Would Jubilee’ve It?

I couldn’t resist this blog title! I saw it on a news website. It’s the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee; 70 years on the throne, and the weather has turned appropriately sunny and warm for the occasion. Supporting the Royal family nowadays can be a bit controversial, especially given recent scandals such as Prince Andrew’s sleazy behaviour and Prince Harry’s childish and entitled treatment of his family. 

My position is straightforward; while I don’t think that the Royals are better than anyone else, I enjoy the history and pageantry that the Royal family represents. They also bring in a huge amount of tourist revenue for the country, much more than they are paid by the public purse, so they are certainly not a drain on the economy. However I have many friends (the majority in fact!) who do not like the monarchy at all and would rather see it abolished in these modern times. I totally respect that point of view, and what’s more I’m pretty sure that lots of people have always felt this way about the Royal family, as history shows with European and British royals variously being executed, assassinated, exiled, criticised and booed in the streets. And of course I think that it’s good that our monarch is now almost completely a ceremonial leader, with the government (for good or bad!) being the real decision makers. 

And I think that our Queen Elizabeth II has made a very good job of being a monarch, dedicating her life to serving the country, through 70 years of huge social change. She didn’t get to choose to be the Queen, but has spent her whole adult life doing head-of-state duties around the world, hosting visits from world leaders, and travelling around our country visiting schools, hospitals, factories etc. 

Despite being aware of plenty of people’s dislike for the monarchy, I was still taken aback when, at a social occasion earlier this week, I heard an outpouring of pure vitriol directed at the Queen. It came out of nowhere, from someone that I can’t imagine speaking like that about any other 96 year old. 

Apparently the Queen “has never done a day’s work in her life” and it’s outrageous that apparently some people dared to express regret that Prince Philip didn’t quite live to be 100 “because he had lived long because of his privilege.” The Jubilee shouldn’t be celebrated “because the Royal family are bad people” and when someone pointed out that she would be getting an extra day of holiday for the Jubilee this was poo-pooed “it’s the employers that are paying.” 

There was much more, but it wasn’t so much the content as the tone of absolute hatred that shook me a bit. 

Now I do realise that there are wars going on (for example Ukraine) and that many people are in need in our own country. Sadly though, this is likely always to be the case. I honestly think that celebrating the Jubilee is a good and uplifting tribute to a lady who I do think has worked very hard for 70 years. 

Ally and Cat were lucky enough to be in the Mall in London this morning to see the Jubilee parade and then fly past of 70 military planes, including fifteen Typhoons, whose formation spelled out “70” in the sky. Finally the Red Arrows flew past, discharging red, white and blue smoke. Britain does do pomp and ceremony very well!