God Save The King

[Sheilbh]

Why archers in Scotland?  Longbow was more of a English and Welsh thing, no?  William Wallace didn't even have any bowmen AFAIK.

This is purely Wiki but again it's sort of Sir Walter Scott-ish.

Apparently it's from the traditional "wapinschaw" (weapon show) or muster of local militias, which was something the Stuarts were big on and was part of the mobilisation of the Jacobites. It was discontinued following the Glorious Revolution, plus the Hannoverians and then the Napoleonic Wars but brought back for 1822. So it's again an appropriation by a new "British" crown of something traditionally associated with Jacobitism - like the tartan etc.

And with that appropriation creating a new symbol that is simultaneously distinctively Scottish and yet wholly British.

Edit: But I also think the interest in Wallace - you get the Wallace monument a few decades later - is another legacy of Scott on the imagination because he wrote stories about Wallace and a sort of mythic medieval Scotland of the Bruce and Wallace. Again I think there's a displacement there of identity from the politically threatening Stuart's and Jacobitism to more distant heroes - plus the wider medieval romanticism of Scott which is hugely influential in 19th century Britain.

[Syt]

[Josquius]

Anyone seen a seating map about?
I'm really curious about who sat next to who what with it being a whose who of world leaders

[Sheilbh]

It was funny seeing that CNN section on which ex-Presidents Biden should invite, as if it was just up to him - when from a UK perspective I don't see how you invite former American Presidents without also inviting former German, French, Irish etc presidents.

While other countries with the Queen as head of state should clearly have larger groups (I think Ireland's the only country outside that group to have more than one representative). I imagine they all had better seats because it's the funeral of their head of state. But I read somewhere that it was just alphabetical - but I think, because royal, other monarchs got better seats too. I kept seeing I think the King of Sweden on what looked like the front row (separately the clip of Queen Margethe almost in tears at the lying in state was really moving).

[Josquius]

It was funny seeing that CNN section on which ex-Presidents Biden should invite, as if it was just up to him - when from a UK perspective I don't see how you invite former American Presidents without also inviting former German, French, Irish etc presidents.

While other countries with the Queen as head of state should clearly have larger groups (I think Ireland's the only country outside that group to have more than one representative). I imagine they all had better seats because it's the funeral of their head of state. But I read somewhere that it was just alphabetical - but I think, because royal, other monarchs got better seats too. I kept seeing I think the King of Sweden on what looked like the front row (separately the clip of Queen Margethe almost in tears at the lying in state was really moving).

The European royals are all family too, which helps.

[Syt]

Anyone seen a seating map about?
I'm really curious about who sat next to who what with it being a whose who of world leaders

I've seen comments that Biden was the only Head of State allowed to use his own motorcade, and that he got stuck in traffic. Seating was apparently based on time of arrival, going from front to back.

[Threviel]

I didn't know this, but they said during the ceremony that our king spent a summer at Balmoral in his youth. To learn English and to get to know the Windsors.

Lots of other stuff also, the bond is actually surprisingly strong.

[The Larch]

Spain sent a 4 people delegation, the current King and Queen, as well as the former ones. It was a bit of a conundrum at first because apparently only the current ones had been officially invited, and Juan Carlos (who everyone is mostly embarrassed by nowadays) threw a fit to get invited too. The guy wouldn't miss a party solemn event for anything.

[Admiral Yi]

Nothing says respect like a giant pig balloon.

[The Brain]

In Stockholm the Queen's coat of arms as a member of the Order of the Seraphim was taken from the palace and hung in the Riddarholm Church.

[Grey Fox]

Oh dear, the care of the Queens last two corgis has been entrusted to Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah. :-(

Apparently, he's the one who gave them to her. Their job done they now can enjoy retirement.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I've seen comments that Biden was the only Head of State allowed to use his own motorcade, and that he got stuck in traffic. Seating was apparently based on time of arrival, going from front to back.

I've seen some comments that a few other Heads of State pitched a fit and were allowed to skip the buses as well. I've also read some bitchy comments on reddit complaining about Biden getting special accommodation. The reality is though, the POTUS typically is exempt from such schemes at any number of other large international gatherings. He certainly isn't the only Head of State that pushes for exemptions, but he may have the best justification in that the threat profile for the POTUS is far different from someone like the Grand Duke of Luxembourg who probably can walk down any street in the world with a near-zero chance of being recognized.

And while distasteful to point it out, the POTUS is also just a lot more important than the Grand Duke, too. Whatever drama and discredit Trump has brought to the office, it is still seen as the leader of the "free world" and is still the world's dominant power in most international organizations, militarily etc.

[Syt]

Well yeah. Here's the Austrian president riding the subway, and tram.





I used to run into his predecessor at my local supermarket a couple of times.

[Sheilbh]

Well yeah. Here's the Austrian president riding the subway, and tram.

[...]

I used to run into his predecessor at my local supermarket a couple of times.

Yeah. I saw David Cameron when he was PM with what looked like very little security - similarly living in the far north near her home you'd see the Queen Mother and Prince Charles without much security. I've seen Johnson as mayor many times and had Sadiq Khan sit next to me on the Tube while he's mayor.

Obviously it's vastly different when you've got several hundred heads of state and government in central London. But I was in Rome when John Paul died and I remember people laughing at the US convoy going past because it was so extraordinarily long

Edit: And actually there was that video doing the rounds this summer of Johnson in a Greek supermarket.

[Solmyr]

People here occasionally run into the Finnish President walking the dog.