We look forward to seeing you Ma’am, we need some cheering up

YOUR Majesty, Before I get on to saying that you’re welcome, I should probably admit that I did a bit of research into the proper mode of address for an open letter to the British queen.

Tue, 10 May, 2011 - 01:00

Fergus Finlay

Fergus Finlay is a former political activist and adviser to three governments, the former head of the children's charity Barnardos, a writer and a broadcaster.

I don’t want to be impolite or anything, but I do want to get it right. We’re all citizens of a republic here, after all — it might be a bit down on its luck, but it’s been a republic now for just over 62 years. There must be, I’m sure, a correct way for a citizen of a republic to address a queen.

I couldn’t find one, though. When I was trawling through the web, I did notice that a former Minister for Justice of ours, Michael McDowell (who always prided himself on his true republicanism, even if he had a slightly different view of the notion of equality than most republicans do) changed the way us citizens are supposed to address judges. We used to call them “My Lord”, but thanks to the former Minister, we now just call them “judge” (It doesn’t seem to have had any effect on their pay, mind you.