That Time Badass Feminist Queen Elizabeth II Gave Saudi Arabia's King a Lesson in Power

[Recursion]

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/01/feminist-boss-lady-queen-elizabeth-gave-saudi-arabias-king-lesson-power

Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is known to have a wicked sense of humor, and some mean driving skills. One day back in 1998, she deployed both spectacularly to punk Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Back then, Abdullah was a Saudi crown prince visiting Balmoral, the vast royal estate in Scotland. The Queen had offered him a tour of the grounds—here's what happened next, according to former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles:

The royal Land Rovers were drawn up in front of the castle. As instructed, the Crown Prince climbed into the front seat of the Land Rover, with his interpreter in the seat behind. To his surprise, the Queen climbed into the driving seat, turned the ignition and drove off. Women are not—yet—allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, and Abdullah was not used to being driven by a woman, let alone a queen. His nervousness only increased as the queen, an Army driver in wartime, accelerated the Land Rover along the narrow Scottish estate roads, talking all the time. Through his interpreter, the Crown Prince implored the Queen to slow down and concentrate on the road ahead.

Royal custom discourages repeating what the Queen says in private, Cowper-Coles explained, but the anecdote was corroborated by Abdullah, and became, in the diplomat's words, "too funny not to repeat."

Abdullah went on to cultivate the image of a reformer as king. One thing he didn't change, despite the Queen's badass stunt: women still can't drive in Saudi Arabia.

NB: in 1998, Queen Elizabeth was 72 years old.

EDIT: here's then-Princess Elizabeth as a driver in the Territorials:

[braddy]

1. That was pretty cool.

[treestar]

2. Great story

He was stuck in that car at her mercy. And she really could drive.

[roguevalley]

3. when she was in the service, her dad loosened the carborator

on her vehicle when she didn't notice when she showed him how she could mechanic. she was tried to figure it out while he stood watching with a grin. Cute nice family they were.

[hfojvt]

4. so a mere 17 years ago

this 73 year old man was only the crown prince? Wow.

[JDPriestly]

5. OK. I'm going to ruin my image on DU, especially among the feminists (if I have one).

When I was a little girl beginning aged 9-12, I collected pictures of Queen Elizabeth from Life magazine and other sources that I could scrounge up and made an small album of them. I thought she was cool.

Not until today did I stop to think about the fact that she was one of many women of her generation who lead the way toward women's liberation. I thought of her as a woman who was given everything, all the advantages. But, after reading this article and remembering the post-WWII period, I realize that it took a lot of female celebrities like Queen Elizabeth but also a lot of gutsy women like my great-aunts and my mother and grandmother to pave the way for my generation of strong women and then for my daughters' generation of free women.

Now, Queen Elizabeth didn't accomplish the liberation of women all on her own. She wasn't even all THAT liberated herself. But she and many women in her generation helped clear the way for the women of today.

I'm not a fan of the idea of royalty. But I am a fan of women who do not allow themselves to be humiliated by powerful men who think they are better than women. And this story proves she is one of those women.

[PeaceNikki]

6. Good on her!!

[miahuff86]

7. Boom!

Last edited Tue Feb 3, 2015, 08:26 AM - Edit history (1)

This is hilarious. I can only imagine her remaining polite and whatnot while all the while driving to make the prince as uncomfortable as possible. Awesome.
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