minutes of his intervention from Windsor will remain as one of the most moving and memorable moments of his reign.There is no doubt that the four minutes of his speech from Windsor will remain one of the most moving and significant moments of his reign, and not only because of the scarcity of his public speaking and the dramatic nature of the circumstances.
In a few words marked by a noble empathy for her people and for all those who suffer, in some symbols, in some poignant historical reminders (heightened by a photograph of her with her sister Margaret taken in 1940, at a time when the very existence of the United Kingdom was in danger and where the royal family took risks to maintain the courage of the British), it added a new page to the book so long, so full, so rich in its life, and to the history tumultuous of English royalty. To the point of making the proverb that silence is golden lie.
A Palm Sunday like no other, therefore, where the head of the Anglican Church that is Elizabeth II spoke of “prayer” in her speech, profane but where perceived the memory of the sacred anointing of kings and queens across the Channel.
Sometimes it is good to be able to count on the one who embodies the unity, the continuity, the solidarity of the nation.
Great is the ordeal that people are going through today. And in the absence of "everything is good that ends well" in a famous play by Shakespeare, may we exclaim one day, and the closest will be the best: "Perhaps it is true that there is no remedy for love " , as the same Shakespeare assures in ... The joyful gossips of Windsor , " but there is now one against the Covid 19 " . This is the greatest wish that we can form today for the world.
God save the Queen. And all of us.
