PETER HITCHENS: Charles can cut the pomp all he likes – it will never be enough for our radicals
PETER HITCHENS: King Charles can put so much into pomp and circumstance – it will never be enough for our ruling radicals
Will the coronation be a flop? It’s impossible to be sure because we know so little about it, but far too many of the signs are bad. How can it go well when the official food for the occasion is some kind of vegetarian flan?
Will our new king dedicate his life to God, as his mother did, or to Net Zero, as he seems to want to do? How Christian will the ceremony be? I am all for welcoming other religions, but it is our Christian laws, customs, culture and civilization that have attracted so many to come and live here. And I believe it is our Anglican settlement that creates the tolerant space in which other beliefs rightly thrive among us.
Few people realize that we are the last nation in the world to hold such a ceremony. The other remaining kings and queens of Europe have quiet investitures about as majestic as the introduction of a new headteacher.
Our ritual is one of memory, power, loyalty and acclaim, dating back a thousand years to the origins of Christian Europe. And when you read the order of service of the 1953 event, or watch the film of it, you get a strong sense that the monarchy of that time was not ashamed to exist.
Will the coronation be a flop? It’s impossible to be sure because we know so little about it, but far too many of the signs are bad, writes Peter Hitchens
Every day there are more rumors about a less traditional coronation
Not sure if this is true now. It was clear that something had gone seriously wrong at the funeral of the late Duke of Edinburgh, when the Queen’s Majesty was forced by our reign of national panic to sit alone with half her face hidden by a mask, which i have to describe as ‘probably useless’.
When the Queen died last year I was so moved that I queued for hours to see her laid out in state. But I never forgave the authorities for the hushed, substandard ceremonies surrounding her death. This was the most significant death since that of Winston Churchill in 1965 – which was marked by a great triumph worthy of the Roman Empire and ended with a mob lining the railway lines as he was steam-carried home to the heart of the countryside of the nation he saved.
Millions (myself included) would have lined the line if the Royal Train had been used to transport the Queen back from Scotland to London, or from London to Windsor or (preferably) both. But no, she was flown south on a plane and then driven to Windsor in a drab car, after a surprisingly meager military parade. Were those responsible afraid of the past?
When the Queen died last year I was so moved that I queued for hours to see her laid out in state. But I never forgave the authorities for the hushed, substandard ceremonies surrounding her death. In the photo: the funeral of the late Queen
The radicals who rule the country see all such moves as signs of weakness. And those who cherish a thousand years of majesty know it won’t be long if it goes on like this
Every day there are more rumors about a less traditional coronation.
Well, I’ll never be a royal adviser. Charles decided long ago that I was unacceptable and canceled a meeting he had originally wanted to have with me because his politically correct aides warned him against it. But if I had gone, I should have said to him, and say again now, that it is no use to please or propitiate the enemies of the Crown. Do what you like. Submit to taxes, embrace political correctness, wear a mask and sit alone at your own husband’s quiet funeral, reduce the pomp and circumstance, sideline your embarrassing relatives. It won’t do you any good.
The radicals who rule the country see all such moves as signs of weakness. And those who cherish a thousand years of majesty know it won’t be long if it goes on like this.