Just a friendly reminder to all Commonwealth citizens

[Sheilbh]

Yeah it made me think of Macron's line. Maybe he is right about it

[Sheilbh]

Incredibly on brand that Rishi Sunak would love Take That this much
https://twitter.com/sportingintel/status/1655343927539519494

[viper37]

Apparently 9 million French watched it live

The Euro tunnel was a mistake

[Maladict]

Katy Perry using her sing lyrics about the 4th of July at the coronation concert.

I doubt she gets to pick the song.

[Duque de Bragança]

Apparently 9 million French watched it live

If true, bring back the Comité de Salut Public and Fouquier-Tinville(s). 

[Duque de Bragança]

Apparently 9 million French watched it live

The Euro tunnel was a mistake

For whom? The Brits? 

[viper37]

Apparently 9 million French watched it live

The Euro tunnel was a mistake

For whom? The Brits? 

For the French.  You've been invaded by a bunch of British monarchy adorers!

[Zanza]

It's all a bit silly. How can you take such a show serious?

Because it is the price the British have to pay for the deal they struck with their monarchy in the 18th century in exchange for a peaceful transition to a parliamentary government. The monarchs pretend to rule and the people pretend to be subjects and everybody goes about their business. Sure beats all the horrendous bullshit you Germans had to put up with in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Besides Germany is surrounded by lots of fake monarchies. The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway...not sure why Britain would appear especially silly to you guys.

Not sure what those other places or British history has to do with it. I feel it is silly by itself regardless of what other countries do or how it came to be. But as I also don't take it serious I guess it is just some harmless fun the Brits have.

That said - if you want to compare - Dutch Kings Day looks more fun.

[Sheilbh]

That said - if you want to compare - Dutch Kings Day looks more fun.

Agree. I wish we had a proper national holiday (even if it was royal related) or national holidays, instead of "early May bank holiday", "late May bank holiday", "August bank holiday". The extra day off is nice but, with the exception of August and Notting Hill Carnival, they don't really have any events/excuse for a party. Or even any reasoning/"day of..." explanation.

Obviously exception is the Easter holidays and Christmas but those are different.

But we probably won't get another long weekend like this until Jubilee/death of King Charles/Prince George getting married - which is probably a fairly long way away

Although I suppose a minor quibble is that King's Day is an annual national holiday on the Dutch monarch's birthday, their inauguration looks more like this:

[Barrister]

That said - if you want to compare - Dutch Kings Day looks more fun.

Agree. I wish we had a proper national holiday (even if it was royal related) or national holidays, instead of "early May bank holiday", "late May bank holiday", "August bank holiday". The extra day off is nice but, with the exception of August and Notting Hill Carnival, they don't really have any events/excuse for a party. Or even any reasoning/"day of..." explanation.

You mean the UK doesn't even celebrate Victoria Day?

(used to be known as Empire Day, then Commonwealth Day, now Victoria Day).  It's the unofficial start to summer.

[Valmy]

Wiki says the UK, and all the non-Canadian parts of the Commonwealth that share the monarchy, have the King's Birthday which is celebrated in May or June regardless of when the King's actual birthday is. Huh.

But it is basically the same holiday.

[Sheilbh]

You mean the UK doesn't even celebrate Victoria Day?

(used to be known as Empire Day, then Commonwealth Day, now Victoria Day).  It's the unofficial start to summer.

We don't even celebrate Trafalgar Day

But except for Christmas/New Year's and Easter none of our bank holidays have any "meaning" really. I just checked next year and they're literally described as "early May bank holiday", "spring bank holiday" and "summer bank holiday".

Although interesting - I just looked up Victoria Day and saw that there are some councils in Scotland that do local events (obviously not a public holiday) and it makes total sense that there'd be some observations there given the Scotland-Canada links.

Wiki says the UK, and all the non-Canadian parts of the Commonwealth that share the monarchy, have the King's Birthday which is celebrated in May or June regardless of when the King's actual birthday is. Huh.

But it is basically the same holiday.

It's not a holiday though. Everyone goes to work. Some horses walk thorugh central London but there's no opportunity for the general public to have a boozey weekend and party.

[Zanza]

What kind of urgent business did the lady with the blue band have that she turns away from the action? 

Anyway that also looks silly, but a bit provincial compared to the British pomp.

[Sheilbh]

Anyway that also looks silly, but a bit provincial compared to the British pomp.

Monarchy is an absurd system. The most silly I'd argue - or possibly mysterious and quasi-magical - is the Japanese enthronement. The Japanese imperial regalia is so sacred that only the Emperor and some very senior shinto priests are allowed to see it. So when it is displayed in public for the enthronement they're in boxes - and therer are genuine questions over whether they exist or not

But if you have a monarchy I'm not sure a service where someone is consecrated a monarch (Norway), or inaugurated with the crown on a cushion (the Netherlands), or annointed and crowned (Britain) is any more or less daft. It's why I find the Guardian line a bit weird. It's basically that they are okay with constitutional monarchy as a political settlement - but think the ceremonies should be brought up to date and made relevant.

I don't think you can make having the head of state by descent from a particularly successful Norman warlord - or its ideological superstructure - more relevant or up to date.

Maybe I'm too cynical but I think you can by all means get rid of it (and you'll have other ceremonies in its place) - but otherwise, while we can make it reflect modern British society more (minority faith leaders, audience of "community heroes" in the Abbey, Bible reading from a Hindu PM) I think there is a limit of what you can actually do because of the nature of the institution itself.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

but think the ceremonies should be brought up to date and made relevant.

that's something that can backfire bigtime though. It's not a real problem for certain ceremonies to be (a bit) anachronistic. It reminds the people that they standing on the shoulders of their ancestors.