In the midst of today's hysterical trash, Queen Elizabeth II embodies dignity, calm and downright dutifulness. She links a lost era with our own. In that sense, she's the last great queen in the world. Without Elizabeth II, the English monarchy probably wouldn't even exist anymore. Not this one, in any case -- the one I experienced that day when fanatics struck again in the British subway, one year ago.

It was only two weeks after the first attack, which had left a death toll of 51. This attack left no victims, but it might have on that June afternoon. At the time of the attempted attack, the Queen was hosting her annual garden party on the lawn of Buckingham Palace. The Queen mustered her guests, pale, dignified and smiling. Her husband did the same, a few steps behind her. The conversations were quiet and dignified, even as, beyond the hedge, all you could hear were the sirens of police cars and ambulances and the thudding of helicopter rotors.

On this side of the hedge, the commonwealth family had assembled. Surrounded by cloaks and turbans, the Queen exchanged pleasantries with the nurses, artists and firemen she was introduced to.

Beyond the hedge: chaos and terror.

The British virtues evoked by the Queen were well represented. Stiff upper lip, a calm demeanor, courage in the line of fire. I knew for certain that without the Queen, the bedlam of modernity would have run wild around me in Britain, with its shady prime minister, its cynical upper class, its vulgar soccer culture -- and the sinister bomb makers in the bodybuilding gyms of Notting Hill.

The Queen is the center that holds everything together. Even those lunatics in Nike sneakers, pledging themselves to holy terror in front of Finsbury Park's hatemongering preachers, would surely respect this old lady with her Welsh corgies -- the only true authority on the island.

The people's queen

When the Queen was born, the crisis-ridden country was gearing up for a general strike. The government report on the mining industry recommended slashing subsidies and lowering wages. It seems not much has changed since 1926.

The royal family's Russian relatives, the Romanovs, had been murdered by the Bolsheviks only nine years earlier. Elizabeth's grandfather, King George V, recognized the signs of the time and strived for popularity with his people. He sent his sons to visit factory workers or troops stationed at the border. This constitutional monarchy's royality knew very well that the people always have the last say.

Elizabeth always remained down to earth. She brawled, went horseback riding and wanted to become a farmer. A teenager during the war, she made herself useful as a car mechanic. And in marrying Prince Philip of Greece, a marine officer, she chose a man perfectly happy to always walk two steps behind her, without giving up his own particular -- and often crude -- views. She still respects him, 56 years later, because he's the only man around her who says exactly what he thinks.

In 1952, she and her betrothed rode to the altar in a golden coach. She was 25 years old -- young, beautiful, and steel-nerved. She could grimace and imitate the voices of others. At a banquet during her grand commonwealth tour, she surprised guests by imitating a Maori dance -- foot-stamping, grunting and all -- decked out in her evening dress and jewels.

Not even the 1950s and 1960s, when the world turned upside down, could fluster her. John Lennon joked about her -- but he also took a deep bow when he and the other Beatles met her to receive their "Members of the British Empire" badges. The Queen was also the first to allow a television team inside Buckingham Palace: in the 1969 TV production "The Royal Family," she was seen playing with her children, horseriding and grilling.

Queen Elizabeth was the first queen of hearts.

That became clear during an official state visit to Germany in the '60s. She arrived at the Stuttgart airport. I was standing by the red carpet with my brothers. She walked past and smiled down at me. That's when I knew: She's the one, the good queen from the fairy tale. Something special has connected us ever since. Did I mention the Queen is of German descent, from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha?

I always thought the fuss about Lady Di and her so-called dream wedding was a bit silly. When the royal family's fortunes turned into a soap opera for the afternoon talk shows of the global village, I suffered -- not with Lady Di, but with Queen Elizabeth. But then I knew she had her corgies, her afternoon tea with Prince Philip and her roses; she read what people wrote, knew everything. Nor did she take Tony Blair as seriously as he takes himself. In short, she never wasted her time.

Now she's 80 and celebrating a very stylish birthday party in Buckingham Palace. She's joined by people who've known the horrors of war, who enjoy a game of Scrabble, know about roses and dogs and have no problem bowing before their Queen -- unlike Cherie Blair, the prime minister's gaudy spouse.