Queen of The World

How Queen Elizabeth II’s noble behavior has out shone the character of every British Monarch in the history of her nation and perhaps even the world.

By Robert Hudson Westover, the creator of His Grace, LordWestover (obviously).

When Princess Elizabeth ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom in 1952, Winston Churchill predicted that the nation’s new Queen Elizabeth would usher in a renewed Elizabethan era—as in the first English queen named Elizabeth. That first Elizabeth presided over what would become the world reach of a tiny island realm into the superpower Britannia and would rule the seas—for hundreds of years.

Many laughed at the irony of such a statement from Churchill. I mean, Great Britain, the empire where "the sun never sets," was already falling apart. It had, by 1952, lost many of its overseas colonies including India and South Africa. Anyone with any political savvy knew once magnificent Britannia, the largest empire ever known to man, was soon to be just another one of Europe’s “regional” powers.

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II (Courtesy photo.)

So was Churchill dreaming? Or was he sensing something far beyond our traditional concepts of national boundaries and cultural imperatives?

Clearly, he left no deeper insight to his statement. But I believe he was on to something. And, yes, he was right. He was right not because Elizabeth Windsor has extended the reach of her kingdom’s physical borders but because she has recreated an empire not of lands but of people—that is to say peoples of the entire world.

Think about it. When people all over the world speak of “the queen” for the vast majority of humanity they are referring to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Even in my United States of America the term means her, our de facto Queen.

And what a queen!

The Queen has, for nearly 70 years, during some of the most wrenching political crisis imaginable, stood aloft with the Banner of True Nobility for all the world to see: Duty, Country, Family.

In that order.

She has inspired countless millions to be more noble to others, more clearheaded in a crisis and less emotionally reactive to whatever absurdity rears its ugly head—in other words, to be more like her in mind and spirit.

Take a moment to pounder how this physically diminutive woman of towering and steely character, so imbued with noble temperament, has impressed, inspired and amazed you in your own life. Even if you disagree with the concept of The Divine Right of Kings it’s a fool’s errand to find a serious cosmic flaw with The Queen. Yes, Elizabeth Windsor is a person, has flaws like all of us, but I would argue her flaws have been turned into strengths with this woman who stands out (especially now) as a rock of ages for humanity.

The performance art character @LordWestover
was  inspired by Queen Elizabeth.

On a personal level Queen Elizabeth inspired me all my life. I’ve attempted to model her behaviors in my personal crises often resulting in very positive outcomes. 

In fact, the creation of my highly successful performance art character @LordWestover was partially a result of my desire to share these new Elizabethan traits with others. Yes, Lord Westover is a comedic character, but his silliness points to Elisabeth II’s true north of Being Noble in all one says and does.

Some who read this article will think it’s just a fan letter and perhaps they are right. But I can think of no one better to be admired than Queen Elizabeth. 

So, from one of your superfans, Your Majesty, may I say God bless you for launching and sustaining a true and marvelous Elizabethan Era of Being Noble.

God Save the Queen!

The Nobility of Gore Vidal - Where did he get it?

By Robert Hudson Westover

Love him or hate him (you have no other choice) Gore Vidal had a persistent and apparent nobility about him that could never be denied--not even by those who most loathed him.

So where did he get it?

Many will attribute this nobility to the fact that he was born into a grand political family. But so was his mother and she, by Vidal's own accounts, rarely exhibited the noble traits of her famous son. 

So how did it develop in Vidal?

I think I might have the answer and it might surprise you.

My dear honorary godmother, Countess Olga Chrapovitsky Morgan, was related to Gore Vidal through marriage. Her nephew, Hugh D. "Yusha" Auchincloss III was both Vidal’s step brother and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' (as well as a slew of other well born Auchincloss children). 

Gore Vidal

It's interesting to me that the "Merrywood on the Potomac" kids (the children of family patriarch Hugh D. Auchincloss and former residents of the famed Merrywood mansion near Washington, D.C.) who most all knew and admired Olga, had such nobility about them. And I strongly feel they all got part of their awareness of their inner nobility in large part from Olga. Not that she taught them in any sort of Maria-von-Trapp-Sound-of-Music sort of way. 

No. I think it was just her day-to-day noble actions and reactions to the world around her. I say (and believe) this because I too had the unique opportunity to be exposed to the Nobility of Olga. 

And it changed my life.

Countess Olga C. Morgan with me at her home in Laguna Beach

I wish the whole world could have had this woman as their honorary godmother. To show them, as she demonstrated to so many others, that we all have a Noble spirit within us that just needs to be brought out in our daily walk and conversation—that this world can be a much more civilized world by truly (and honestly) respecting others because they're just as noble as you and me.

Admittedly Vidal fell far short of this aspect of inner nobility! (Nobody's perfect.) But he often recovered.

Case in point. From The Guardian newspaper: 

A few years ago, when I mentioned a passage in his memoirs that admits to being unable to express any open distress after the death of Howard Austen, his supportive partner for almost 50 years, he drawled: "Have you seen that film with Helen Mirren? The Queen? Our class are brought up not to show emotion."

This effortless identification with one of the highest-born figures in history was very Vidal: both in its social self-confidence and the fact that a question about emotional evasion was itself emotionally evaded through a provocative aphorism.

Indeed.

#GoreVidal @GoreVidal

We Are Not Amused!

The Vast Estate (obviously) March 12, 2012 – Royal watchers were shocked (and absolutely horrified) by the news that His Grace, Lord Westover, attended and actually auditioned for a spot in an obscure comedy contest called “Funniest Feds” To read more go to:http://fullnoblenews.blogspot.com/

His Lordship in comedic attitude 

Full Noble News: The Vast Estate's Very Own Editorial Artist Debuts...

Click on the link below to find out!

Full Noble News: The Vast Estate's Very Own Editorial Artist Debuts...: The Vast Estate's new editorial artist, Dame Sassybee (formally the infamous Saucy Wench), lampoons the British Royal Family!

Royal wedding coverage: Americans watched and sighed

I'm quoted extensively in this post royal wedding article in the Christian Science Monitor. They really make me sound smarter than I am!!! God Save the Queen!

Royal wedding coverage: Americans watched and sighed

Royal wedding coverage: Americans watched and sighed

Americans who watched the royal wedding coverage say they appreciated the elegance and traditions of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge.

Britain's Prince William and and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, travel to Buckingham Palace in a 1902 State Landau carriage after the royal wedding at Westminster Abbey, London, Friday.

Peter Jordan / AP

By Gloria Goodale, Staff writer / April 29, 2011

Los Angeles

William and Kate are wed. Half a world away, Americans from Washington to Los Angeles roused themselves to watch the hour-long ceremony broadcast live and in HD from Westminster Abbey. While denizens of the former colony sometimes carp about oppressive British traditions, those who breakfasted on the event showed a genuine sense of appreciation for the restrained elegance that ran through the moment.

“It was really beautiful,” says Nathalie DeWulf Miller, a naturalized US citizen born in France. She turned on the TV while her husband slept in their Southern California home. “I knew Kate would have long sleeves because every royal wedding dress has had them,” says Ms. Miller, “but it was so elegant and modern.” The choice of gown was decidedly not what Diana and Fergie chose, she adds, “not over the top at all.”

On the other coast, third-generation ex-Marine Robert Westover fired up his wide-screen, high-definition TV to enjoy what he calls a celebration of the best parts of royal traditions. “It encapsulated a thousand years of British history from William the Conqueror – who was crowned in the Abbey – all the way through Chaucer and Milton,” says the Washington, D.C., resident. “I am not a monarchist or even a royalist,” he says, but “this is the country that gave the world the Magna Carta, laying out the rights of man for the whole civilized western world.” Respect is due this heritage, he says, “even if I firmly believe in electing all my own leaders.”

Being of British descent, Mr. Westover says, it’s the least courtesy he can accord his mother country. Besides, he says, as a former Marine, respect is a professional courtesy. “When British Marines set fire to Washington in 1812,” he says with a laugh, “the one building they did not torch was the Marine commandant’s home.”

Watching from her Detroit-area home, author and social scientist Terri Orbuch says she was impressed with the lack of ostentation. “No big-name celebrity performers or modern vows written by the bride and groom,” she says, although she does concede that walking out of a church to see a crimson-lined carriage drawn by white horses “may just be every little girl’s wedding dream.”

She says she was struck by the obvious connection between William and Kate. “Their body language – small looks and glances between them – spoke volumes about how united they feel in this union,” says the author of "Five Simple Steps to Take Your Marriage from Good to Great."

While the Bible verses and traditional passages from church officials suffused the ceremony with a traditional hue, the relationship at the heart of the wedding is completely modern, “a paring of equals,” she says, very unlike the distant, somewhat tense relationship on display in the Prince Charles and Diana nuptials.

She hopes that watchers will absorb the importance of a calm and mature bond at the heart of the wedding. Nonetheless, she adds, a more likely take-away will be yet another upgrade for any self-respecting modern wedding: “No doubt, we will see some brides demanding their very own horse-drawn carriage complete with footmen,” she adds with a rueful laugh.

Royal wedding: Women see romance, men see history. Both like the story.

I'm quoted in the CS Monitor about the royal wedding...please don't tell Lord Westover!

Royal wedding: Women see romance, men see history. Both like the story.

Royal wedding: Women see romance, men see history. Both like the story.

Royal wedding pageantry around William and Kate's big day is here, and men and women are focusing on different aspects. But the appeal of the basic story line means both will be watching.

· Royal wedding: A flag showing a picture of Britain's Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton flutters in the wind. Men and Women in the US are both interested in the royal wedding, but their reasons are very different. Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

By Gloria Goodale, Staff writer / April 28, 2011

Los Angeles

Will and Kate’s big day is almost here. But while Americans of all ages and professions have beenfeasting regularly and deeply on this banquet of public pageantry, one thing has become quite clear – men and women are sipping from decidedly different cups.

Women have a slight edge when it comes to celebrating the event. According to thehotlist.com, a “social decision engine” that tracks the activities of some 100 million users across social media such as Facebook and Twitter, women make up some 57 percent of those planning social events to watch the wedding broadcast.

For the men who are tuning in, their interest is more geared to the externals – historical details and symbolism – says Thomas Smith, an Atlanta-based public relations professional.

“I’ve been following the coverage in print and online,” he says, adding, “I’m very intrigued by the pageantry and processions and preparations.” Adds Robert Westover, a 40-something ex-Marine from Washington, D.C. “I’m very keen on the symbolism of who sits where and the remarkable history of the buildings and all the ceremonies.”

Head/heart split

There are powerful evolutionary and social reasons for this head/heart split between men and women, says Patrick Markey, director of Villanova University’s Interpersonal Research Laboratory.

Social learning reinforces the message. “Think about what we expose daughters to,” he says, adding every day “we read them a fairy tale about a prince or they hear a Disney story about Prince Charming or watch a movie about Cinderella.” These two combine for a very powerful influence both conscious and not, he says.

However, that said, many women are relieved to know that this time around Prince Charming isn’t looking for an aristocratic, pretty virgin 13 years his junior, says Stephanie Coontz, professor of history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., via email.

Rather, he is looking for an equally educated, same-age mate that he's known for 8 years, she says. “I am seeing more interest from these women this time around – they find it reassuring that the heir to the throne picked a real-life person with a mind of her own rather than a cartoon fairy-tale princess,” she adds.

Women from coast to coast are gathering in groups of girlfriends and multiple generations. From quiltmaker Roberta Levin, who watched Diana and Charles wed thirty years ago and wants to see her son come full circle, to public relations professional Elizabeth Anderson, who will watch surrounded by a bevy of female relatives, from her daughter to her mother and a slew of in-laws and nieces.

In the end, though, the story draws in both men and women, says Beth Amorosi, president of Ammo Communications.