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- Coruination Musings
This was meant to be a daily newsletter but a vigorous editor means that some of my posts get excised beforehand. I have a ton of drafts to rework but sometimes inspiration gets parked along the way.
I’ve been semi-mulling on the Coronation and it all seems like a damp squip to me. It’s worth putting my thoughts down because it’s been percolating throughout the weekend. I’ll probably put them down as bullet points because that way it can come tumbling out easier:
“So Princess Anne, you have one mission. Just sit right in front of Harry with a massive red feather on top of your hat. Perfect. Nailed it. Mission accomplished.”
#Coronation— James Melville (@JamesMelville)
2:34 PM • May 6, 2023
(1.) Prince Louis & Princess Charlotte are being setup as a Harry & Anne double act. It’s interesting to see these tropes being recycled into a younger generation of characters; their dresses were also very much on point. Of course Prince Harry and Princess Anne are eminently different characters; they are nephew and aunt but they’re long rivalry and jibs means that they represent very different archetypes. Louis/Harry/Margaret is the carefree lovable spare while Charlotte/Anne/Elizabeth is the dutiful upright daughter of the Monarch, who is a conscious of their birthright and responsibility.
double act
More specifically the “Windsor curse” comes to mind (no not the one involving the number 2 in a date):
a two headed Eagle
this duality now extends to the next generation of Windsors
(2.) Penny Mordaunt was the PM who should have been post Boris; she has an elan, grace and dignity that’s simply unmatched by her rivals (I like Rishi but he is a bit of an automaton).
Penny Mordaunt
a dynamic royalty?
(3.) I’m not crazy about King Charles & Queen Camilla (nor of their heirs Will & Kate) but I do find that placing the Coronation on Archie’s birthday, appropriating Meghan’s Gospel choir and the all-white balcony puts lie to the image that Charles is some sort of caring King (the ghost of Diana puts paid to that).
when you get rid of the only Royal who is a PoC
the Ascension Choir
(4.) People are not crazy about the Monarchy; what the Royals failed to understand that the British Public hated Meghan more than they loved the Royals. It’s fine to survive for another century (like a sceloretic Tory Party or Union for that matter) but will it thrive. We are living in a country where real incomes haven’t risen since 2008.
The faces of Lesser Britain?
I’ve given these 4 as a sort of thematic overlay that Britain is in terminal slow decline; I say that with some regret as a loyal subject but also see the deep hubris that pervades the entire nation state. Alas no one ever listened to Cassanda, the Trojan Prophetess of doom, to their folly.
Casssandra, the Trojan who was cursed never to be listened to even though she was always right
On a happier note I’ll leave some Tik Tok videos that I found both equally moving and funny: