IT'S HER TIME TO SHINE

She’s the undisputed star in the royal firmament but as the queen starts to celebrate her platinum jubilee those closest to her have let her down

- NICI DE WET

THIS should be the brightest of years, one in which she’s fêted for the phenomenon she is and placed on a platinum pedestal for all to cherish and celebrate.

But pity poor Queen Elizabeth. The first quarter of 2022 isn’t even over yet and there’s already been more trauma and turmoil than anyone should have to endure – let alone a 95-year-old woman still mourning her husband and fighting the frailties of advanced age.

The recent announcement that Her Majesty has Covid was the latest drama. For two years she managed to evade the virus – but when it was revealed Prince Charles had tested positive soon after seeing his mother recently, royal watchers were on edge.

Then his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, got it. And now so has the triple-vaccinated queen – although the palace said she was expected to resume light duties while she recovered from “mild cold-like symptoms”.

Which is typical of her. No matter what’s going on she puts on a brave face, shakes hands and says all the right things, a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. She’s the sun around which The Firm revolves and nothing seems to dim her glow. Yet it can’t be easy to be the constant light in a family where scandal and drama collide like wayward comets.

“I feel sorry for the queen because she hasn’t set a foot wrong in 70 years,” says Nigel Cawthorne, author of Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace. “The wheels are really coming off the House of Windsor.”

ANDREW THE EXPLODED STAR