I did in fact get up at 2 a.m. to watch King Charles' coronation, and as expected, the British didn't disappoint with ceremony and pageantry. I was struck by 3 words that were repeated throughout the service: law, justice, and mercy.
Those few times Charles himself spoke, I noticed that he pronounced "serve" as "sehrve", just as Mrs. Hughes did on Downton Abbey. :-)
After the coronation itself there was a large parade of UK and commonwealth soldiers, sailors, and airmen. The news people kept repeating the phrase "4000 troops" as if to emphasize how big this parade was. Clearly they've never been to West Point, where a parade of the Corps of Cadets has about 4000 troops and happens all the time!
Speaking of news people, perhaps for the next coronation they'll shut up for a bit. Gawd, they just kept talking and talking, let us watch the ceremony and hear what the participants are doing. I don't need to know each piece of trivia. When one would start talking I'd switch to a different network, and would stay there until their talking heads started talking, at which time I'd switch to another. I was tuned in to watch the ceremony, not to listen to them.
One of the things I enjoy about the pageantry is the uniforms. Being a former soldier I love the uniforms, and there were so many different types on display today! But the best-dressed person there wasn't wearing a uniform. OK, I just have to say it. I don't usually care what types of suits and dresses people wear, but the Princess of Wales looked awesome in her Britannia-themed attire. Sure, Princes William and Andrew and Princess Anne looked resplendent in their robes and uniforms, but that red, white, and blue outfit of Princess Catherine's was darned impressive.
OK, it's almost 7 a.m. and I've been up for 5 hours. I'm going to go get a couple hours more sleep now....
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ReplyDeleteWhen you have a comment about something I post, I'll consider leaving it here. Until then, though, no.
ReplyDeleteFor the next time (though hopefully not for a while "long to reign over us" and all that!), see whether you can get the BBC feed without commentary.
ReplyDeleteI'm told it was available via the red button in the UK and I was tempted.
And yes, 4000 military personnel from acroww the Commonwealth isn't that many until you see how crowded the streets are and you also find out how many unsung heroes were covering security and logistics in working uniforms rather than parade dress.
A friend and I were discussing the coronation, and we both admitted to passing Monty Python jokes during the event. He ended it with:
ReplyDelete"We interrupt this program to annoy you and make things generally irritating.."
This is exactly the same criticism I have for the Rose Parade and Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. School bands hold all kinds of fundraisers to get to these events only to have some B List celebrity blather all over it. Be quiet. Let the bands play and save the gushy gossip and observations for the floats.
ReplyDelete