The Queen Mother was quite a wag, apparently, and often had everyone at the Palace in stitches. After Buckingham Palace was bombed by the Germans in the 1940 blitz, she famously uttered, “Now I can hold my head up with the people in the East End.” 

(Actual quote I believe: she and the king could truly “look the East End in the face.”) The East End Of London was the industrial docklands, where poor people were crowded and suffered heavily in repeated bombing attacks.

It was all British bulldog stuff but, as a result, Hitler described the Queen Mum (as she was later dubbed) as “the most dangerous woman in Europe.” If there were no other reason to be proud of her, that would be enough for me!

But the jokes never stopped. I heard of an event late in her life in which she yelled downstairs to her notoriously homosexual male staff in Clarence House, “Would one of the old queens downstairs please bring some tea for the Old Queen up here!”

What Does It Mean To Be UNSTOPPABLE?

I don’t think it means a bully or thug, who rides rough shod over others (the so-called rhinoceros mentality). That’s what they teach in sales training and network marketing circles.

Rather it means to be serene and firm in being who we are, what we are. It is to be enduring in the sense that one does not change or bend through day to day ills, or under attack. It means stand firm, as much as anything.

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon made it to 101 years old and she died young-at-heart and much loved by the masses. The cynical and ever-abusive left-wing journalists, such as those writing for The Guardian (a socialist rag with aspiration to be quality) had to eat crow when their insistence that her death was unimportant to the nation misfired badly. Actually, the queue of mourners waiting to file past her coffin extended many miles and took several days to pass, so much loved was she.

So if we are not royalty, what is our process of being unstoppable?

I think it has more to do with being the best you can be, until the very last. You don’t need to be sarcastic or jokey but it is important to keep a light heart. Heaviness and gloom will not stave off the fateful day, so why bother? You know my saying: we boomers want to go on partying until our last day on earth.

Who knows, for sure, when that day will be? So I recommend we take every day as a party, act chummy, share a drink with pals (The Queen Mum was a notorious tippler), keep a full heart and quiet mind… and make sure others are blessed with your presence.

If a certain fateful gate has been breached and your partner is lost, through death or dementia, then live out your days in honor of them. And no, I don’t mean try to stay true and faithful even after death. Your pledge, remember, was till death do us part. Get out again and LIVE it to the full. Be unstoppable in JOY!

Laugh a lot. I have written numerous times for you that laughter is a mighty healing tool. Laugh away cares and laugh INTO your last years. Haha! Who would have thought it: half a lifetime ago, people were snuffing it after a mere 60 or 65 years. It’s just what was expected. Now there are MANY who reach ninety and not a few who make it to one hundred.

My message is: who cares? It’s not about the number of years; it’s about the magnificence of being unstoppable, NO MATTER WHAT LIFE THROWS AT YOU!

If somebody dies, dance at the funeral, laugh in memory, sing a song if you’ve a mind to, and let’s get back to the wonderful task of BEING ME!

I remember a time when I lost around one million dollars, lost my wife and family, lost my “forever” family seat, and my career collapsed. Did I mope? Sure! But I remember one day amid all the strife, walking down the road with a spring in my step thinking, “You have to be somebody to lose one million dollars or more! The banks wouldn’t let any old nobody lose that much money!”

I began to sing and dance and pretty soon my life began to sing with me. I found my way back, my beloved second wife Vivien came to me, I started writing again, and I moved to the USA, a most beautiful and friendly country.

Become, quite simply, the most magical person that anyone in your ecosphere could ever hope to meet! That’s not about growing old; it’s about growing GREAT! That’s Third Age Wisdom.

Here are the rest of King Charles’ words, in the hope that you should find inspiration to live out your very best days:

“I know what my darling grandmother meant to so many other people. She literally enriched their lives and she was the original life enhancer, whether publicly or privately, whoever she was with.

“And, in many ways, she had become an institution in her own right; a presence in the nation and in other realms and territories beyond these shores.

“At once indomitable, somehow timeless, able to span the generations; wise, loving, and an utterly irresistible mischievousness of spirit.

“An immensely strong character, combined with a unique natural grace, and an infectious optimism about life itself.

“Above all, she understood the British character and her heart belonged to this ancient land and its equally indomitable and humorous inhabitants, whom she served with panache, style and unswerving dignity for very nearly 80 years.

“I know too what she meant to my whole family, particularly the Queen, to whom she was such a stalwart and sensitive support when my grandfather died, when he was only two-and-a-half years older than I am now.

“For me, she meant everything and I had dreaded, dreaded this moment along with, I know, countless others.

“Somehow, I never thought it would come.

“She seemed gloriously unstoppable and, since I was a child, I adored her.

“Her houses were always filled with an atmosphere of fun, laughter and affection, and I learnt so much from her of immense value to my life.

“Apart from anything else, she wrote such sparklingly wonderful letters and her turn of phrase could be utterly memorable.

“Above all, she saw the funny side of life and we laughed until we cried – oh, how I shall miss her laugh and wonderful wisdom born of so much experience and an innate sensitivity to life.

“She was quite simply the most magical grandmother you could possibly have, and I was utterly devoted to her.

“Her departure has left an irreplaceable chasm in countless lives but, thank God, we are all the richer for the sheer joy of her presence and everything she stood for.”

My own thoughts? I will thank God, if my life has such an impact on others!

To your good health,

Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor