Preparations for coronation.

When I went through the village this morning they were busy putting up union jack flags. All of the shops and houses which have a sort of bracket where small Christmas trees are fixed up at Christmas were having a flag installed. Patriotism was going into overdrive. 

Graham the Chippy, owner of the local chip-shop for as long as O can remember, was sitting on the wall outside his establishment. He was clearly feeling a little cycnical. “Hmmm! They’ll all look a bit sad when it rains!” he harrumphed. “I’m not interested in it myself”, he went on, “after all there’ll be another coronation before we know it.”

It’s perhaps a bit churlish to begrudge Charles Windsor a day of celebration. But then, he did have such a day back in 1969 for his investiture as Prince of Wales. I suppose he never expected to wait 50+ years for his coronation though. But that’s the system, apparently.

Meanwhile, it seems we are being urged to do some charitable work to celebrate the coronation. An “invitation” from the king himself it seems. Here’s a little something from the Guardian recently:

“Don’t have plans for the coronation bank holiday? Fear not. The king invites you to join the Big Help Out, a national day of volunteering designed to mark the new reign. Or as the Telegraph breathlessly describes it, a “tribute to Charles’s many decades of public service”.

The Big Help Out will, according to the official website, “give everyone an opportunity to join in”. 

With the cost of living crisis leading to growing hardship across the country, especially in the poorest communities, there is said to be a national shortage of volunteers to meet the demand for them. Organisers were hoping the Big Help Out would inspire a new wave of volunteering, but some in the charity fear the event will be “damp squib”, due to lack of participants.”

Oh dear! 

And then there are those who got into trouble for expressing their opinion that Charles is not their elected head of state. Here’s another little something from the Guardian:

“Symon Hill was walking back from church on a sunny autumn Sunday when he realised his route was blocked; the roads around Carfax Tower in Oxford were closed off. It was 11 September, the day after Charles Windsor had been officially proclaimed King Charles III in London, and local events were being held nationwide. This ceremony, organised by the council, typified the pomp and pageantry. Hill is a quiet, thoughtful man of 46, but it doesn’t take much to rile him when it comes to the monarchy. He was looking forward to spending the afternoon relaxing with his housemates in their garden, and now he was stuck in a celebration he regarded as archaic and irrelevant.

Hill is a Christian, historian, pacifist, teacher, writer, activist and republican. At the start of the ceremony, which focused on the queen’s death, he was silent: “I wouldn’t interrupt somebody’s grief.” But when “they declared Charles rightful liege lord, and acknowledged our obedience to him as our only king”, Hill had heard enough. “I find this language very demeaning, and I called out ‘Who elected him?’” To his astonishment, he found himself surrounded by security, arrested and eventually charged under the Public Order Act 1986.”

It wasn’t the first time he had been arrested for protesting one thing or another but this was perhaps the most surprising as he has not planned to protest at all but just happened to be overheard expressing his opinion.

Symon Hill wasn’t the only one in trouble. “On the same day, a 22-year-old woman who allegedly held a placard reading “F*** imperialism, abolish monarchy” was arrested in Edinburgh for breach of the peace. More overt forms of protest also made headlines. One young man chucked five eggs at the new king and, despite his failure to hit his target, he was also charged with a public order offence.”

And barrister Paul Powlesland was threatened with arrest for holding up a  blank piece of card in Parliament Square. He was actually protesting for freedom of speech rather than against the monarchy:

“Powlesland had never given the royals much thought, but he’d given plenty to freedom of speech: “The protest was initially more about that.” Protesting with a blank piece of paper was purely practical. “I couldn’t get arrested because I had a case next day. Holding up a ‘Not my king’ sign is not unlawful, but they can still arrest you and I didn’t want to let my client down.””

I just hope the thought police don’t check whether or not I’ve got the TV switched on on coronation day. 

Back in the village this morning, Graham the Chippy, sitting on his wall waiting for his daughter, someone I remember as a small girl at the local primary school when my own children were small, confided in me that today is his 75th birthday. So I told him about my good friend and me celebrating 75th birthdays at the pub next door to my house. “It’s getting like The Last of the Summer Wine around here”, he commented! 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!