HIP hip hooray for the Queen. She has managed 90 years on this planet, 64 of them as ruler of this sceptred isle and the rest of the Commonwealth to boot.

And good on her, I say. I'm no royalist, but for a woman born in the 1920s, she's not done bad.

Of course, I have nothing to compare her with - she's the only monarch I've known in my lifetime. And everybody seems to agree she's good at her job so, I guess, she probably is.

All I know about other monarchs is what I've learnt from Shakespeare and a number of BBC documentaries. Silly, vain Richard II, totally mad George III, evil monster Richard III... and so on.

Yes, Elizabeth, like her namesake, seems to have done all right as far as Majesties go.

When I was a child, my four-year-old interpretation of history was that everybody must have been king or queen at some point... I'm not sure why I came to this conclusion, presumably because that's what would be fair and logical. Sort of.

Admittedly when thinking about my own mother, I was a little puzzled - I didn't remember being told about a Queen Jean, but at four, it was possible I didn't know everything yet.

And that is where I do have someone to compare HM to - my own mother.

Born roughly 18 months apart and, of course, worlds apart, they are both women born in England in the 1926/1927.

Both called major cities home - London for Liz, Birmingham for Mum.

They possibly liked the same music, listened to the same wireless programmes, were certainly both fond of the Queen Mum.

And that's roughly where the similarities end.

For Queen Elizabeth had a rare experience for a woman born in the 1920s. She had chances. She was educated. She got to travel widely. She had help with her childcare. She could have a career and a family. She was not subservient to her husband.

My mum, born in 1927, had to leave school at 14, brilliantly bright though she was, because the war was on. Later, she had to choose between a career and a family. She didn't go abroad until she was in her 50s.

While the Queen has had the best of everything, my mother, and millions of women like her, have made do and mended, recycled, improvised and watched every penny to make sure their families had enough and nothing went to waste.

As the Queen turns 90, it's extremely nice that the nation should wish her many happy returns.

But can we stop marvelling at how great it is that a woman with all the privilege that could possibly be afforded to her has survived in the same job all this time, and faces a safe, comfortable future?

The Queen won't have to go on an NHS waiting list if she needs a hip replacement. She won't struggle to replace her telly if it packs up. She won't ever have to sell Buckingham Palace - or Windsor or Sandringham or Balmoral - to pay for a care home.

And she won't injure herself trying to do the housework, like my mother did recently.

Well done, Your Majesty, for you seem to have reigned with wisdom and forbearance. But let's save our real praise and admiration for all the men and women who worked hard all their lives without the gifts of wealth or high birth to ease their paths. And let's start addressing issues such as pensions, housing and care for the elderly while allowing them the same dignity and respect that has been heaped upon our monarch.