I will miss the Queen. As an adopted person, she has been the one and only stable female in my life. Her portrait (Beaton) hung over our coal fire above the brass flying ducks. When Mrs Winterson was at her most volatile, taking my dad’s service (there’s that word again) revolver out of the duster and fiddling with the bullets embedded in a tin of Pledge, I looked to the Queen for help. She was better than Jesus because she was alive, as well as possessing special powers.