The Queen has refused to accept the “Oldie Of The Year Award” but sent her warmest wishes instead.
Queen Elizabeth II, 95, has respectfully declined the prize from The Oldie magazine in August with a politely worded note that also showed off a playful sense of humor.
Gyles Brandreth, author, and broadcaster, chairman of the awards, wrote to the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young, to ask if she would accept the main Oldie of the Year accolade.
“Her Majesty believes you are as old as you feel, as such The Queen does not believe she meets the relevant criteria to be able to accept and hopes you will find a more worthy recipient,” Tom Laing-Baker, her assistant private secretary said in a letter.
He ended the letter “with Her Majesty’s warmest best wishes.”
The Queen, whose mother died in 2002 at the age of 101, is the nation’s longest-reigning monarch and is set to mark an astonishing 70 years on the throne with a Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
In 2015, she broke the record set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who served for nearly 64 years.
According to their website, The Oldie is a monthly British magazine aimed towards the elderly “as a light-hearted alternative to a press obsessed with youth and celebrity”.
The Oldie of the Year prize honors people of advanced age who have made a special contribution to public life. The queen’s husband Prince Philip, who died in April, received the accolade in 2011 when he was 90.
“There is nothing like it for morale to be reminded that the years are passing – ever more quickly – and that bits are beginning to drop off the ancient frame,” Prince Philip wrote a letter of appreciation. “But it is nice to be remembered at all.”
Age is just a number for the mother of four children: Prince Charles, 72, Princess Anne, 71, Prince Andrew, 61, and Prince Edward, 57, whom she shared with her late husband, Prince Philip.
Although the Queen turned down the award, the ceremony went on with a royal stamp of approval on Tuesday. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall attended to hand out awards such as Oldie Champion Knitter of the Year and Truly Scrumptious Oldie of the Year.
Camilla gave a speech, starting with the history of the Abraham Lincoln Room at The Savoy hotel, where the event was held. It’s where the American community in London frequently gathered during World War I and where Winston Churchill dined with his cabinet during World War II.
“Famously, Abraham Lincoln said, whatever you are, be a good one,” The Duchess of Cornwall said. “And I think we can agree that, whatever they are, today’s winners are very good ones indeed. My warm congratulations to all of them.”
“[They] recognize the achievements of a range of remarkable older people who have made a special contribution to the world, and who all – in the words of your founding editor, Richard Ingrams – still have snap in their celery,” Camilla added.
The 95-year-old monarch, who was widowed this year, still keeps a busy schedule of royal duties.
On Tuesday she held audiences with diplomats and hosted a reception at Windsor Castle for global business leaders.
After the Queen declined, this year’s Oldie of the Year award went to movie royalty instead: French-American actress and dancer Leslie Caron, 90.