A Note on the Big Occasion.

So, today King Charles III had his kingliness officially ratified with much pomp and circumstance in Westminster Abbey (or wherever it was.) I didn’t watch it, of course; I went for a walk instead.

The lanes and byways of the Shire were largely deserted as would be expected in such a monarchist area, and I imagine there was a bit of tutting going on if my perambulations were spotted through the windows of the loyal celebrants. Some of them think me odd as it is, and they probably regard the missing of a coronation as the next best thing to a cardinal sin. And maybe someone will one day take me to task for my less than respectful behaviour. I imagine a conversation running somewhat thus:

‘You’re not a monarchist then?’

‘No.’

‘So you’re a republican, like that horrible man who got arrested for leading a protest against the coronation?’

‘No.

‘Ah, a fence sitter, eh?’

‘No.’

‘Well if you’re neither one nor the other you must be undecided, and that makes you a fence sitter.’

‘No it doesn’t. I’m one of the third persuasion.’

‘Which is?’

‘Well, first of all you need to consider the question which nobody seems to be asking: do we need a head of state at all? I admit to being ambivalent on that one. I can see a benefit of sorts in having a head of state, but as long as he or she has no executive function I don’t see that it matters whether they’re elected or not. I do admit, though, that having an executive President carries its own dangers. We might end up with a Trump or Bolsonaro, and where would we be then? As for the man who got arrested, I imagine he’s just somebody with an anger issue giving vent to it. I’m sure he’s of no consequence, although I expect he thinks he is.’

*  *  *

Although I didn’t watch the coronation, I’ve seen several pictures on the BBC News website, and in every one of them poor old Charles looks reluctant if not downright miserable. One showed him and his wife in the fairy tale coach after the ceremony. She was smiling and waving; he was looking the other way and appeared terminally glum. Then again, it could have been that he was attempting to distance himself from the woman sitting next to him. She was wearing her Queen consort’s crown, and if I think women look stupid in the sort of hats they wear to weddings, the sight of Camilla and her crown belonged in a rarefied league of its own.