” When we were seven,eight, nine for hours we played Catching happy days, which involved catching the leaves as they fell off the trees, so you had to run a lunatic” ( Queen of our times, Princess: 1926-1936 )
This excerpt from the definitive new biography of Her Majesty the Queen masterfully written by the talented Mr Robert Hardman, reminds us of the importance of the happy years of our childhood and underlines how much people we met in this period can really influence our entire adulthood. Just think of the importance that the figure of King George VI (whom we all got to know better through the beautiful 2010 film The King's Speech) had in the life of his daughter.
We can find a great influence also between Lady VIOLET and her beloved granddaughter Lady MARY.
Well, if you ask yourself “What’s happy days ?” ,as Lady VIOLET asked Robert “What’s a weekend? ” , the correct answer will be: all the days of my childhood spent with darling people who have always loved me and have given me a lot of hours of true and sincere happiness. These fantastic and unforgettable “friends” are like the leaves fallen off the trees: they never die, they fall off in order to become our guardian angels and be always with us, though they are invisible but closer.
I woke and you were there
Beside me in the night
You touched me and calmed my fear
Turned darkness into light
I woke and saw you there
Beside me as before
My heart leapt to find you near
To feel you close once more
To feel your love once more
Your strength has made me strong
Though life tore us apart
And now when the night seems long
Your love shines in my heart
Your love shines in my heart
But that was once upon a time
When dreams were young like you and I
And nothing was impossible
Don’t want to get emotional tonight
But when I look into your eyes
I lose track If we could just go back to once upon a time
Don’t wanna look into eyes, no…You take me back to once upon a time Take me back
So, once upon a time nothing was impossible and now we ‘d like to go back when the world was better and happier…but NEVER GIVE UP as Mr Winston Churchill said :
” If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may be even a worse fate, you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honour; duty; mercy; hope .”
In the end, Lady Mary reminds her grandmother that every room, every painting and every book in the castle will talk about her and will always seem to have her nearby. And we can add that the beautiful happy days captured as fallen leaves will always be carried beside us by the kind wind of memories.
” GIVE ME A LIGHT THAT I MAY TREAD SAFELY INTO THE UNKNOWN !” ( M.L .Haskins, poem , excerpt from Queen of our times, Princess 1937-40, Mr R. Hardman)
