Another fairytale unfolds
IT'S ASTONISHING how the supposedly antiquated and politically and intellectually backward institution of monarchy strikes a chord all over the world. A TV channel the other night showed newsreaders bringing the story of Prince William's engagement to Kate Middleton in Russia, France, Germany, China, America, Australia, and several European countries I couldn't identify. There was no mistaking their enthusiasm.
Why should this be? Is it really the "fairytale" factor? Do the Chinese, say, have their own fairytales about the humble girl being courted by the handsome prince? Maybe they do, I just don't know.
Or is it that monarchy actually does play a vital role in society – above politics, a focus of national pride, a rallying point and a lot of fun?
Is it coincidence that Spain, for instance, has moved from a bitter civil war to a prolonged fascist dictatorship, to political and economic freedom – under a constitutional monarchy?
Makes ya think.
In Britain itself, of course, there is vocal opposition to the institution of monarchy, mainly among the intellectual chattering classes. How lonely they must feel at times like these.
Cabinet cheer
BRITISH prime minister David Cameron says news of the engagement was greeted with a cheer around the cabinet table in No 10 Downing Street.
I'll bet. There's nothing like a royal wedding to take the mind of the public off the austerity measures that are being introduced. Bread and circuses? That would perhaps be unfair, but it's not altogether off the mark.
Will this royal wedding be a lavish bash? At a time of austerity it's a tricky one. Yet at the time Queen Elizabeth married Prince Phillip (she was then still a princess) Britain was in even worse post-war austerity. The people themselves insisted on whooping it up. It could turn out the same this time.
The shadow
OF COURSE, there's a shadow to all this. William's mother also had a "fairytale" romance that went sour, lapsed into soap opera and spun into tragedy. It was cringe-making to watch old footage of Princess Diana running the gauntlet in the streets of London of the paparazzi who eventually killed her in Paris.
There's no reason to believe anything similar should happen this time. William and Kate seem an exceptionally well-balanced and good-humoured pair.
But their minders need to carefully plot course. Royal romance has a great potential for schmaltz, which so easily becomes soap opera. It's the natural habitat of the agony aunts of Fleet Street, not to mention the professional royal-watchers, whose qualification for the job has always escaped me.
But I'd guess William and Kate can rise above it.
The script
IS THERE a more ordinary middle-class name than Kate Middleton?
Stand by for William to be created Duke of Somewhere-or-other so Kate can become Duchess.
The royals know how to write a script.
Old 'un
WILL the royal wedding be the occasion for the return of an old joke that first surfaced at the time of the coronation in 1953?
A South African has been celebrating so hard in London that a pub refuses to serve him. Slowly and deliberately he takes a matchbox from his pocket and empties on to the bar counter a pair of white ants.
"Okay, boys. Wreck the joint!"
Windfall vase
A CHINESE vase discovered during a routine clear-out of a house in London has fetched £51 million at auction, leaving the sellers flabbergasted.
The 18th century work of art, a masterpiece from the Qinglong dynasty, was expected to sell for between £800 000 and £1.2m.
But the bidding attracted many Chinese buyers seeking a piece of their imperial past and the bidding went into the stratosphere. The price fetched astonished both the auctioneers and the owners, a mother and son from Ruislip. Nobody can remember how the vase ended up in their home.
I wonder about that imperial past bit. Did somebody put out the story that the vase was packed with powdered rhino horn, a lifetime's supply of male potency?
Tailpiece
PUB MENU: "A pie, a pint and a kind word: R5."
Customer (pie in one hand, pint in the other): "What's the kind word?"
Barman: "Wouldn't eat that pie if I were you."
Last word
A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.
GRAHAM LINSCOTT
No comments:
Post a Comment