We stayed home to watch the Coronation. I'm a republican but I can admire great art and old buildings and be intrigued by history. For a long time I have felt the inconsistency of admiring all this given the wealth and power of the owners and instigators. This was just one case of that perplexity but it was not all. I found Charles quite a pale royal. Maybe he was medicated for this unique formal occasion that his whole life has targeted. It's a common enough offer for families at funerals. I thought he just didn't seem particularly royal, like a Henry VIII, but then Megan said that's a good thing. So it is: we have no shortage of autocrats around these days. And he has stood for some good things, like environment and architecture, if with a limited and privileged view. Then that overly florid carriage and the military all lined up to gain the King's recognition, and the withdrawal of that prefigured oath of allegiance. It was nice to see that the wave of discomfort-cum-anger over that one was recognised. The music was good, even if some said there was too much of it. Funny that the most-mentioned piece, Zadoc the Priest, was by a German anyway, but the playing was good. And further, I found it fascinating that the famed English songs like Jerusalem and Zadoc and I vow to thee my country and Rule Britannia! are songs of colonial and homeland and royal power. But it was interesting to see those streets that so many of us have walked and that chair that we must have seen in the Abbey (we didn't last time in London because you have to pay to enter these days, last time we were there). As we paid to visit Buckingham Palace to see the royal art collection and a royal costume exhibition. The public art collections of European royalty are not something for this monarch. And then the cost, of course. We may have Charles as our head of state/king, but at least we only pay for him when he visits. The Brits pay often for him and he doesn't pay normal taxes (eg, no inheritance tax on the death of QE2). ~$A200m for the coronation while the public suffers post-Brexit and more. Now there's an example of real Conservative consistency! And the plebs out in the street with their paper crowns. But I could still watch it and it was interesting enough and the history and pageantry were impressive, if quite militaristic. I guess this is the mediaeval equivalent of the cold war military parade of missiles and tanks and perfectly-arranged soldiers. It's telling. But again, not Henry VIII territory, just the harmless if costly remnants. Just some thoughts.
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