None of us alive today will ever experience another Diamond Jubilee. The Prince of Wales is in his 60s and The Duke of Cambridge, now officially Captain Wales, is 30. Either of them reigning for 60 years is highly improbable unless someone cracks the secret of eternal youth. Therefore, last week’s jubilee celebrations were uniquely momentous. Only one other English monarch; Queen Victoria, had a Diamond Jubilee. Her great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth II, presided over celebrations that were, despite the revolting weather, quite wonderful.

... I simply could not help thinking what life would have been like had Malta been integrated into Great Britain...- Kenneth Zammit Tabona

I took myself to the UK as it also happens to be the birthday of one of my favourite relations – she is actually a Coronation baby – and I am glad I did as I could indulge myself by not feeling guilty every time I got a little weepy about Old Blighty and, of course, The Queen!

I was brought up thinking and acting like any other little boy in England that God was an Englishman and that the Queen was non plus ultra. Unlike Charles V, who spoke Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to his courtiers and German to his horse, my family being traditionally very anglophile, it was deemed sufficient at the time that young KZT would be served admirably by speaking English to all. That was reinforced by my college education in the 1960s when speaking Maltese actually incurred corporal punishment.

Then came the 1970s and, along with the Silver Jubilee, we had the rundown and the road to what is eccentrically known as Freedom Day where people like myself were ostracised for being anglophiles.

With the Nationalist Party takeover in 1987, the “nationalistic” element of the party looked down their noses at the non-patriotic English speakers. These descendants of these Italophiles resorted to Maltese as a purely political expedient thinking that people would forget that it was Lord Strickland who ousted Italian by formalising what was once called a lingua di cucina! Since then we have holed ourselves up in a corner with the language question and, consequently, it has taken me ages to have the guts to throw caution to the winds and decide to speak English in public willy-nilly rather than burn far too many braincells and struggle to express myself accurately in Maltese just because it is considered to be politically correct to do so... And, yes, I do love and respect the Queen and, occasionally, I sing Rule Britannia in the shower.

Yes, I do find that in matters concerning art and culture Maltese is not versatile or rich enough to express what I wish to say. It is also being corrupted by computer speak and many people think that by sticking a jaw on an English verb; abominations like nippushjaw and nippromowtjaw, they are speaking Maltese when, in fact, they are speaking nothing of the kind.

But that is another question altogether as it is about the Diamond Queen herself that I wish to speak, this elegantly ageing lady who would, given the choice, be far happier breeding horses than having a full-time ceremonial job aged 86! With a strong genetic dose of Queen Victoria and the Queen Mother, it seems as if Elizabeth II is eternal. She has been on the throne all my life! She is, in fact, as constant as the Northern Star and has seen a dozen Prime Ministers in and out of her office.

She must be the best informed individual in the world. She is also the most hard-working and conscientious head of state in history as no other head of state has been working as such for six decades.

She tends to be rather like Queen Victoria in that she does not smile easily and when she does it’s like a fleeting sunburst.

She presided over all the grand ceremonial of the jubilee with a stoic doggedness that made one wonder whether she was enjoying or appreciating what was going on till that rare fleeting smile confirmed it.

Diamonds were the operative word and, yes, Her Majesty has plenty of them. Apart from the royal regalia in the Tower, there is a vast private collection of tiaras, parures, earrings, brooches and other types of jewellery that all have been created with flawless scintillating diamonds transforming this little old lady into a true Diamond Queen.

Victoria reached her Diamond Jubilee as a disconsolate widow who transformed her mourning for the Prince Consort into a cult. Elizabeth was blessed to still have Prince Philip, 91, at her side, until, after standing ramrod straight for four hours during the entire Thames event, he developed a bladder infection and had to be hospitalised. In fact, there are vast differences between the two queens from which, in my opinion, should one compare them. Elizabeth II is definitely the winner.

So while getting gooseflesh every time Handel’s Zadok the Priest was played, feeling elated by Elgar’s Land of Hope and Glory and standing to attention when the God Save the Queen was played, I simply could not help thinking what life would have been like had Malta been integrated into Great Britain as Dom Mintoff had proposed in the 1950s.

I cannot help speculating even now whether culturally and economically we would have been better off and whether in the long run we have simply made a silk purse out of sow’s ear as opposed to enjoying the benefits of being at par with anyone in Great Britain.

It will, of course, remain one of the great ifs in my life... and possibly yours too.