Queen Victoria

Seventy years ago today, the future Queen Elizabeth II entered the world by caesarean section, the first child of then-Duke and Duchess of York. Though third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (named after her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother), wasn't expected to ascend to the throne, let alone become the matriarch of the world's most public dysfunctional family.

She reigned for more than 60 years, filling the thrones of Europe with her heirs, and the parlors and drawing rooms of her time with a grace and style of living that was known as Victorian. The "Old Queen" created a mood as well as an era. Victorian values were based on the sanctity of home and family, and whether one lived in a simple cottage or a Renaissance Revival mansion, a man's house was indeed his castle. For generations, American interest in Victoriana has swung in and out of favor.

The grieving Queen Victoria was so overcome by the memorial to her late husband that his bronze effigy was hidden, like some enormous caged parrot, under a black drape whenever she passed. More than a century later, his Royal Highness Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is under wraps again. But this time, to the dismay of many Londoners, his renowned Gothic canopied memorial in fashionable Kensington is to stay hidden until the 21st Century.

Usually about twice a month, millions of women crowd into manicure shops to have their nails "done," and even more take a brush and do their own. The manicure has become an egalitarian experience. In a typical shop, you might see a powerful executive sitting next to a retired blue-collar worker, but it hasn't always been like that. For centuries, the people who manicured and painted their nails were nobility--and it wasn't just women.

Toward the end of Queen Victoria's 64-year reign, an elderly English gentlewoman attended a performance of the tempestuous Sarah Bernhardt in "Antony and Cleopatra." When the final curtain was rung down, the old lady turned to her companion and said: "How different, how very different, from the home life of our dear Queen." The monarch who came to symbolize traditional family values and middle-class morality grew up under conditions that today's social workers would find disturbingly familiar.

Moving to put his own mark on the Oval Office, President Bush is putting aside a presidential desk that dates back to Rutherford B. Hayes. Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Bush ordered his own desk installed in the Oval Office this week. "He had it as vice president, and he got used to it, found it comfortable, thought it was attractive," Fitzwater said. Bush's desk was one of four made to order about 1920 for the owners of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. It was placed in the company's office in Ohio.

I realized, with more than a slight tremor, that it was another of those divisible-by-5 anniversaries: 45 years ago Monday that I caught a train to Trenton and Ft. Dix, N.J., to go on active duty in the U.S. Army. I'd had a head start on the memories a few days ago when I watched Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" on cable, inspired by his own wartime training in Mississippi. Simon's experiences were particular but also universal. I had enlisted a few months earlier, when I was 17. If you joined something called the Enlisted Reserve Corps you could volunteer for induction when you turned 18, relieving your draft board of the chore.

Some years ago while I was still governor of California I was invited to address a large meeting of business leaders in London. Upon arrival I met another American and longtime friend, the late Justin Dart. The British Conservative Party had just elected Margaret Thatcher leader of the party. She was the first woman to hold that position. Justin knew the Thatchers and arranged a meeting for me with the new leader. I shall be forever grateful. We found there were great areas of agreement on the economy and government's proper role with regard to the private sector.

--No offense meant to her royal highness, but a majority of Britons thinks it would be a jolly good idea if Queen Elizabeth II stepped down and her son Prince Charles took over the throne. A Gallup poll published in the Daily Telegraph showed that 59% favor the queen's retiring to allow the Prince of Wales, who is 40, to become king before he gets much older.