Queen Elizabeth II’s hearty good health is well-known and is a key component of her resilience. While her longevity is in part attributable to good genes, a lot of it is also down to good habits. It is easy to imagine that the royals spend every night eating and drinking it up into the wee hours, but it just isn’t so. Yes, they do attend a lot of dinners and parties and some are rumored to knock back quite a few drinks, but their lifestyles are not as lavish as often thought. They’ve learned, perhaps out of necessity, that in order to lead a public life of extravagant engagements, overall moderation is key.
Accordingly, members of the royal family, with a few exceptions, lead lives full of basic, good health habits – not that they are perfect – but these habits do add up to a fairly healthy lifestyle that helps to counteract a lot of the stress inherent in their lives. One big caveat before we get started is to understand that the royal family has access to top-notch healthcare and advice upon which to rely. One of the first steps is to find the best healthcare providers you can afford, that respect you, and will listen while you discuss your health specifics with them. Nothing in this post substitutes for that discussion and their advice. You are responsible for your health and your providers are there to advise you. Our discussion will focus on how the royals’ positive daily habits can help us in our own lives.
Food
The Queen, herself, is said not to be much of a gourmand and eats to live rather than the other way around. According to her former chef Darren McGrady, Queen Elizabeth II eats simply and healthfully when not at public dinners. She is said to have cereal with fruit for breakfast and a salad with protein for lunch. And the rumors about her drinking like a fish seem unlikely to be an everyday occurrence especially when she is working. Other members of the family are known to be interested in healthy eating including the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, and the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex, among others. One thing the Queen and others in the royal family do put emphasis on is eating fresh and local food. Much of the Queen’s and Prince Charles’ food comes from their own farms, gardens, and game reserves. According to McGrady, the Queen refuses to have fruit on her cereal when not in season. In winter, she would prefer to have dried fruit than an out of season strawberry. (Maybe she is a gourmand after all…)
While we may not have our own estates, access to fresh, local, and affordable food is increasing in many places. With a bit of planning, many of us can afford to eat more healthfully and in season. In our family, we are steadily working on improving this and continue to seek out resources and support. For example, we order fresh, local fruit and vegetables each week from an online marketplace of local farms, and now rarely set foot in a supermarket for subpar food trucked thousands of miles from its source. Similar local, community-supported agriculture efforts are increasingly common, just search for “community supported agriculture” and your location. You’re likely to find something, and it is worth doing as even a small increase in healthy, fresh food will make a difference in your health and support your local farmers.
Sleep and rest
According to Sally Bedell Smith in Elizabeth The Queen, the Queen is said to be a good sleeper and this attribute is due to a skill in mentally compartmentalizing. In other words, the Queen doesnʻt worry about things she canʻt do anything about — no late nights ruminating on every problem she has ever had. Part of this may also be due to her strict scheduling. She has a time for doing everything in her life and perhaps it is just routine now to sleep when it is time to sleep. A future post on sleep will expand on this, but the basic lesson is to develop a routine and stick to it. Many people think our bodies can be trained to sleep. It’s worth a try!
Apart from daily rest, the Queen makes it clear from her schedules that she values time away from Buckingham Palace in the relative isolation of her countryside homes. Specifically, when developing her yearly schedule of meetings and events, she makes certain her rest – annual trips to Balmoral and Sandringham, for example – are put in her calendar first. She also makes regular trips to Windsor for weekend relaxation during her regular London working weeks. Do you schedule your rest and relaxation first or do you try to cram it in whenever you get a chance? I suspect this is one of the key reasons Her Majesty hasnʻt “burnt out.” We would all do well to follow this example.
Exercise
Exercise in fresh, clean air is important for both physical and mental health. Many of the favorite pastimes of the royal family get them moving outside – horseback riding, carriage driving, shooting, fly fishing, sailing, tennis, skiiing, golf, and long walks with the dogs. They continue this exercise well into advanced ages. The Queen still rides and the Duke of Edinburgh has continued carriage driving well into his nineties, which he started after he felt he could no longer safely play polo. Instead of calling it a day and becoming a couch potato, he found himself a new sporting outlet. So, if you have a favorite hobby you can no longer do, follow his example and find a new one you can do safely.
Now, you may say, this is all well and good for them, but I have no time for this! Maybe so, but remember they lead very busy lives and if they can schedule time for their health needs, you can do the same. Even 5 minutes consistent daily walking is better than one long run every six months. Stuck inside? Dance to a song or find a corner to do some yoga. Do what you can and be creative when time and circumstances are tight. Your body and mind will thank you. And youʻll be fitter for some grand sporting adventures once you can fit them in!
Accountability
Perhaps the biggest unacknowledged and largely unappreciated benefit of public life is its inherent accountability. Whether from their staff, doctors, or government advisors, the royal family is undeniably held accountable for all of its individual and collective actions and bodily health is no exception. We’ve all seen the horrible sensational headlines from tabloid newspapers using unflattering pictures of celebrities to allege health issues. Though these are terrible, unwelcome, and unproductive overall, it does bring to mind the necessity of accountability. The best form is probably self-accountability — setting a goal and holding yourself to it. Showing up for your own goals has the added benefit of building trust with yourself.
Now, if you are like me and think, “That sounds grand! I am going to do all this immediately!” Stop, take a deep breath, and pick one, small habit to develop. Think of a plan and keep it simple and easy and break it down into as many small steps as possible. You can always add another one when you have accomplished that one and if that is the only one you do, youʻre still better off than if you overwhelmed yourself and gave up altogether. In the next post, I will explore a healthy habit that I am trying to change and what has worked and what has not.
