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Thursday 31 May 2012

Off (With) Their Heads

Hear ye, hear ye.
 
Here in the UK the month of June in the year of our Lord 2012 sees the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.  For anyone reading this in the colonies this is a celebratory period marking the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty's ascension to the throne.  Anyone out there confused by the notion that crowns and thrones can usually only be found in fairy tales, think again!


Here in England - with its record levels of youth unemployment and rising child poverty - there's always money to spare for an elderly lady in an ermine cape to have a big party to rejoice the day she was born into the ultimate in privilaged lifestyles.


If you found that declaration a little harsh I'll be open and say I'd have to agree with you; to an extent.  The queen herself you see strikes me as a relatively nice and normal person; relative that is to how most people would be having essentially been stuck in the house (no matter how massive) for her entire house and relative to...well...her relatives...

The argument against the British monarchy and their cost is easy to appreciate if you imagine yourself to be one of Blighty's many homeless folk staring across the immense grounds of Windsor Castle and ruefully gazing at the many warm, unoccupied rooms.  An argument for the royals is that they provide an income through tourism.  That may well depend on whether you think England is better off ensuring there is food for its hungry or little plastic flags for American tourists.


Until an actual audit is done to determine whether or not the Windsor's et-al are still remotely relevant, Britain shall remain a land of commoners, knights of the realm and prince and princesses - but sadly not dragons - and nobody, for better or worse, seems quite ready to challenge the status quo just yet.