By Michael Faulkner – March 27, 2011
Next week, on March 23rd, chancellor of the
exchequer George Osborne will wield his axe to administer the £81bn of cuts the
government says are necessary in order to deal with the deficit. There is still
a sense of unreality about what lies in store for those who will be hit hardest.
The mass-circulation newspapers convey little or nothing of the severe
austerity that is about to be imposed. The general mood still seems to be one
of denial. But that is unlikely to last long once reality kicks in. April will
be the first of many hard months – and years – to come. But the
government must be hoping that April will bring some welcome distracting
sunshine in the form of a much hyped, romantic royal wedding. Second in line to
the throne, Prince William, will wed his photogenic fiancée Kate Middleton on
April 29th. We are assured by the tabloids that this is an event
eagerly awaited by the whole nation, and one which will attract to our shores
multitudes of tourists eager to share with us our joy, and experience at first
hand the colour and pageantry for which British state occasions such as this
are world renowned. Less widely reported is the fact that the numbers of people
opting to take extended Easter breaks abroad this year due to the additional
public holiday granted for the wedding, has shot up by between 30% and 50%.
Such occasions are hardly conducive to reflections on their
antecedents, or for that matter, on anything much beyond the razzmatazz of the
moment. For the record, we may recall that the last such event in Britain, the
wedding of Prince Charles to Diana Spencer in July 1981, received the full-on
treatment of a state occasion. 3,500 guests were present at the ceremony in St.
Paul’s Cathedral and it was watched by 750 million world-wide. The Times
described the wedding as a “Day of Romance in a Grey World”, and the description
didn’t apply to the weather, which was fine. It would perhaps be unkind to wish
the son of Charles and Diana the “happy ever after” life that his parents
enjoyed for him and his bride, but it is not inappropriate to caution the happy
couple that the prognosis for the longevity of royal matches in recent times is
not good.
But it is more interesting to pick up the point about the
“grey world”. The wedding of
Charles and Diana took place two years after the election of Margaret Thatcher.
Unemployment in Britain had remained relatively low from 1945 until the late
1970s. Then, in the manufacturing recession of 1981, due partly to the
deflationary impact of strict monetary policy, it rose rapidly to unprecedented
levels. From 1.5 million in 1979 it had reached 3 million by 1981, at the time
of the wedding. This is not to suggest of course that the nuptials were timed
to distract public attention from the dire economic situation, but it was
nevertheless a convenient coincidental happenstance. Interesting to note also
is that Thatcher’s popularity ratings in 1980 and 1981 were at an all-time low,
at 23%. It was only the Falklands War of 1982 that restored her popularity and
enabled her to go on to win the 1983 election.
Devotees of British cinema will not have failed to notice
the phenomenal success at the box office of The King’s Speech, which, to
critical acclaim, purports to relate the story of the late George VI’s struggle
to overcome a stammer which seriously inhibited him from performing his public
duties. Leaving aside the questions raised about the film’s historical accuracy
in its depiction of the king as an admirer of Churchill and an opponent of
appeasement, it continues the theme started earlier by another popular movie, The
Queen. This film was widely regarded as an attempt to restore public affection
for Elizabeth II, which had suffered badly at the time of Diana’s death in
1997. These films have appealed to audiences far beyond the ranks of devoted
monarchists.
Although republicanism does not have a wide following in
Britain, public affection for the monarchy’s present representatives has over
recent years been less than fulsome. The shenanigans of the current Duke of
York (the queen’s younger son and, like Charles, a divorcee) who, as Britain’s
special envoy for trade, has consorted with a paedophile procurer of
prostitutes and various unsavoury dictators, has not exactly enhanced the royal
reputation for probity and sound judgment. A few years ago William’s brother,
Prince Harry, was photographed at
an upper-crust fancy dress ball dressed in a Nazi uniform, complete with
swastika armband. This could be put down to youthful naivety, but it still
leaves something to be desired in terms of intelligence and sensitivity.
The British power elite have a vested interest in retaining
public support for the monarchy. Its mystique has to be kept alive. Deference
to its antiquated modes and manners has to be maintained because if the
institution itself should be called into question the implications for the British
state would be very serious. So what are presented as important “events” in the
“unending saga” of the monarchy have to be staged with all the pomp and pageantry
they are deemed to deserve. Coronations, weddings, funerals, jubilees, are
invested with a mystique deliberately intended to encourage wonder and
admiration and the suspension of disbelief.
If we exclude the first world war and its immediate
aftermath, prior to the financial collapse of 2008 and the age of austerity which is just beginning, the
decades of the twentieth century marked by economic crisis, unemployment, war
and austerity were the 1930s, the 1940s and early 1950s. They were also the
years of elaborately staged royal “events”. It’s worth running through them:
1935. 4th May. At the height of the Depression in
Britain with 3 million unemployed and Mosley’s fascists on the march, Hitler in
power in Germany and Mussolini about to invade Abyssinia, Britain celebrated
the silver jubilee of George V, King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of
India. These were the years of dole queues and hunger marches. Jubilee
celebrations were held up and down the country.
1936. January 20th. Funeral of George V at St.
George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, after lying-in-state in London.
1936. Accession to the throne of Edward VIII, King of the
United Kingdom and Emperor of India. An admirer of Hitler, he abdicated in
December 1936 after causing a constitutional crisis by announcing his intention
of marrying a ‘commoner’ – the American socialite, and divorcee, Wallis
Simpson. The crisis embroiling the monarch and the government lasted throughout
the year.
1937. May 12th. Coronation of George VI, King of
the United Kingdom and Emperor of India. The event was a grand spectacle,
filmed for posterity in gaudy early Technicolor with an unctuously sycophantic
commentary. Neville Chamberlain became prime minister the same month. In
September 1938 he concluded the Munich Agreement with Hitler which led to the
dismemberment of Czechoslovakia and paved the way for world war two. This was
the high point of appeasement. On his return from Munich and before he had
sought the agreement parliamentary endorsement for the treaty, George VI and his wife Elizabeth invited
Chamberlain to appear with them on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to receive
the adulation of his admirers. This was a highly unusual and unconstitutional
step, which has been described by historian John Grigg as “the most
unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century.”
1937 was also the centenary of Queen Victoria’s accession to
the throne, the occasion for a jingoistic colour movie “Queen Victoria”starring
Anna Neagle, which celebrated “sixty glorious years” of queen and
empire.
1947.November 20th. The Royal Wedding of Princess
Elizabeth to the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster abbey. The depth of winter in
one of the bleakest years of post-war austerity was brightened by the royal
wedding of the 21 year old princess to Philip Mountbatten.
1952. George VI died of lung cancer on 6th February. The funeral took place on 15th February. Thousands lined the streets of London to watch the funeral cortege
pass on its way to Windsor.
1953. June 2nd. Coronation of Elizabeth II. The
official commentary on this occasion surpassed in nauseating unction even the
excesses of the coronation of George VI. 8.000 guests attended the ceremony in
Westminster Abbey. Three million were said to have lined the streets of London,
many having camped out overnight in the rain. A colour documentary was made for
the cinemas. 20 million viewers watched the proceedings on TV, crowding into neighbours’
houses as television ownership was still limited. According to the commentary,
the people were said to have “let themselves go in an outpouring of spontaneous
emotion.” “The monarchy”, it was claimed, was “enshrined in the hearts of the
people.”
In 1977 the queen celebrated her golden jubilee. In June
2012 there will be more celebrations on the occasion of her diamond jubilee.
Then she will have been on the throne for almost as long as Victoria. So,
Austerity Britain in 2011 and 2012 will be distracted from the doldrums by captivating
spectacles. In April of this year we will be treated to a sparkling wedding of young
royal celebrities. In 2012 the Diamond Jubilee in June will be followed by the
Olympic Games in July and August. Perhaps the realities of wage-cuts,
redundancies, unemployment, destruction of local services, demolition of the
NHS, big bankers’ bonuses and growing inequality may all be star-dusted away.
Unlikely. Things are not quite as they used to be and there are growing signs
that the old monarchical magic is no longer working as it used to.
But there are some republicans who once thought differently
who have now become ftconverts to the monarchy. One such is Peter Mandelson
– now Lord Mandelson. In 1981, he and some fellow Labour party friends
went to Boulogne in France
in order to spend the day of the royal wedding in a republic. He now looks
forward to the Diamond Jubilee as “a truly historic occasion which will allow
the people to show their pride and affection for the Queen.”