Well I loved the Coronation, I thought it was all very moving, if a bit long, despite being shorter than the Queen's. The King did look strained, as if the weight and responsibility and stress was all getting to him (as I'm sure it must have been) on the way in, but looked relieved afterwards. I liked the diversity of it all, with so many representatives of other countries, and other faiths. I wonder what some of them thought of it all? The military parade was amazing, especially the rousing 3 cheers they all gave the King.
I suspect that when William is crowned, things will be very different. That's assuming Charles lives a good few years yet, as did his parents and grandmother, and that we still have a Monarchy by then - I wouldn't like to put a bet on that, despite being a royalist all my life. I think William will be a very different King, much more modern and a man of the people - more like some of the European royals.
Events like this always remind me very strongly of my grandfather, as an Armed Forces veteran of WW2, very patriotic and a staunch royalist, he loved all pageantry and would have been glued to the TV for this Coronation....he would even have worn a jacket and tie, stood up to toast the King and pledged his allegiance. I miss him a lot.
I wonder whether Prince Harry was thinking about all that he's given up, and now being merely on the fringes of his family - which was very evident yesterday. I do think he's brought it all on himself, and he and his wife make mountains out of molehills and seem unwilling/unable to let things go. But I do feel sorry for him, nonetheless. I think seeing all those nationalities both as guests and playing all sorts of important roles in the day makes a complete mockery of Harry & Meghan's claims that the Royal Family is institutionally racist.
It's going to be a long day today, with our guests arriving around 10 am and they most likely won't leave until late evening, despite having a 3 hour drive back home (oh to be young!). I'm so tired lately, really bone-achingly tired.
I agree, Charles did look tired and stressed, who wouldn't! It still seems strange calling him King Charles, but I suppose we'll get used to it. He's been Prince for so long.
ReplyDeleteI hope your day isn't too tiring. Just sit back and let others do the work. Enjoy the company. xx
Also watched the coronation from our armchairs, here in Texas. I still remember watching Charles and Diana's wedding so many years ago...
ReplyDeleteHope you have fun visiting! Try to rest though! Go to bed early?
Just relax and have some serious laughs...
hugs
Donna
My two pennorth's worth...my daughter's fiancé is Black, and I am grandma to their biracial baby, so I understand a little more about what racism in this country looks like than the average white person does.We get the disgusted looks and the sneers when we're out together, and my son in law to be is regularly racially abused, and subjected to racist tropes.
ReplyDeleteI believe that having Black and Brown people at the coronation as guests or undertaking roles in the service doesn't mean that the royals aren't institutionally racist.
There will be many people who don't consider themselves racist, who have friends and colleagues of different ethnicities, but who also balk at the idea of having someone of a different ethnicity in their family. That makes them racist as far as I'm concerned, just as I think it racist for a white person to speculate and question someone about how dark an unborn baby's skin is likely to be. It's not a conversation we ever had when my daughter was pregnant as it's irrelevant to us... because we're not racist.
Maybe they're just ignorant, living in the privileged bubble that they do, or as Harry put it, more kindly than I ever would, they need to be educated and have unconscious bias.
I thought Harry looked happy to be leaving, heading straight to the airport from the service, back to his wife and children. I wondered if he thought he was well out of it.
I hope your visit goes well and that you have the results of your husband's brain scan soon.
I'm sorry your family have been subjected to racism, Scarlet. We have people of different ethnicities and both gay and transgender people in our immediate and extended families, and all are equally accepted and welcomed without a murmur. We also have lots of gingers! Perhaps prejudices of any kind depend on where we live? I don't know, just an observation. I'm not aware of ever having been subjected to any prejudice towards any of those members of our family, although some have because of their religion.
DeleteI wondered whether Alex (my grandson) would have red hair because there's red in the family. I wondered if his skin would be darker or lighter because his father is Ugandan. Come to that, I wondered if he would be a boy or a girl. I wasn't being racist or genderist, I just wondered out of interest. It didn't matter one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteI've never noticed sneers or 'looks' when we are out - maybe I just don't see them or maybe they aren't there. I don't know and it wouldn't matter to us anyway.
xx
Clearly we, and our experiences, are very different.
DeleteWhat kind of 'ist am I for wondering if my grandchildren would inherit the gene that causes colour blindness?
ReplyDelete