This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/03/queen-elizabeth-silly-hats-rain
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| Queen Elizabeth: silly hats in the rain salute mistress of the radiant smile | Queen Elizabeth: silly hats in the rain salute mistress of the radiant smile |
| (8 days later) | |
| After a 60-year reign of relentless change, two of the most constant elements in British life, the Queen and the weather, pooled resources to make Sunday's watery highlight of the diamond jubilee celebrations a suitably level-headed affair. Brollies and chilly, grey skies fit the uncertain spirit of the times. | After a 60-year reign of relentless change, two of the most constant elements in British life, the Queen and the weather, pooled resources to make Sunday's watery highlight of the diamond jubilee celebrations a suitably level-headed affair. Brollies and chilly, grey skies fit the uncertain spirit of the times. |
| It did not deter the vast crowds which converged on the Thames between Hammersmith and Tower Bridge, as organisers must have feared and republicans – pluckily determined to make themselves heard against overwhelming odds – might have hoped. With ceremonial London closed to vehicles, pedestrians with their flags, silly hats and baby buggies milled around Westminster, Whitehall and the City – much as crowds do in a revolution. | It did not deter the vast crowds which converged on the Thames between Hammersmith and Tower Bridge, as organisers must have feared and republicans – pluckily determined to make themselves heard against overwhelming odds – might have hoped. With ceremonial London closed to vehicles, pedestrians with their flags, silly hats and baby buggies milled around Westminster, Whitehall and the City – much as crowds do in a revolution. |
| It was as if the Occupy movement had seized the commanding heights of capitalism, rather than come to honour the 86-year-old embodiment of enough inherited wealth and privilege to shame an investment banker. | It was as if the Occupy movement had seized the commanding heights of capitalism, rather than come to honour the 86-year-old embodiment of enough inherited wealth and privilege to shame an investment banker. |
| Yet the dominant mood was family-friendly, not raucous. It was more gently George Orwell-collectivist than the sharp-elbowed individualism of Evelyn Waugh, who looked down on those middle-class Windsors. Has the Queen – "Sausage" to Prince Philip, we learned this week – ever read those two definitive chroniclers of her formative years? Probably not, but with Sausage it is impossible to tell. | Yet the dominant mood was family-friendly, not raucous. It was more gently George Orwell-collectivist than the sharp-elbowed individualism of Evelyn Waugh, who looked down on those middle-class Windsors. Has the Queen – "Sausage" to Prince Philip, we learned this week – ever read those two definitive chroniclers of her formative years? Probably not, but with Sausage it is impossible to tell. |
| The monarchy has subtly evolved since 1952, as has the climate: the one less stuffy and remote, the other drier and more extreme. No one could accuse Her Majesty of playing to the gallery. She is constant in her dignity and distant, severe mistress of the rare but radiant smile – just as the weather is constant in its unreliability. | The monarchy has subtly evolved since 1952, as has the climate: the one less stuffy and remote, the other drier and more extreme. No one could accuse Her Majesty of playing to the gallery. She is constant in her dignity and distant, severe mistress of the rare but radiant smile – just as the weather is constant in its unreliability. |
| So a week after the sunniest Sunday of the year it was raincoats and brollies again for the Thames jubilee pageant. Not since François Hollande got soaked to the skin on his (elected) parade last month has a head of state braved such miserable elements. Anything those republicans can do without an umbrella … Did the leaden skies spoil the event? Not really. Rain and adversity have shaped the stoical British character, so that defeat at Dunkirk (some of its "little boats" were among the 1,000-strong flotilla) is more readily evoked than victory at Alamein. Besides, older citizens/subjects remember the weather on coronation day – 2 June 1953 – was worse. | So a week after the sunniest Sunday of the year it was raincoats and brollies again for the Thames jubilee pageant. Not since François Hollande got soaked to the skin on his (elected) parade last month has a head of state braved such miserable elements. Anything those republicans can do without an umbrella … Did the leaden skies spoil the event? Not really. Rain and adversity have shaped the stoical British character, so that defeat at Dunkirk (some of its "little boats" were among the 1,000-strong flotilla) is more readily evoked than victory at Alamein. Besides, older citizens/subjects remember the weather on coronation day – 2 June 1953 – was worse. |
| Long before a single drop had fallen on the royal person – she was wise to remember that warm white shawl – some Dr Pangloss had popped up on the telly to assure viewers the grey skies were all for the best: less sunstroke, less chance of spectators getting too stoked up on Pimms. | Long before a single drop had fallen on the royal person – she was wise to remember that warm white shawl – some Dr Pangloss had popped up on the telly to assure viewers the grey skies were all for the best: less sunstroke, less chance of spectators getting too stoked up on Pimms. |
| Canaletto's 1748 painting of the Thames pageant (Handel wrote the music) marking the end of the last war in which a reigning monarch, George II, led his troops into battle looks much sunnier; he probably Photoshopped it. The idea was essentially the same: one huge Oxford and Cambridge boat race, albeit rowing in the wrong direction. All "boats and barges", as Samuel Pepys sniffily observed of Charles II's similar extravaganza in 1662, much quoted in 2012. | Canaletto's 1748 painting of the Thames pageant (Handel wrote the music) marking the end of the last war in which a reigning monarch, George II, led his troops into battle looks much sunnier; he probably Photoshopped it. The idea was essentially the same: one huge Oxford and Cambridge boat race, albeit rowing in the wrong direction. All "boats and barges", as Samuel Pepys sniffily observed of Charles II's similar extravaganza in 1662, much quoted in 2012. |
| Foreigners watching on global news channels may have found the spectacle as eccentric as locals – watching on wide-screen at street parties up and down the country – found it satisfactorily British. Overseas visitors in the crowd seemed happy enough. French City workers who know all about Oleever Cromwell and US tourists mingling with a cross-section of modern Britain, young, old, black and white, hustlers ("Free flag with every Sun") and hijabs. | Foreigners watching on global news channels may have found the spectacle as eccentric as locals – watching on wide-screen at street parties up and down the country – found it satisfactorily British. Overseas visitors in the crowd seemed happy enough. French City workers who know all about Oleever Cromwell and US tourists mingling with a cross-section of modern Britain, young, old, black and white, hustlers ("Free flag with every Sun") and hijabs. |
| There was frustration at the speed with which the police shut bridges ("Sorry, it's health and safety, we're not sure how much weight it can take," said the man on Lambeth Bridge) and fenced off side streets leading to the river. "Why do they stop ordinary Londoners bringing their kids here to see the Queen? There's plenty of room in there," said one off-duty security man in Tooley Street on the south side of Tower Bridge. | There was frustration at the speed with which the police shut bridges ("Sorry, it's health and safety, we're not sure how much weight it can take," said the man on Lambeth Bridge) and fenced off side streets leading to the river. "Why do they stop ordinary Londoners bringing their kids here to see the Queen? There's plenty of room in there," said one off-duty security man in Tooley Street on the south side of Tower Bridge. |
| He spoke a few yards from where the Republic movement's protest – 200 or so people as diverse as the monarchists – had been frustrated too, prevented from establishing a riverside bridgehead next to City Hall to proclaim their "Citizens, not Subjects" message and wave "Don't Jubilee've it" placards. | He spoke a few yards from where the Republic movement's protest – 200 or so people as diverse as the monarchists – had been frustrated too, prevented from establishing a riverside bridgehead next to City Hall to proclaim their "Citizens, not Subjects" message and wave "Don't Jubilee've it" placards. |
| "Do you want to be the subject of a ludicrous twit like Charles rather than a citizen of a democratic republic?" asked a truculent man whose monarchism had been transformed at 25 by a job interview at stuffy Clarence House. "I found I could make more money mowing lawns for the council than for the royals." | "Do you want to be the subject of a ludicrous twit like Charles rather than a citizen of a democratic republic?" asked a truculent man whose monarchism had been transformed at 25 by a job interview at stuffy Clarence House. "I found I could make more money mowing lawns for the council than for the royals." |
| Economic education had been quickly followed by a political one: so he would prefer President Richard Branson. | Economic education had been quickly followed by a political one: so he would prefer President Richard Branson. |
| For some people the argument is theoretical; for others Charles III will be the last straw. | For some people the argument is theoretical; for others Charles III will be the last straw. |
| For a woman soaking up the festivities on the Mall it worked the other way. "Better the devil you know, she's done a good job," said Liz Mantle. | For a woman soaking up the festivities on the Mall it worked the other way. "Better the devil you know, she's done a good job," said Liz Mantle. |
| Complex and changing feelings, not so different from the weather (it eased up for a while mid-flotilla), were best expressed by the Smith family, down from Wakefield in two cars but hoping to be home in time for a jubilee knees-up in the Mucky Duck at Middlestown. | Complex and changing feelings, not so different from the weather (it eased up for a while mid-flotilla), were best expressed by the Smith family, down from Wakefield in two cars but hoping to be home in time for a jubilee knees-up in the Mucky Duck at Middlestown. |
| At 76, grandmother Kathleen Smith loves the Queen and recalls she was at her future mother-in-law's in Ossett on Coronation Day and – like millions – saw TV for the first time. Daughter Sandy thinks "the royals are great, events like this are the only time the country seems to get together". But grandson William, 11, is showing signs of disaffection. | At 76, grandmother Kathleen Smith loves the Queen and recalls she was at her future mother-in-law's in Ossett on Coronation Day and – like millions – saw TV for the first time. Daughter Sandy thinks "the royals are great, events like this are the only time the country seems to get together". But grandson William, 11, is showing signs of disaffection. |
| He had been bribed with a trip to Hamley's toy shop: "I'd rather be playing Modern Warfare4 on my X Box." | He had been bribed with a trip to Hamley's toy shop: "I'd rather be playing Modern Warfare4 on my X Box." |
| William Smith's bored distance from the celebrations, complete with Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory and the rain, won't have spoiled the day. But 11-year-olds are the ones the "Firm" at Buck House has to worry about. | William Smith's bored distance from the celebrations, complete with Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory and the rain, won't have spoiled the day. But 11-year-olds are the ones the "Firm" at Buck House has to worry about. |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. | Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. Enter your email address to subscribe. | Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. Enter your email address to subscribe. |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox every weekday. |