I’VE been considering all the work the Queen carries out. I wonder when we sing our National Anthem including ‘long may she reign over us’, do we ever really think how long she has been doing just that?

A friend sent me an e-mail this week which listed all the American presidents who have been in power during Elizabeth’s reign – 10!

Ten different men have been head of the state, each with very different views, opinions and policies.

We are so lucky having continuity, for whatever different politics, squabbles, and petty power struggles go on at Westminster, our calm, proud and extremely duty-bound Queen carries on, showing the world that, as always, it’s ‘business as usual’.

Our Queen and the monarchy binds and holds the Commonwealth and us together, and I’m sure the world envies the stability of it all.

People moan about them living in luxury, but I bet they’d love a little bit of the luxury that we ordinary folk enjoy, the right to say ‘I’ll not bother going out today’ or ‘Hey! I’m not meeting him, I can’t stand him’, but they are on the treadmill of duty and it’s a never-ending one.

I wouldn’t want their workload or their way of life but I am eternally grateful to them for doing what they do and the manner in which they do it.