Blog: The Queen and I

Written by Student Content Shaper Robin Lapwood

It’s not every day that you are offered the chance to interview a 'Queen'. I have, as it happens, actually met members of the Royal Family: I once attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace and (shyly walking backwards) collided forcefully with Princess Anne. However, for a Queen to visit UoB is always a significant moment, and so I jumped at the opportunity to interview and film them. 

 Of course, Phil Harper (they/them) is no ordinary Queen. They’re a lecturer at Birmingham Newman University and they specialise in challenging students’ preconceptions by delivering their Health and Social Care lectures dressed in full drop-dead gorgeous drag — a sight Phil was about to repeat here at UoB for a lecture entitled ‘Queering Education’ for LGTBQ+ History Month.  

Framing the interview 

I had the chance to interview Phil before their lecture, but my challenge was how best to film it. In the end, with the help of the Student Content Shaper team, we decided to capture their transformation through the mirror's reflection, offering an insight into the physical transformation of drag that takes place behind closed doors.

This was the starting point of what became one of the most powerful videos I've ever made. Whilst making up, Phil was delightfully unguarded and chatty as they talked freely about their journey to becoming a drag Queen. I sensed they were inviting us into their inner world — and so I gradually changed the framing of the camera: zooming in from a wide angle (where Phil’s reflection was a small component of the picture) until, eventually, only their reflected face filled the frame. It was at this point that Phil spoke directly to camera, via their drag Queen reflection, and gave their personal advice to anyone at UoB who is seeking to find their authentic selves. The resulting footage is so evocative and powerful and forms the climax of the whole project. 

I hope you'll find time to watch Phil’s 'Becoming a Queen' video. And if you wonder why I selected such gentle background music it's  because of this: Phil was consistently so gentle — not only in how delicately they applied their makeup, but also in how calmly they expressed their own inner struggles. Phil is a large human, yet they did what Queens do best: challenge our neat but narrow preconceptions.  

Proud to be an ally 

There are so many ways in which University life today is much healthier and wholesome than it was for me as an Undergraduate back in the 1970s. Back then, tribal attitudes dominated in matters of personal gender and sexuality: individuals who were LGBT or Q (let alone +) were typically ‘othered’ in what was primarily a strictly heterosexual community. For members of the ‘straight’ tribe to engage with the ‘others’ was seen as a betrayal and a cause for suspicion — attitudes which only reinforced prejudice and isolation. 

Today, as a PGR here at UoB, I am proud to be an official Ally to members of the LGBTQ+ community. I personally happen to be straight, cis, and happily married to a cis woman — but, above and beyond all of these, I have learned how vital it is to be a tolerant and compassionate human being. I feel I can no longer ignore situations when individuals who are L, or G, or Q, or B, or T, (or +) are treated unfairly, or with hate and discrimination. I hope my presence around campus (with my totally-in-your-face pop-colour Rainbow Allies lanyard) will at least show members of the LGBTQ+ community that I have deliberately chosen to be there for them.  

In my former professional life as a Priest and a School/Hospital Chaplain, I learned how a single smile of empathy can make such a positive difference to someone who is struggling because of others’ unkindness. And so I smile away — and I am proud to have videoed (and briefly strutted alongside) an extraordinary visiting Queen.  

Enjoy!