On a Coronation Weekend
In May, I lived through a weekend of our country celebrating the coronation of a new King. ‘Watch history being made’ cried the TV…. and I didn’t watch. It’s interesting to sit and observe my own emotions whilst watching something that I didn’t want to see, played out in my background that weekend. I attempted to shut the whole thing out, and yet it still intruded. On the peripheral, I watched the bunting being prepared at a craft group I was attending. Then bunting was going up on the main road from our house and the flags were adorning shop windows with ‘his’ face on it. And I attempted to stay calm and allow it all to pass and yet the outside uncomfortably sat with me and I found it difficult to stay neutral. I have many thoughts about the royals and they have been conflicted over the past few years to a point where I don’t really know how I feel. I suppose there is a feeling of ‘how can one person be proclaimed this elite individual with a crown put on his head?’. Can I trust that he will serve me well? Can I trust that he will be the voice of reason to a Government that hasn’t reassured me over the past few years? This king, who was a prince, has held many opinions in the past and some I have not agreed with. He has made choices that I never understood and made statements that have felt uncomfortable to listen to. And yet he is now King, and his head will be put on coins and bank notes, and on tea towels that will likely end up in the charity shop. And I am not sure that I can trust him to serve his people well. A dear family member once said that a person who cheats is not someone that you can ever trust again and yet here he is with a crown atop his head. I wonder whether he has really earned that right and will he serve his country well? Or will he sell us out to the power hungry beings that I feel have led us to the crisis we now are all in. I guess time and history will be my answer, and I shall wait and see what this King’s legacy will be.
In the process of attempting to shut it all out, I did bear witness to people coming together and a hint of celebration and laughter was permeating the air. So long awaited, after such dark and shut down days we have had over the past three years. My son observed on our walk, that it gave people an opportunity to eat and drink and be merry and likely that was one of the reasons they were out celebrating. I saw one little girl bedecked in a union jack dress and a video of a King Charles Spaniel looking all regal with a crown a top his head. And the laughter of my son and I at the sand being shoved down the pot holes on the road to Westminster Abbey. Oh to being British, bunting, tea towels and all!