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A cast of characters: The Monarchy (part 4)

By Dr George Venturini  

Paying tribute to Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia in the House of Representatives on 7 February 2012, then Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard stated that the Queen was a ‘revered figure’ in Australia. (Commonwealth of Australia, Hansard, House of Representatives, 7 February 2012 at 8-10).

Ms. Gillard also announced that she would on 4 June light a beacon atop Parliament House and that a street in the parliamentary triangle in Canberra would be renamed ‘Queen Elizabeth Terrace’. Meanwhile, then Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett announced on 28 May that a new waterfront development in Perth would be named ‘Elizabeth Quay’ in the Queen’s honour.

A detachment of the New South Wales Mounted Police was sent to perform at the Diamond Jubilee Pageant held at Windsor Castle in May 2012.

A special ecumenical service was conducted in St James’ Church, Sydney, at which the invited preacher was Cardinal George Pell and the Governor of New South Wales, Dr. Marie Bashir, was the guest of honour. The Anglican Church of Australia also held a service of prayer and thanksgiving to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee at St. John’s Cathedral in Brisbane, on 20 May 2012. The service was welcomed by Phillip Aspinall, Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, and the Homily was given by Mark Coleridge, Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane. The guest of honour was the Governor of Queensland, Penelope Wensley, and Ian Walker represented the Queensland Cabinet. Did anyone say ‘secular Australia’?

Between 5 and 10 November 2012 Prince Charles and wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, toured Australia visiting to Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.

In the United Kingdom, national and regional events to mark the Diamond Jubilee were coordinated by the Queen-in-Council and her Royal Household at Buckingham Palace. As with the Golden Jubilee in 2002, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was responsible for coordinating the Cabinet-led aspects of the celebrations. Events were planned so as to keep the use of tax money to a minimum; most funds used to fund celebrations were drawn from private donors and sponsors. Only the cost of security was by Her Majesty’s Treasury.

On 5 January 2012 the Lord President of the Council and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson  had announced that an extra bank holiday would have taken place on 5 June 2012. Moving the Spring Bank Holiday, which falls on the last Monday in May, to 4 June resulted in a four-day holiday in honour of the Diamond Jubilee. As national holidays are a devolved matter, Scotland’s First Minister confirmed that the bank holiday would have been held on 5 June in Scotland. Some economists later theorised that the holiday could have reduced the country’s gross domestic product by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter of the year, though this would have been partially offset by increased sales for the hospitality and merchandise sectors.

The centrepiece of the festivities was a four-day weekend extravaganza at the beginning of June. The dates, 2 to 5 June, had been chosen because those were known, statistically, to be the driest few days in England. Those days were to see street parties across the country, the lighting of thousands beacons across the Commonwealth, a river pageant of 1,000 boats on the Thames, and a giant concert in London.

The River Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant was held on 3 June; a maritime parade of 1,000 boats from around the Commonwealth – the largest flotilla seen on the river in 350 years – together with other celebrations along the river banks.

Along with almost all members of the Royal Family, various governors-general from the Commonwealth realms were in attendance. The Diamond Jubilee Concert, with a preceding afternoon picnic in the palace gardens for the 10,000 concert ticket holders, was held on 4 June, in front of  Buckingham Palace, and featured acts representing each decade of the Queen’s 60-year reign.

Street parties were permitted to take place across Britain. Special community lottery grants, called The Jubilee People’s Millions, are being offered by the Big Lottery Fund and I.T.V.

Members of the Royal Family, governors-general, and prime ministers from the Commonwealth realms were present at various functions held on 4 and 5 June. A reception took place at Buckingham Palace before the Diamond Jubilee Concert and a service of thanksgiving was conducted the following day at St. Paul’s Cathedral, also attended by 2,000 other guests.

The Archbishop of Canterbury dedicated his sermon to the Queen, during which he noted her “lifelong dedication” and stated that she “has made her ‘public’ happy and all the signs are that she is herself happy, fulfilled and at home in these encounters.” (‘Dr. Williams pays tribute to the Queen at thanksgiving,’ BBC, 5 June 2012).

Afterwards a formal lunch was held in Westminster Hall. The Queen returned to Buckingham Palace in an open top carriage procession and escorted by The Household Cavalry Regiment. Another reception was held at London’s Guildhall and a luncheon took place at Lancaster House, hosted by the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. A reception solely for governors-general was held by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

The weekend of celebrations ended with a balcony appearance at Buckingham Palace. The Queen appeared on the balcony with the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry in front of cheering crowds outside the palace and along The Mall. There followed a feu de joie (a rifle salute fired by soldiers) and a flypast by the Red Arrows and historic aircraft,  including the last flying Lancaster bomber in Britain. Several media commentators commented on the significance of only senior members of the royal family appearing on the balcony. B.B.C. royal correspondent Peter Hunt remarked that it “sent a message demonstrating both continuity and restraint at a time of austerity.” [Emphasis added] (‘Diamond Jubilee: flypast brings celebrations to an end,’ Archived 8 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News, 8 June 2012).

There were, of course, other, permanent and costly tributes: a new mosaic figuring the Queen in Towner Gallery in Eastbourne, the granting of city status to several places in the United Kingdom, the renaming of the Olympic Park in East London as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a new stained glass window in Westminster Hall, the casting of new Royal Jubilee Bells, the issue of commemorative coins and stamps, the granting of Regius professorships status to twelve university chairs in the United Kingdom, the renaming of the Kew Gardens Main Gate as Elizabeth Gate, the renaming of a portion of the British Antarctic Territory as Queen Elizabeth Land, the unveiling of works of art, and speeches by and for the Queen a little bit everywhere, with military parades et cetera.

Planning for so many months of gilt, velvet and polished trumpets had begun four years before. How much would be spent? Well, Buckingham Palace staff had delicately avoided questions of exactly how much the celebrations would cost, but the planned river pageant alone was estimated to command 10 million pounds (AU$15 million – in 2012).

During the Silver Jubilee of 1977 newspapers described a country which was tired and riven by industrial conflict. Its people talked of feeling a bit lost, and yet – from a distance of 35 years – they seemed enviably grounded in a shared culture with deep roots. There was striking uniformity to their celebrations. Invited to have fun, people first grumbled, then formed committees. It is remembered that at previous royal jubilees children were given commemorative mugs, prompting endless rows about paying for them. The grown-ups would receive beer. It was the equivalent of panem et circenses – bread and games, the offering of a previous savage empire.

At those previous royal jubilees there were violent sporting contests, from tugs-of-war to free-form football matches. To conquer reserve, fancy dress was worn, often involving men in women’s clothing. From the West Midlands came news of an all-transvestite football game, with the laconic annotation: “all ended up in the canal.” How perfectly consonant to le vice Anglais!

London displayed both patriotic zeal – flag-draped pubs in Brick Lane, big street parties in Muswell Hill, and hostility – cheerless housing estates, slogans declaring “Stuff the Jubilee.”

Scotland was a nation apart. In Glasgow the anniversary was called “an English jubilee.” Snobs sneered along with Scots. At Eton College, a wooden Jubilee pyramid was smashed by old boys. At Oxford University, examinations were held on Jubilee Day, in a display of indifference.

When the 2002 Golden Jubilee arrived, Britain came across as a busier, lonelier, more cynical place. The Royal Family was regarded as ‘just showbiz’. There was angry talk of Princess Diana and how her 1997 death had been mishandled by the Queen. There were fewer street parties than in 1977. This was variously blamed on apathy, the authorities – for failing to organise events, apparently, and above all on health-and-safety rules.

The 2012 Diamond Jubilee would find Britain changed again. Diamond jubilees being rare – the last was achieved by Queen Victoria in 1897, the Queen would be firmly at the centre of the celebrations. Just a week before the beginning, local councils would receive more than 8,000 applications to close roads for street parties, suggesting that 2002’s passivity was fading. The country was not returning to 1977 and its home-made fancy-dress costumes or Coronation bunting dug out of attics. Shops would heave with Jubilee cakes, disposable decorations and flag-emblazoned baubles, letting consumers buy patriotism out of a box.

The 2012 show would not end with the four-day events, but would continue with ‘Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration’. It would be on display from 30 June to 8 July and from 31 July to 7 October, as part of the summer at Buckingham Palace.

The State Rooms of Buckingham Palace have been open to the public every summer since 1993. What started as a way to pay for the fire damage at Windsor Castle in 1992 has continued past the cost of those repairs and when the Queen retreats to Balmoral in Scotland for a ‘well earned rest’.

The Exhibition was destined to be the most valuable ever set up at Buckingham Palace in whole 21 hand-picked items. Ten thousand priceless diamonds, set in works collected by six monarchs over three centuries, would be on display, many for the first time ever, to mark the Queen’s Jubilee.

The Exhibition includes jewellery made from the world’s largest diamond ever found – the Cullinan Diamond – which weighed 3,106 carats as an uncut stone when it was found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa in 1905. It carries the name of the chairman of the mining company, Thomas Cullinan. Seven of the nine principal stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond would be reunited for the first time in the Exhibition. These seven stones are set in a ring, a necklace and three brooches, one of which, the Cullinan III and IV Brooch, would be worn by the Queen for the National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral, during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, on 5 June 2012.

From the diminutive diamond crown worn by Queen Victoria throughout her widowhood, to the breath-taking Coronation Necklace, featuring a staggering 22.48 carat pendant, the Exhibition features some of the most spectacular pieces from the Queen’s private collection. Among them would be the diamond Diadem Tiara, shown by the Queen on British and Commonwealth stamps, which also features on some issues of coinage and bank notes, as well as Queen Victoria’s Fringe Brooch, and a diamond-set Coronation Fan, made for Queen Alexandra at the time of the coronation in 1902. The Diamond Tiara, which is worn by the Queen for the state opening of parliament is set with 1,333 brilliant-cut diamonds, including a four-carat pale yellow brilliant; the piece was actually made for the famously extravagant coronation of George IV in 1821. At the time, king George IV had paid 8,000 pounds – equivalent to 815,000 today (AU$1,273 million – in 2012). Made originally for a man, its feminine appearance so much appealed to his wife, Queen Adelaide, that she borrowed it on a rather more permanent basis.

Queen Victoria’s dazzling Fringe Brooch, which has never been displayed in public before, includes two impressive jewels presented to the Queen by the Sultan of Turkey. It contains a large, emerald-cut central stone and nine graduated pave-set chains suspended from an outer row of 12 large, brilliant-cut diamonds and were last seen being worn by the Queen, appropriately, for a state banquet in honour of the President of Turkey in 2011.

There would also be a Jaipur Sword and Scabbard, set with 719 diamonds weighing a total of 2,000 carats, originally presented to King Edward VII for his coronation in 1902.

Among other precious items there would be a table snuff box owned by Frederick the Great of Prussia, incorporating nearly 3,000 diamonds, which was purchased by Queen Mary in 1932.

The Coronation Necklace would be among the pieces set to go on display. It was handed down to female members of the family from Queen Victoria to Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and then to the present Queen who wore it on the journey to and from her own coronation.

The Delhi Durbar Tiara would link two events of the British monarchy. Called the ‘Proclamation Durbar’, the Durbar of 1877 was held beginning on 1 January 1877 to designate the coronation and proclaim Queen Victoria as Empress of India. The tiara was refashioned in 1911 for Queen Mary to wear to a spectacular ceremonial gathering in India in 1911, paying homage to the new King George V.

In 2005 Queen Elizabeth ‘loaned’ it as a reward to Camilla Parker-Bowles when the former adulterous lover of her son Charles became her new daughter-in-law and was anointed as the Duchess of Cambridge. Camilla has worn it in public numerous times since.

On display, too, would be jewels worn by Queen Victoria for her diamond jubilee and less stately and more personal pieces which have been altered to suit different moments in history, changing tastes and varied personalities. For example, because of a need to conceal a scar on the neck of the elegant young Princess Alexandra, a fashion for ‘dog collar’ necklaces began. The young Princess Elizabeth, the current Queen, showed a penchant for flowers. The brooch she had made by Cartier in 1953 was a floral tribute to its central pink diamond from South Africa.

In preparation for the Jubilee, the London jewellery house De Beers had manufactured a crown to top all others. Called ‘The Talisman’, it comprises 974 diamonds – 797 of them are polished; 177 are rough – and required more than 100 hours to complete. “Rough diamonds were once worn exclusively by kings and queens, [and were believed] to bring power, protection and prosperity,” said De Beers’ C.E.O.

Continued Wednesday – A cast of characters: The Monarchy (part 5)

Previous instalment – A cast of characters: The Monarchy (part 3)

Dr. Venturino Giorgio Venturini devoted some seventy years to study, practice, teach, write and administer law at different places in four continents.

 

 

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5 comments

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  1. wam

    Wowo a beaut read.
    Every couple of years, my family travelled Europe and the UK for xmas and new year in the 70s and 80s. (with a full year in seveboaks in 1990,) the former based in Bad Wildungen travel by train and the latter by car with three bases Stevenage, Largs and Perth. The comparison between the Europeans and the British was stark one looked miserable, poor, were neither dressed nor shod for the weather, the other looked well off and well dressed and well shod.
    The jubilee was to feel better by forgetting their misery with street parties and celebration.
    Thatcher is pretty well pilloried by the people on this site but the difference of the pommies after her tenure was stunning. Their were still ‘children’ pushing their babies in prams but they were warmly dressed with solid footwear and they no longer needed to forget.
    One of the indicators of English recovery was the poll tax debacle. So the royals were no longer essential as diverters from reality.
    Scummo is more of an Americophiie than an Anglophile. We may shift towards a republic.
    ps Can;t wait for your treasure discoveries of the church and the pope????

  2. Phil

    ‘Thatcher is pretty well pilloried by the people on this site but the difference of the pommies after her tenure was stunning. Their were still ‘children’ pushing their babies in prams but they were warmly dressed with solid footwear and they no longer needed to forget.’

    This site has something for everyone long winded diatribes about the Peloponnesian War, Long winded analysis of Tony Abbott and nothing about the six grand a week to keep the toe rag and opinions about religious freedoms dressed up as facts and now Satire. I am going to frame the above and light it up with a nice bright fluero.

  3. wam

    Beauty Phil were are old and verbose,

    I reject and object to politicians like nelson, gillatd, hockey getting a pension whilst still working. Especially in government jobs where the higher of the two handouts should be paid

  4. Phil

    wamJune 2, 2019 at 7:30 pm.

    You jest, they should get nothing. My father was at Sicily and Normandy WW2. , I have his final pay out in 1947 he got 57 pounds. His brother was in Changi for nearly three years he got about 300 pounds. They the politicians are laughing at us. For me my life is nearly over but, my kids and grand-kids are going to keep Abbott in luxury for the rest of his miserable life. For what? Riding his push bike and standing up in parliament and calling some other cretin in politics a mug. I was talking to my mate the other night a career military man, he got out early and got forty grand for a life of service. He told me if these cretins put him on the indue card he will get a gun and do Australia a few favours. I told him to pick me up on the way. The good thing about getting old is, prison is no deterrent.

    These toe rags are nothing but a waste of good oxygen and we are about to be screwed over like nothing that has been seen in this country before. This mob will make Fraser and Howard look like social workers. I had to laugh when I read about Abbott getting the arse in his seat. They were talking like he was trounced by a trolley boy or a brick layers labourer. Apart from being a handful of votes in the end, the women that took his seat is a blue blood for Gods sake. It will be less the coarseness and profanity, business as usual. This is all going to end in tears and that I will bet my grand children’s lives on.

  5. wam

    Sadly, I am obtuse my writing is obtuser and my opinion is the obtuseiest.

    But I have one belief that women will eventually realise god is not a man, religion is by men for men and they will dump on the gender stereotype, break the male imposed restrictions and become politically dominant.
    Certainly the hype about the rabbott’s seat is bullshit and she will toe the scummo line but maybe she might think global warming???
    To me little johnnie was the most driven anti-unions, anti-workers, anti-Aborigines anti-asylum seekers and anti-women of all politicians and he lied about them to his advantage to win elections. He wasted the big boom times that should have set us up as the richest nation and never got the punishment he deserves. Even now I have several women and retired public servants who revere howard but have no idea what he did from 1996-2007 even when I give them the big 3 hints WoMD, kids overboard and bargain priced fire sales.
    My tears are now, as nobody else can see the slimy ambitious narrow nose is no supporter of labor. Indeed the loonies gave their big votes to the lnp to sink labor..

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