again

She's a WASP, but her chosen group is a bunch of Catholics and she gets things wrong in such a funny way. Her boyfriend's dad died and she had to do that routine, and I tried to coach her as best as I could, but she did the sign of the cross backwards.

Today when we were chatting I occasionally gave a respectful sign of the cross when we brought up important people like the Pope and Jimmy Buffett, she did the same but she does it so awkwardly!

Untitled (Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York). 1960s

There is very little intrinsic institutional power in queenship. The power a consort, dowager, or queen mother has depends mostly on how much the reigning sovereign (usually a man) is willing to grant her. Needing a queen to serve as regent is exceptionally rare, and the regent is more often a male relative.

Queen regnant: woman who rules in her own right, not on behalf of someone else.

Regent: Someone who temporarily assumes the powers of the monarch on account of the monarch being too young or too incapacitated to govern.

Queen consort: Woman who is married to the monarch.

Dowager queen: Woman who was married to the monarch. The monarch is dead, and she is owed support as his widow.