Having recently given a snapshot of my non-Royalist view on the Jubilee I am writing part two because the event is now over and I can’t help feeling that my opinion has changed slightly.
In the same way as the wedding of William to Kate Middleton I was totally un-interested in the Jubilee and found the fact that my employer was forcing celebrations on us with bunting and balloons provided somewhat of an annoyance. It is one thing to choose to celebrate something but as my husband will testify I do not like being forced into anything.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday went the same, lots of events at work, charity collections and more tv ads than you can handle. All were drumming into us that we must celebrate the Queen for lasting 60 years on the throne. Oh what a hard job it must be. Swanning around her many residences, having people cater for her every whim and having other heads of state visit her bringing her gifts that are so expensive they would solve a lot of money worries for many of her subjects. Yeah. Hard job.
On Sunday we got up and had the boat procession on in the background as my husband, rightly, said that this was a once in a lifetime thing for us as we are unlikely to see another Jubilee unless The Queen and Prince Charles passed away within the next week!
It was fairly boring to me as 1000 boats takes a long time to pass Her Majesty and all the Royal Family did was wave every now and then. Nothing exciting happened, no-one put a foot wrong and the only thing that brightened this dreary event was the few minutes I got to admire Kate, again, with her simple outfit and good looks.
On Monday the day was spent seeing family, doing jobs around the house and it was revealed that Prince Philip had been taken ill in hospital due to a bladder infection. At first I was somewhat skeptical. Surely there was more to this than meets the eye. His age combined with the amount of times he had been ill lately made me wonder exactly how long he had left.
I settled down to watch the concert and I wasn’t expecting much as it had all been done before. Live Aid had probably been the biggest and most remembered concert ever seen in the UK so what could this give? I was initially struck by the variety of music on offer. It had Jesse J and JLS to Cliff Richard and Tom Jones to Grace Jones and Madness. This was such an eclectic mix of singers and matched the collection on my iTunes so was quite good for me.
I watched and noticed that not only was Prince Philip missing but the Queen didn’t show until much later giving rise to my suspicions that he really, truly, absolutely wasn’t well. She eventually turned up and the concert went on. I was really tickled by Grace Jones wishing her a happy birthday and the really poor jokes from comedians who are used to very drunk crowds or being drunk themselves.
The show was nearing an end and the last act to play was Sir Paul McCartney. Well I have never watched something and felt so much embarrassment for another human being. His voice has so clearly left him and whilst I don’t doubt his talent from back in the day there is clearly a time to hang up to vocal chords and not sing live.
All this said I think overall I can say I enjoyed it and really valued all the difference elements as being something that was very British and something the few other countries could pull off. I am quite sure they can put on concerts but this one was different. It was a celebration driven towards one person yet it was so subtle and discreet you could be forgiven for thinking it had absolutely nothing to do with HRH.
By this point I was still a ‘middler’. I wasn’t a republican by any stretch of the imagination but I wasn’t a royalist either but then something happened that will stay with me forever and started a process of thought that leads me to a conclusion.
When everyone had been called back to the stage, The Queen made her way there, escorted by the lovely, (and soon to be Sir) Gary Barlow. She walked gracefully and strongly to the stage and didn’t seem a day her age. Gary looked so nervous I wanted to wrap him in my arms and give him a hug. The responsibility that had been laid on him had been so great and yet throughout all the planning and organising, orchestrating, sweat and tears (no doubt) he had still remained that young, cheeky boy band member I had gone through school with.
In that split moment I saw him change into a loyal, concerned, caring, nervous person who had just pulled off magic and was now surely set to be on the Queens honours list. This was one thing.
The next, and probably more striking, was the Queen herself. Whilst Charles made his loving speech she stood stoically and patriotically listening. It was clear that she had a tear in her eye and wanted nothing more than to smile, clap and say thank you yet she was able to maintain that aura of authority and standing that she is known for.
What emphasised this more was when the crowd started cheering to Prince Philip. I do not know if I would be able to hold back the tears of gratitude had I been in her shoes and it was here that I started to see her as a human being who, despite her faults and distance from real life, still has a heart and feelings like the rest of us.
I am not a religious person so chose not to watch the service of celebration at St Paul’s the following day but chose to watch other programmes that were related to her throughout the day. These only served to strengthen my allegiance to the Queen even more.
As I have thought about her place in modern society I still can’t say that she is right to be there but the one major factor is that I absolutely don’t want a president. We would certainly not be celebrating years of service to the state as they only serve in blocks of four years and most other countries with such a head of state have a maximum number of terms so the chances of celebrating 60 years is next to nil.
The Royal Family is an institution of this great nation and to lose them would definitely remove so much heritage and income from tourists I now truly believe that they should stay with us. I am confident that William and Kate will be able to shorten the gap between the generations and bring a breath of fresh air to a society where the Queens era of morals and etiquette are long gone.
