Royal Gossip

[poliphilo]

Ailz tells me the Queen has rewritten the rules on royal precedence so that Princess Anne isn't required to curtsey to her older brother's wife- something she refuses to do.  She refused to curtsey to her older brother's first wife too. It's not that she finds curtseying offensive in itself, only curtseying to a "commoner". Apparently the Windsors are at it all the time, bobbing up and down to one another. You'd think, in private, they might drop the charade, but they don't. 

There was a sale of the Duchess of Windsors jewels at Sotheby's yesterday. They realised nearly £8 million. The duchess liked her bling. And she liked it blingy. If you saw these items in a pawn shop window you'd go, "My God, who on earth would want to wear that?" But they're good fun- especially the diamond and onyx panther. 

My cultural inheritance includes a propensity to bristle at the word "Prussian" but last night's TV biography of Frederick the Great suggested I might want to adjust my programming. Frederick was a great general, an enlightened and liberal statesman, a philosopher and patron of philosophers, a composer of some stature and a musician of genuine accomplishment. Ruling houses are often founded by persons of genius but its enormously rare for a genius to spring from an established bloodline.  In fact I can think of only two examples in the history of Western Europe. The other is Alexander the Great.

Comments

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I do remember a programme about the Royal Family which showed them at the races, running a private sweepstake. After the race, the Queen announced, deadpan "And the sweepstake winner is, Her Majesty the Queen Mother!" Which made me wonder, do they refer to each other in that way all the time, even when the cameras are not there, rather than saying "Oh, well done, Mum!". Makes you wonder if Kate Middleton's parents will be told "Just call us Liz and Phil, love, and come in and put your feet up".

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Apparently the Queen Mother used to get her daughters to march around chanting "we are different".

It's rather sad.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

That is a sort of spell, surely? By saying it with the right level of belief, you could make it true.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed.

We don't know about the Queen (we know so little about her) but Princess Margaret went though life demanding to be treated as "special"- and I don't believe it made her happy.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Errmmm - I thought that she grew up having to take second place, then being denied the man she loved, and then having to watch the younger generation doing whatever they felt like doing in that department

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's part of the story- the part that shows her in a good light. It was a life full of disappointment and, from what I've read, it soured her.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

If true, might that have been a reaction to "growing up terrified of my father and making damn sure my children are terrified of me"?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Perhaps.

It would appear the Queen and her sister had a happier relationship with their parents than is common for royal children.

[mamadar.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether to find Princess Anne amusing or annoying. After all this time, they really do think there's some sort of intrinsic difference between themselves and the lesser folk? Of course, in America we base our hierarchies primarily on how much money you can make off of other people, so that's not much better if at all.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

At least there's no code that says you have to curtsey when Donald Trump enters the room.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Well, she did refuse titles for her children - and are we quite sure that her objection mightn't be about curtseying in itself rather than to her sisters in law?

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

When you owe your world to a series of ancient customs surrounding glorified warlords who raped and pillaged the remains of Europe's greatest civilization, the hollow shell of gentility and tradition is all that stands between you and the cruel reality that you're a worthless sod.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Other European royal houses have reinvented themselves. It's only the Windsors who maintain this degree of pomp and ceremony.

When people like me object, we're told it brings in the tourists.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

One thing I like about the US is how we lack these official national rituals. It's perfectly possible to utterly ignore the United States even while living in it on every day but two, April 15th and July 4th.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, our rituals aren't compulsory. We're perfectly at liberty not to celebrate royal weddings and funerals.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I assume you still have to put up with an endless procession of traffic snarls if you live in London.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah, but I don't live in London...:)

Driving in London is horrendous at the best of times.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

Also, is it legal to burn a British flag?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe so.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

See, people have told me that the monarchs are comparable to the flag.

Flag burning is legal, ergo....

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's interesting about the flag. I'm not sure we even have one these days. The Scots fly the Saltire and the English fly the Cross of St.George and the good old Union Jack is being seen less and less.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

Pity, it was always one of my favorite flags. The Cross of St. George just seems misplaced in England, like it should top a flagpole somewhere more tropical.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Until very recently the Cross of St. George was only used by the far right- and the Church of England- but the loosening of the ties of union (with the Scots and Welsh getting their own parliaments) has changed all that. The Scots got there first, abandoning the Union Jack for the Saltire and the English have followed suit.

It's getting so none of the peoples of the UK identify with the Union Jack any longer.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

What's driving that anyhow?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Nationalism.

In the beginning it was all about the Scots- and to a lesser extent the Welsh- wanting their independence- but now the English (who were lazily and offensively in the habit of thinking of the whole of the UK as England) have got the bug as well.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

So that's it, then? The US will outlast Britain.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That remains to be seen. It's likely the UK will survive as a loose federation. There doesn't seem to be the will to cut all the ties of union.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

And the Welsh fly the St David's cross - white or yellow on black

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

On the whole ,we tend to despatch our sovereigns by the sword rather than by fire - Queen Jane, King Charles - not sure if that's preferable

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

If an American flag touches the floor, you re obliged to burn it and get a new one, right? That seems strange. Also, the pledge of allegiance in school every day, there is nothing quite like that here.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

I'm obliged to do nothing with it.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

Also, the pledge is a school-by-school or district-by-district decision and you cannot be compelled to say it, stand for it or show any deference for the practice. Should someone try to compel you, the ACLU will give them a free colon exam.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Yes, you can be compelled, at least in practice. My wife teaches high school. She is not even a citizen of the US, yet is required to stand and do obeisance to the flag each morning. She refuses to cant, but has been told that she must stand, as a token of respect to the national cultus, and that she must demand that the students do likewise.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

She should sit at her desk. If anyone does anything as a result, the tort is immense. You cannot be compelled to say the Pledge or anything else, ever.

This is a very well litigated area.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

De jure, you are quite correct, but de facto, here in rural Virginia, we basically live among ignorant savages. Especially in the current political climate, while one might have a Constitutionally guaranteed right to thumb one's nose at the tribal deity, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the cavalry will come riding over the hill in time to save one's financial hide.

It's exactly the same when the school district brings in preachers, on high holy days, and forces the students and faculty to sit there and listen to them drone. You and I know it is illegal, but the savages here have a very differnet opinion on the matter.

I used to be infuriated, but it was lonely and tiring and, eventually, I just gave up.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

No, that's not right. However we are supposed to try to keep it from trailing on the ground. Burning is not necessary. It's not a religious object. And the pledge has been set aside in many schools.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, it is not a big part of our "world". We do have an elected parliament, for what its worth, and the Queen is only a figurehead.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

It is they, not you, who owe their world to the madness and suffering of the past.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I don't think it makes them very happy. They are really just celebs these days, with all the gruesome attention that entails.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

Precisely. It's what keeps them from realizing, fully and awfully, that they are Paris Hiltons.

[humphreycobbler.livejournal.com]

You might enjoy this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=0007156588

I read it a couple of years ago and found it fascinating. And it's clearly not one of those books aimed at musicians with a lot of technical knowledge.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That looks interesting.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Frederick the Great was a musician till a couple of weeks ago--I had my Pandora station set to baroque, and when I looked at the author of the piece I liked so much, it was Great Fred himself. I don't remember the name of it, but I really liked it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

They played us a little of one of his flute pieces. It was lovely.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

i think that this probably means in public - based on the fact that it was PA who told my mother "We only curtsey in public."
(My mother greatly appreciated the "we".)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It would be slightly mad if they did it in private.

But I wouldn't put it past them...

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I have a mental image of the queen seeing herself in the mirror and getting stuck in an endless curtsey loop until her knees give way.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Poor soul...