{"id":3402,"date":"2022-06-07T21:23:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T19:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3402"},"modified":"2022-06-07T21:26:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T19:26:06","slug":"a-weekend-of-mixed-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3402","title":{"rendered":"A Weekend of Mixed Emotions \u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Warning: opinions of a contradictory nature ahead!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a (soft) republican and historian I had conflicted feelings over the Platinum Jubilee Celebration Weekend just gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I couldn\u2019t deny the importance of seeing history in the making, but wondered at the same time whether it was all a bit over the top. The monarch is in place, in a position of unimaginable wealth and influence, simply by being born into the \u2018right\u2019 family. Not very democratic and not earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, while uneasy with the institution she represents, I\u2019ve a fondness and respect for the queen herself. She\u2019s battled though prime minister after prime minister, personal and public disaster and she\u2019s the only monarch I\u2019ve ever known. Plus, she\u2019s roughly the same age as my mum (my mum even looks a bit like her) and people of that generation are as tough as old boots. There\u2019s no choice but to admire them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I watched some of the celebrations on television, fast-forwarding the less tuneful artistes on the bill for the evening party. Thought Sam Ryder was great \u2013 he has a golden retriever-like likeable quality and his positivity shone out – wish it could be bottled. I began to watch the pageant to see what it was all about and, once the busses with \u2018celebrities\u2019 had gone past, stayed glued to the rest of it. Good to see the south west\u2019s love of carnival being represented. Carnival is huge in the West Country and Bridgewater\u2019s float, with its giant Beefeaters, was astonishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I even caught a little of the\u00a0Trooping of the\u00a0Colour. My goodness some of those horses were frisky. Did\u00a0anyone else spot the outrider having a funny five minutes and, in turn, setting off one of the horses pulling the\u00a0carriage\u00a0with the three Cambridge children in?\u00a0Their\u00a0riders\u00a0got\u00a0them under control, thank goodness and averted a possible disaster. Amazing skill and horsemanship. Speaking of which, I loved seeing the heavy horses stoically carrying the drums, their riders guiding them by the stirrups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s no doubting the UK can do pomp and pageantry like no other country. The sun shone on gleaming horses and brass, the soldiers marched with \u2026 ahem \u2026 military precision and there was a fantastically skilled fly past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But I have to ask was it all<\/em> necessary? A display of military \u2018might\u2019 from a denuded army and RAF, an impressive police presence from a similarly understaffed force and who surely had better things to do. It all seemed, to me, to be an impressive but empty spectacle. Surely the money \u2013 our money \u2013 could have been spent on something more vital?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know I\u2019m in the minority here and the events over the weekend brought much joy to lots of people, my mum included as she\u2019s a staunch royalist. It also brought communities together. So, to avoid coming across as a complete curmudgeon, I\u2019ll list my personal highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That we were able to mark a moment in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That we can celebrate our (mostly) wonderful pop and popular culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That magical moment when Paddington went to tea at the palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That we were able to embrace our unique eccentricity \u2013 who else now craves a corgi puppet?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS No Morris dancers in the pageant though! Shocking omission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warning: opinions of a contradictory nature ahead! As a (soft) republican and historian I had conflicted feelings over the Platinum Jubilee Celebration Weekend just gone. I couldn\u2019t deny the importance of seeing history in the making, but wondered at the same time whether it was all a bit over the top. The monarch is in place, in a position […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[869,868],"class_list":["post-3402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-monarchy","tag-platinum-jubilee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3402"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3419,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3402\/revisions\/3419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}