Oh dear oh dear. Hoi Polloi want their bread and circuses. The worrying thing is that media fame is the accolade now. The Newsreader is king, or likely to be. Is that not what happened with dear old Trump? It’s not how much of a leader you are, it’s the fact that you’re in the public eye.
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Likely the only ones that care
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And yet while many other European countries still have royalty, none of them make as bid a deal about it as the British do. Sure the Swedish king hands out the Nobel Prizes, but even though the Spanish king was instrumental in stopping a coup, he doesn’t get the sort of breathless coverage that HRH QEII does.
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There’s no guarantee that Prince Charles will retain that name when he ascends to the throne. Bertie became King George VI.
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I suspect it may not be surprise that this is how it works so much as an overwhelming disinterest in Philip himself. More bank holidays would help though.
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+1 for using “hoi polloi” without the redundant definite article
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I agree, but I’m not British (or Canadian or Australian or from any of the other places that they “rule” over) so it’s not really my call to make.
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Indeed. I can’t find a link at the moment, but Charles has apparently said that he doesn’t intend to use that name as his title, because that name is associated with Charles I, who was beheaded.
To which, Ian Hislop on HIGNFY, pointed out- “well, to be fair, only one of the two kings called Charles is known for being beheaded. The other one was known for ignoring his wife and running around with his mistresses… You know on second thoughts, maybe he does have a point”
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Right? Royalty wouldn’t be my jam, but who am I as an American to tell the British how to pomp and circumstance? My favorite mascot is Gritty.
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The complaints I’m seeing aimed at the beeb have a definite flavour of “it’s your job to show me the programmes I like”. Which might have some weight if you’re complaining about Pat Butcher’s earrings or whatever, but when it comes to something like this, of course that’s not what the BBC’s job is. The BBC doesn’t have “customers” – it doesn’t belong to “the people”, or even the current government – it is literally, on paper, an agent of the Crown, created to propagate the myth of the state. This is why its newsreaders refer to the queen as “Her Majesty the Queen”, like courtiers, because they are.
I think this was widely understood even 50 years ago, but today’s brains, smoothed flat by Thatcherism, cannot process the concept of a state other than as a service they are customers of. Which is an objectively broken understanding. This simulated mourning for Philip (understood as a rehearsal for the impending Big One) is all part of the same magic spell that makes soldiers shoot people, and which compels you to pay taxes. The beeb isn’t asking what you think, it’s telling you. It’s no more a matter of “consumer choice” than bathtime when you’re a toddler. It’s fine if people don’t like that (who would?), but if they don’t see it, that is an extremely troubling sign.
(Other states frame their myths in more modern terms, like “the constitution” or “the Party” but whatever it is, you have to cohere around some abstract or you don’t have a country at all)
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That URL is revealing. “tradition” is a subdirectory of “society”.
There haven’t been any of those for a few years now, and of course Philip was only 99
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Because nothing could go wrong with an elected head of state?
And recent hasty departure to avoid corruption scandals.
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I think the prince was a party animal
Okay, I kinda get that the Britons as subjects have too endure this North-korea style mourning nonsense for that vile, old racist fossil, but can anybody please tell me why I, as a german citizen, have to be bombarded by this crap in the german media? We are a republic! We vote for our leaders, we got rid of this expensive, imbred circus over a century ago. I could not give two dry strokes on a dead dogs cock that Phil finally isn´t burdening the british tax payer anymore, especially since there are more pressing topics on the shedule. I simply cannot understand how so many people are still infatuated by those aristrocratic parasites.
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I think escaped/former colonies retain the right to comment on the monarchy. As an American, I was comforted during the Trump years whenever other countries press and occasionally other countries leadership would point out we had atypically incompetent immoral leadership. Not just the Trump years, TBH. Similar to how I wouldn’t expect other nations to be quiet about how American colonialism effected their country. I know monarchy doesn’t equal colonialism, but the monarchy was used as a justification for colonizing the world.
British media struggle to make Prince Philip an object of national mourning - #38 by wolfman_al2?
Okay, I kinda get that the Britons as subjects have too endure this North-korea style mourning nonsense for that vile, old racist fossil, but can anybody please tell me why I, as a german citizen, have to be bombarded by this crap in the german media?
I view it like the Kardashians, I’ve no idea why these people’s lives are considered newsworthy, and wish they’d cram it into some part of the entertainment/celebrity section that I could completely mute.
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Meanwhile, in Ghana…
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