Bad news for republicans
Friday, April 29, 2011 at 8:36 Wall-to-wall coverage of the Royal Wedding on US and European TV.
From my hotel in Brussels I can report that it is currently featuring on CNN, BBC World, France 24, La Une, EEN, Ned 1 (Netherlands), ZDF (Germany), ERT (Spain) and Al Jazeera to name a few.
Everyone is talking about it.
"So sorry that you had to miss the wedding" several people said to me this morning.
Our meeting broke up at midday (11.00am UK time) with the chairman saying she wanted to see what the bride was wearing. Others expressed similar sentiments. Not one of them was British. In fact, I was the only native English speaker there.
A few minutes ago a taxi driver taking me to Midi station said, in broken English: "You're late."
"Late?" I said. "I don't think so. The train doesn't leave until 2.30."
"Not the train," he said. "The wedding!"
Reader Comments (1)
It really is curious how much affection large parts of the population of the world have for England. (I know that that seems to exclude Scotland, etc, but I do not mean it to be so)
England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland (Nrthn). the United Kingdom. The epitome of all that is historically democratic (regardless of the actuality!). Perhaps the correct words are 'peaceful, lawful, abiding, settled'. Give or take a bit, on the whole, we have created a system of Government which has a respected 'head of state' with no power and a 'government' which is accountable to the people.
Something that I find impressive about occasions such as this wedding is this:
When the Prime Minister arrives at the Abbey, he is just another individual. There are lots and lots of people there who, as people, are just as important as he is. In a way, regardless of the fact that most people there are just the 'luvvies' (sorry!), the situation brings to our minds the fact that we are all equal as people. That is my over-riding impression. It always impresses me that when the National Anthem is sung, the Queen does not sing. This is obviously correct - and yet - I wonder what she feels, and what is in her mind, and what determinations she has when she hears THE PEOPLE singing GOD SAVE THE QUEEN?
I do not mean that she should be involved in politics. But there must be some reasonable way in which she can be the epitome of 'good standards'. By that, I do not mean the standards of 'the great and the good' - I mean a genuine interpersonal relationship which does not allow propaganda and distortion of the truth.
Is that too much to ask?