Though I imagine that most people living in Quebec would not choose to affiliate with the monarchy in England, whether they like it or not, the bottom line is that Queen Elizabeth is considered the queen of Canada as well as many other countries that have had ties to the British crown. I remember well during one of our first Shabbat experiences in Canada that my beloved Mordechai, following the protocol which was de rigueur in our shul at that time, read aloud from the siddur a prayer to the Queen. He looked down at the siddur and without hesitating he read aloud the page wishing blessings to Queen Victoria. She had been dead for many years. It was not immediate that he realized his mistake but I can assure everyone that Queen Victoria had been deceased many years and I doubt that anyone was even listening. The old siddur was obviously printed many years prior to Queen Elizabeth’s inauguration.

Aside from the fact that high tea is offered in various locations in Canada, including a kosher version at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montreal, the tradition is known to have originated in Britain. Other than a few similarities there is little Quebec has in common with England.

All of this is my way of sharing my feelings about the royal family. We generally never gave them more than one second of consideration.

Recently, as I was driving and listening to the news, I heard the words of the Queen as she was addressing her country with her annual holiday message: “Although it’s a time of great happiness and good cheer for many, Christmas can be hard for those who have lost loved ones. This year, especially, I understand why,” she said in her speech on Saturday, which came eight months after the death of her husband, Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at the age of 99.

“But for me, in the months since the death of my beloved Philip, I have drawn great comfort from the warmth and affection of the many tributes to his life and work—from around the country, the Commonwealth and the world,” she continued. “His sense of service, intellectual curiosity and capacity to squeeze fun out of any situation—were all irrepressible. That mischievous, enquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him.”

Wow, the Queen of England, not so different from any of us who has lost a beloved, referencing her loss and romanticizing their relationship to the entire Commonwealth, which was heard around the world.

It was refreshing for me to hear her words. She is not just the woman who sits on a pedestal and wears a tiara whenever necessary. She is a woman who has suffered a terrible loss and is continuing to grieve. Obviously their ages did not lessen the blow of his passing.

I spend each day walking around my house and breathing in the places that were regularly touched by my Mordechai. I sit in “his” seat where he had his cup of coffee each morning, closing my eyes and dreaming of him. I wake in the morning and feel over to the pillows where he slept. I open his drawers and forever find something different that I had not noticed in the past. He was my prince and he always treated me like his queen. Although it has been suggested that I no longer write about grief, I have decided that if the Queen of England is allowed to speak to the world about her loss I can go on for as long as I like!

Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected].