Queen's Subjects in Va. Have Varying Views of Monarch

Pauline MacGregor Bonilla, born and raised in Scotland, proudly totes a Scottish passport and will quickly tell you in her Scottish accent that she doesn’t “give a crap” about the queen of her homeland.

Great Scot!

Sixty years on the throne or not, Bonilla said Queen Elizabeth II and the royals haven’t done anything for her.

In fact, she would like to see the British monarchy done away with completely.

“It’s a waste of money. I mean, I like the two boys,” she said, referring to Princes William and Harry, the queen’s grandsons.  “I cried when Diana died, but I cry about everything.”

The fact that the queen visits Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom and even has a home near her hometown, doesn’t affect her view of the British crown, said Bonilla, who has resided in the U.S. since 1989.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse, also known as Holyrood Palace, in Edinburgh, is Queen Elizabeth’s official residence in Scotland.

 “We really didn’t talk (about the royals) when we were growing up,” said Bonilla, who is now an American citizen living in Manassas Park. “I was raised by a mother who didn’t stand for, ‘God Save the Queen.’”

On the other sign of the coin—perhaps one with the Queen’s head—is , a Canadian with dual American citizenship living in Bristow.

Canada is a constitutional monarchy and Queen Elizabeth is its head of state.

The 55-year-old said the queen’s Diamond Jubilee today reminds him of being a young boy in Nova Scotia who stood and sang “God Save The Queen” each school day with his class. Until 1967, Canadian school children faced the British flag when they sang, he said.

That year, the country adopted the flag with the maple leaf, and then they began singing,“O Canada” at the beginning of each school day, McDade said. Everyone would walk home for lunch, return to school and began afternoon classes by singing “God Save the Queen,” he added.

“We were acknowledging the same woman. We were doing that for the same person … it’s quite remarkable,” McDade said. “I think she’s a remarkable woman. She’s in good health and I see her on the throne for years to come.”

His family once owned a Welsh Corgi—the Queen’s  favorite dog breed—named Molly, McDade said. People would always point out that they had a dog like the queen’s, he added.

Queen Elizabeth has been on the throne almost as long as he’s been alive, he said. When he was born her father, King George III, was ruling.

“When I was a young boy, the influence of the monarchy was very strong, much stronger than it is now. A lot of the older generation are strong monarchist because the monarchy played such a big role. They just treated them like rock stars,” McDade said.

He said he remembers when Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Phillip, came to his hometown in Canada by train.

“Back then that was their preferred method of travel; they would appear in the back of the train and wave. I remember that was a big event,” he said.

He remembers seeing Princess Diana and Prince Charles in person when they visited Canada in the 1980s, not long after they got married.

“I just missed seeing Prince William and Kate. They came to Prince Edward Island; I was there the day before,” he said.

He thinks there is a renewed interest and love for the monarchy because of Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge because they are “young and fashionable."

McDade, who is the superintendent of Manassas Park City Schools, has lived in Virginia with his family for more than a decade, but he and his wife became U.S. citizens in 2010. He said he remembers coming to the U.S. and hearing the song “America” also known as, “My Country,‘Tis of Thee,’ "which was the American national anthem until the 1930s.

“I said, 'Wait a minute—that’s God Save the Queen!’” McDade recalled. “It’s interesting. It is the same melody.”