Outdoors RI: Queen angler, Queen Elizabeth

Long into her 80s, Queen Elizabeth was an angler! She had been fishing since the 50s, and since she was a little girl “angling” a long standing tradition in her family. Retreats and trips abroad, in the early years, were often centered around fishing in Scotland, and wherever she traveled. She and her husband fished in Canada and Kenya, while traveling on royal business. In Scotland, fishing is an institution among families, and there are many photos of Queen Elizabeth and the royal family before her time and after, fishing from the shore, or by boat.

As simportant and established a tradition among “the Royals”, it was while during a trout fishing trip to Kenya when Prince William proposed to Kate.

Her Diamond Jubilee celebration included a trip dressed in white suit and hat and full military dress for her husband on a boat down the Thames, where today angling is sparse, and usually reserved for those fishing for eels.

She not only enjoyed recreational fishing, but studied the subject and was lent books by other family members and given books on the topic as gifts from friends who were aficionados of the sport. In the Royal Family women were as much part of the fishing “crew” as were the men, and still are. Many women in Europe see how relaxing an hour or two of fishing can be, amidst their professional and domestic lives.

As one fishing article about Queen Elizabeth said, “as any angler knows, the spirit of a country is nearest to one on the banks of a river, between sky and water.” While many think fishing is a solitary, quiet and lonely sport, “It is a strange thing, this peace of the waterside, incomprehensible to those who have never experienced it.”

Tim Knight, who wrote about the Queen’s fishing said, “every faculty of eye, ear and hand [is used], but this kind of action does not prevent the fly fisherman from identifying himself, like the bait fisher, with the world of fish and bird and insect.”

“Study to be quiet,” quotes Izaak Walton from Thessalonians, adding, “and go angling.”

The Royals, and Queen Elizabeth felt the need for moments where they could find peace and reflection — and they passed fishing on as a route towards that peace, tranquility and a place to think – perhaps deep thoughts – world-changing thoughts. The humblest angler who takes out his rod and discovers on canal, or pond, or river this rich new world could not wish a better gift for his Queen.

As we remark on the life of this complex leader, we thank her, too, for the gift of fishing for salmon, for trout, for clarity, for peace, and for passing that on to her family and her people.

Queen Elizabeth’s funeral is set to happen on the Sunday 10 days after her death – plenty of time to buy that equipment, and take a stroll to a pond or lake – bring the family along.

Learn more at the RI DEM’s Fish and Wildlife site: https://dem.ri.gov/natural-resources-bureau/fish-wildlife