My favorite Queen Elizabeth story: Ms. Alice Frazier

[Tommy Carcetti]

I admit I don't really "get" the whole 21st Century British Royal Family thing; while monarchies in ancient and medieval times are undoubtedly fascinating to me in terms of power politics, modern symbolic monarchies never really excited me. They were more or less just rich people whose primary job was to waive from balconies, and well, that's all.

That said, there is one story about Queen Elizabeth that I will forever love. And it's about the time she visited DC and Maryland in 1991 and wound up in the house of Ms. Alice Frazier.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/05/15/Queen-gets-hug-at-DC-housing-project/4464674280000/?fbclid=IwAR2PaCmbfmI1h5Yvt5mb7GvLFL0uBmiBC8YjEaZob5rzKlYGrSFFk9rdo1I

UPI ARCHIVES MAY 15, 1991
Queen gets hug at D.C. housing project
By TERESA SIMONS

WASHINGTON -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth probably didn't know what to think when a jolly 67-year-old great-grandmother at a housing project in one of the capital's worst neighborhoods gave her a big hug Wednesday and exclaimed, 'How are you doing?'

The queen, who is rarely touched in public, appeared to exhibit feint alarm, and endured the display of affection without hugging back.

But Alice Frazier didn't seem to think there was anything unusual about what she had done. 'That's the American way to me,' she later said.

Frazier didn't even recall whether the queen had hugged her back: 'I was so excited I didn't know. She kind of put her arm around me.'

There's more at link. She even offered the Queen some dinner.

I wondered whatever happened to Ms. Frazier, and looking into it, I found out she passed in 2005.

http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2005/03/20/alice_frazier_at_81_southerner_hugged_queen_elizabeth_ii/

Alice Frazier, at 81; Southerner hugged Queen Elizabeth II
By Robert E. Pierre, Washington Post | March 20, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Alice Frazier showered everyone who showed up at her Marshall Heights home with big, arms-stretched-wide hugs that transferred to others her verve for life.

So when Queen Elizabeth II and Barbara Bush popped in for a visit in 1991, Mrs. Frazier did not think it was a big deal when she wrapped her arms around the dignitaries. She did not know -- and friends are not sure she would have cared -- that the queen did not do hugs and that such intimate touching was a serious breach of royal etiquette.

In the Frazier household, hugs went hand in hand with the offer to sit for a while and have something to eat or drink. Mrs. Frazier became a spokeswoman for a community that was overrun by drug violence associated with crack cocaine.

Mrs. Frazier, 81, died March 12 after a long illness. As friends and family members gathered Friday at St. John Baptist Church to say goodbye, they celebrated her way. There were hugs all around, friends who showed up with food and fond remembrances of an incident that, for a moment, drew international attention and a moment of levity when it was sorely needed.

[FalloutShelter]

1. I SO remember this story.

I believe that the headline above the front page photo at the time was-“ E-gads, a hug!”

[SheilaAnn]

2. Never heard this story but I do think it's wonderful. n/t