And I Thought He Was A Republican

[poliphilo]

Wherever the Queen of England goes she carries her pomp with her.

Even when she goes to Washington.

I thought the rule was when in Rome do as the Romans do.

But when the Queen goes visiting it's her hosts who have to scuttle around to make sure she never gets a glimpse of how things are done in the modern world.

It's weird how she puts this hoodoo on people.

Apparently she got George Bush to wear a white tie for the first time in his presidency. 

And this morning there's all this oohing and aaahing over the gaffes he made.

Like he nearly said 1776 when he meant 1976- implying that the Queen was over 300 years old.

Ha!

Actually,  he may have been getting close to the truth there.

Why isn't she treated like any other head of state?  Why all this bowing and scraping in the Land of the Free?

It's almost as if we all still believed in the Divine Right of Kings.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

There is a fascination with royalty/the royals in the States and I´m not sure if it´s due to history or what. Living in a constitutional monarchy like I do, most of the questions my stateside friends and relatives ask me have to do with the royals here in Spain or whether we actually have electricity or not.
Seriously.

There´s some sort of aura that surrounds kings and queens for most Americans. Perhaps it´s a fairy tale kind of thing. I´ve often wondered about that myself. I do think the Queen (the English Queen) rather commands that sort of attention. Too bad the US isn´t part of the Commonwealth or she could be claimed as honorary head of state which might satisfy some of that royal mania over there.

Bush in a white tie? Since I´m not paying attention to what´s happening over there very much these days (more concerned with the French elections and how that might influence Spain´s general elections next year) I think I´ll google around a bit and see what I can find.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've been a republican (with a small "r") for as long as I can remember. I hate almost everything to do with the British monarchy.

I was hoping we'd abolish it in the wake of Diana's death- but the moment has passed.

And now- thanks to Helen Mirren- the Queen is a popular as she ever was.

Perhaps when the annoying Charles- or one of his Hooray Henry sons- succeeds to the throne the mood will change back again.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I pretty much figured you weren´t much of a monarchist.
:)
I don´t really care much either way as long as it´s just a show basically although it is an expense generator for the State. The Spanish royal family is at least dignified and by all accounts, fairly normal people and intelligent ones to boot. They´re good ambassadors for Spain is about as far as I´m willing to go.

And the King did play a huge role in the restoration of democracy after Franco when he was instrumental in squelching the attempted military coup in 1981. He´s earned his keep just by virtue of that alone.

Charles is indeed annoying and that´s putting it kindly.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about the Spanish system, but I get the feeling that I wouldn't mind living under it. The British monarchy is just so bloated.

I suppose one needs a Head of State- and one has to dredge him or her up from somewhere.

Actually I like the system G.K. Chesterton proposed- that the Head of State should be chosen for a fixed term of office- by lottery.

[sovay]

Actually I like the system G.K. Chesterton proposed- that the Head of State should be chosen for a fixed term of office- by lottery.

There's always despotism tempered by dynamite.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Is that Chesterton too? It sounds like him.

[sovay]

Is that Chesterton too?

Gilbert & Sullivan: Utopia, Limited. In theory, the king is an absolute monarch. In reality, he is followed around by the Public Exploder, whose duty it is, if the king shows any sign of abusing his powers, promptly to blow him up. (This has led to the current monarch being forced by his own cabinet to write scurrilous tabloids about himself and publish them in the royal newspaper. There are still a few bugs in the system.) I could really get behind that form of government right now.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't know Utopia Limited. For some reason it's hardly ever revived. The Public Exploder is a wonderful idea. Inspirational.

I don't suppose Gilbert would mind being mistaken for Chesterton- or vice versa.

[sovay]

I don't know Utopia Limited. For some reason it's hardly ever revived.

I'm not sure why; I've never seen it performed, so I suppose the music could be a disaster, but I love the libretto:

"I further read—and the statement is vouched for by no less an authority than Mephistopheles Minor—that your Majesty indulges in a bath of hot rum-punch every morning. I trust I do not lay myself open to the charge of displaying an indelicate curiosity as to the mysteries of the royal dressing-room when I ask if there is any foundation for this statement?"

"None whatever. When our medical adviser exhibits rum-punch it is as a draught, not as a fomentation. As to our bath, our valet plays the garden hose upon us every morning."

The Public Exploder is a wonderful idea. Inspirational.

I think so!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

"indelible celebrity"- what a good way of putting it.

But where's the entertainment value? When was there ever a celebrity as dull, dull, dull as Elizabeth Windsor?

[senordildo.livejournal.com]

Indeed--speaking as an American, I don't understand all this fuss over a crabby untalented woman from a family of inbred Germans.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I couldn't have put it better myself.

[momof2girls.livejournal.com]

Even though we've liberated ourselves from y'all, we still have a fascination with royalty and the royal family (much as I understand the English do). So we're going to treat her, not like a head of state, but like, well, a queen! : - )

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes I know- *sigh*

I think...

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

It's mostly about the "dream" part of the American dream. We grew up with Snow White and Cinderella and the like.

We would not want to live in it but it's kind of fun to watch the sparkle and magic... for a minute here and there...

Not to mention the hefty respect proffered a frumpy old woman in our world of American idols and anorectic teen age models!

Re: I think...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's a very convincing argument...

And of course you don't have to put up with the Windsors 24/7

Head of state?

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

You're kidding, right? ;)

Re: Head of state?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

No kidding. That's what she is. A head of state with almost no power at all.

Re: Head of state?

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

That may well be what she is but... it is not how we see her. I can't speak for all Americans but I, for one, think of whoever is prime minister as the head of state. I think of her as an adorable icon of days gone by... much like any other lovely antique. I could never see her as "haed of state".

Re: Head of state?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The Queen is Head of State, but her powers are devolved to the Prime Minister- which is why Blair is able to be so monarchical in his decision making.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure "1776" would have been a clumsy joke about American independence, not a reference to Her Majesty's age.

NPR didn't report any gaffes this morning--they were too caught up in the pageantry.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was any kind of joke. I think it was just a typical Bushism- no more than a slip of the tongue.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I didn't hear it, so I can't tell, but he really does have a sense of humor, and this seems to fit it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I didn't hear it either- just read a transcript.

This...

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

Is how Americans think of old women:

http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/article|10001|10051|/HallmarkSite/Maxine/?landingPage=maxine&hostName=www.maxine.com

http://flutterinn.com/maxine.shtml

Re: This...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...

She sounds like Bea Arthur.

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

I find it ironic that Americans seem so impressed by the British royal family--and not so much by the royal families of other nations--while many Brits, like yourself, are pretty much fed up with the whole thing. Perhaps C.S. Lewis was right when he said that humans need to worship something, and if we don't worship God or The Gods, then it will be athletes, movie stars, and frumpy old countrywomen in crowns. (Of course, he was pretty pro-monarchy.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guess ours is the only European royal family that still larges it. The others are pretty low key affairs.

I think Lewis is right- though I also believe it's a need that can be transcended

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Everyone else has said it already - Americans have an abiding fascination with royalty. What I'll add is that there's also this underlying perception of British as more refined, mannered, and intelligent than Americans. Which of course is utter crap, but the closest a lot of Yanks get to a British citizen is watching Colin Firth in movies.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yeah- you probably don't get to see our movies about skinheads, football hooligans and asylum seekers.

[cataptromancer.livejournal.com]

G. W. Bush, in particular, has an affinity for royalty, having pretensions to monarchy himself...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that he and the Queen are in fact distant cousins.

[karenetaylor.livejournal.com]

She's the Queen.

Although, watching the news last night I found myself resenting the amount of $$ our country was spending to entertain her. Then again, I tend to resent most of the money we spend on things unnecessary.

I figure GW was surprised that she wasn't Helen Mirrin. And I wish rulers of other countries would just quit visiting while he's in office. I'm humiliated by his representation of us.

I don't think his 1776 gaffe was anything other than stupidity on his part. But I don't give the man credit for having any brains at all. Or morals.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think the Queen and Bush deserve one another.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I figure GW was surprised that she wasn't Helen Mirrin.

I nearly inhaled my soda on that one.

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

regarding the oohing and aaahing over bush's gaffes, that at least has little to do with the queen. do you get The Daily Show over there? they regularly have a field day with him.

i think there are some benefits to having a ceremonial head-of-state and a functional head-of-state, instead of asking one person to fulfill both roles, but maybe something more like the indian system (president = ceremonial, prime minister = functional). i'd never want to be anyone's "subject".

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I detest being a "subject". I think it's terribly demeaning.

I see the Daily Show occasionally. We have our own satire programmes- Have I Got News For You, for example. They too have great fun with Bush's mis-speakings.

I agree about having a ceremonial Head of State, but I think such people should be elected. The hereditary principle stinks.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

I was just going to comment what a relief it was that there was a woman in this world who could make Americans show some manners, LOL!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh, but the manners represented by the Windsors are so stuffy and hidebound and the woman heself is such a joyless, snobby old prune.....

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

Oh, it does look like a terrible breed of etiquette and custom! But that only makes it more amusing!!!

[mokie]

Maybe the scuttling is justified. I mean, the last time she was over here, she was hugged. By one of us, even. Poor thing...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think a bit of hugging would do her any harm.

[kaysho.livejournal.com]

I think we're fascinated by British royalty in much the same way that grandparents love grandchildren: they're great to have over to the house and play dress-up and have a tea party, but then they go home to someone else. :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can see that.

We all like to play dress-up.