Anointing of Charles is excuse to celebrate unabashed Britishness but UK’s problems have not evaporated with it
“You’ll get me in trouble, your majesty,” mock-pleaded Sir Lindsay Hoyle, speaker of the House of Commons and his host. “He’ll get us all in trouble,” muttered another official nearby. Other engagements were waiting, such as a meeting the Australian prime minister, Tony Albanese, early among the influx of world leaders in town for the coronation.
Most big media outlets, and especially British newspapers, have switched into flag-waving mode and present polls as positively as possible They were agog at the smartphone video close-up of Charles’s encounter with the Westminster builders filmed barely an hour beforehand. “Oh my God, look how close you got!” said Willows, who camps on the Mall for all big royal events. She met Werner at the wedding in 2011 of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, now the Prince and Princess of Wales.
“Please don’t call me that,” said Willows kindly but firmly. “Fans follow celebrity. I’m a monarchist. I truly believe in it as a British citizen. Charles is Defender of the Faith, a Christian and an environmentalist. All of the things that he believes in are things I believe in too.” Local councils in England have approved almost 3,100 road closures this weekend to facilitate coronation street parties. Meanwhile, scores of quirky events are planned such as a procession on Saturday of hundreds of King Charles spaniels down the King’s Road in Chelsea, west London. Some Britons simply want to join in the fun.
The king’s mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, famously never gave interviews and was inscrutable in her views. Charles, however, has waited 74 years for his big day. In that time he has revealed his opinions countless times. Britain’s new sovereign is not a mystery to most British people. When his mother was crowned in 1953, her return procession after the ceremony took a five-mile circuitous route back to Buckingham Palace through London’s West End. Charles, however, has decided simply to retrace his steps on the earlier, shorter route.
“It’s a balance. They also don’t want this to look like a coronation on a shoestring. It still has to have a celebratory feel. People don’t get to see the Gold State Coach except on this sort of occasion.” He argues that the monarchy is simply a “puppet of the government” and a misuse of public money. “Charles just looks like a bloke in a suit chancing his arm. We should just elect a head of state. If Ireland, with a population of five million, can find brilliant heads of state, as it has done for years, then we should be spoiled for choice in a country of 67 million.”
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