THE QUEEN ON LOCHNAGAR

The Queen on Lochnagar
Oil on canvas bonded to board.
40.6cms  x 56cms, 2020

The last trip I made to Lochnagar was in 2017, which I wrote about in 'At the well of the fox'. What I didn't mention in this account was that while on the summit I met the Queen. I was so stunned by this event, which seemed so out of context that I didn't really know how to deal with it. Instead, I created this little painting in commemoration.

 

Now, you have to understand that I am no royalist. In fact, most of my life I have been a republican. Not one of the militant sort that rant and rave as I don't think who is head of State matters much. The truth was that I was quite concerned by the event. Here was an old lady inexplicably wearing court dress on the snowy summit of a mountain and it was becoming very cold. At first I thought she must have been wandering a bit and a little dottled. She seemed to be completely alone so I considered calling the police and social services to arrange a helicopter. However, I needn't have worried. She was as bright as a button, saying it was a few years since she'd been here and we talked about the tree planting and the ravages of weather. At this one of here ladies in waiting appeared from behind the cairn. By the way she was adjusting her clothing I assumed she'd nipped behind a boulder to have a piddle. Away they went, skipping quit spryly over the boulders.

Now you may ask, what was the Queen doing there, on the summit of Lochnagar?

Well, she owns the whole mountain. I was wandering in her back garden!