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100 years of privilegeWhat is it about the royals that causes otherwise intelligent adults to turn into pusillanimous morons at the very mention of their names? Are we that desperately short of traditions and role models in Aotearoa that we need to glorify a family of spoilt, upper-class bludgers living on the other side of the world?
Not since the days of Dinky Di have we seen so much admiration directed at someone so undeserving. Both women have been widely portrayed as down-to-earth and warm-hearted, always ready to go out of their way to stick up for the downtrodden. In the case of Di, this took the form of her "charity" work. In the case of the queen mum, it was her willingness to "stand up" to Hitler by refusing to be relocated from London during the blitz. Never mind that just a few years before she had actively supported Neville Chamberlain and the other appeasers. In reality, of course, both women were spoilt brats who lived their entire lives in the lap of luxury. Like Di, the queen mum was born into an aristocratic family as the daughter of a hereditary earl. Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, as she was once known, had a privileged yet unspectacular upbringing, until she met and later married the Duke of York. When the Duke's elder brother, King Edward VII, abdicated in 1936, the Duke of York became King George VI. George died of lung cancer in 1952, but the widowed queen mum has battled on, known for the last 48 years as "Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother" - a title she invented herself! It's good to see that in Britain, at least, the queen mum hasn't been having it all her own way in the press lately. Writing in the Observer, royal biographer Anthony Holden recently expressed disbelief that "a woman who has never done a day's work in her life, who has blithely run up eight figure overdrafts of the tax-payers' money on racehorses, had four palatial residences, 50 full-time servants and the pampered life of a latter-day Marie-Antoinette, was credited with winning World War 2 single handed." Earlier in the year it was also revealed that "the nation's favourite granny" had managed to run up an overdraft of £4,000,000 - despite being given an allowance of £643,000 a year by British taxpayers. Some anarchists say we should forget about the royals and get on with more important things - like smashing the state and ending capitalism. But recent events suggest the monarchy is still a worthy target. Like the welfare state, figures like Di and the queen mum represent the warm, smiling face of a system that oppresses the vast majority of us. The sooner we expose the truth that lies behind this façade the better.
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'hurry up and die'being a communiqué issued by the London Movement Against the Monarchy on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother… London Movement Against the Monarchy are proud to announce the alternative to the grovelling, brownnosing, obsequious flattery being unleashed by the corrupt and bloated royalist government, establishment and media. We mean the "celebrations" and gushing revolving around the 100th birthday of that disgusting parasitic old hag otherwise known as "the Queen Mother" on 4th of August. As a modest counterblast to this garbage we intend to perambulate the streets and estates of Hackney, with particular emphasis on the Pembury and Kingsmead estates and places between. A hideous but lifelike effigy of "the Queen Mother" will be pushed on route to be suitably disposed of later that evening - if we can still afford the petrol that is. YOU are cordially invited to attend this event - dressed informally or with a carnival theme, apart from those who wish to appear dressed as THE EXECUTIONER. Arm yourselves with appropriate Olde Worlde plastic axes and pikes from you local "Pounde Shoppe", and don't forget whistles and drums. The procession will be followed by a few bands at the final destination. In the joyous event of the Queen Mother popping her clogs the parade will go ahead, this time as a Good Riddance party. |
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Having watched some of the idolization that passed for coverage of the queen mum's 100th birthday celebrations on local TV, in believe a strong argument could be made that the royal adulation here is a result of media propaganda. However, I suspect it actually has more to do with our own cultural insecurities and the same "fear of freedom" that convinces most people that we need to be governed.