I HAVE THIS IMAGE. It is a room in a flat, where the
curtains shut out the light. Something of a violent nature has occurred. The
flat screen television has had its lead severed from the mains, and in the
small waste paper basket parked by the sofa can be seen a laptop poking out.
Two empty bottles of wine, one lying on its back, the other sitting upright
beside an empty glass. The smell is of bladder
processed alcohol that emanates from a bucket beside the sofa; while on
the sofa lies a sleeping individual blissfully unaware of the world.
This,
to me, is hopefully the image of a republican after the wall to wall coverage
of the birth of a future king at St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London: an
address that has become all too familiar with the world's media and the people
they serve.
The
birth of the Royal heir has indeed captured the imagination of the world ( with
the exception of Europe). In America where royalty is judged according to
celebrity status, Kate and William are considered AA listed.
Like
all new born babies, Kate and William's look like Winston Churchill and will do
so until he reaches the heady age of six months. Then he will start to show
resemblances to his parents and the crinkly mounds and slopes of birth will
have been conquered by these few short months…for as great as the great man
was, no one would want their newborn to
continue with his likeness much beyond birth - including the great man himself.
BUT WHAT A MISERABLE DAY it was for our tribe of republicans. The BBC
did what they felt they had to do on
the day as usual[1].
It was not always so, as the BBC could be trusted to reflect the popular will within
and outside of London when it came to the monarchy; today the geography of
England outside of London is a foreign country, it seems, to the modern BBC,
who have to bribe their employees to live in Salford.
Royalty is the one trusted institution that
the British public can rally around. The politicians have disappointed, and any
suggestion that any of them could be considered a president within a republic
would bring a tolerant people on to the streets.
The
birth of a future king beyond Elizabeth, Charles, and William, must cause much
misery to a republican, as it suggests that their hope of a republic will be
further delayed with every new-born heir that is offered up. The republican
hope is that a politician will one day prove more popular than a monarch, which
is indeed hope forlorn.
The
republican high water mark was Princess Diana's death when the royals were
brought kicking and screaming back to London from Balmoral for her funeral. But
these republican salad days are long gone and the house of Windsor is more
popular now than it has ever been, and I hope many more heirs will follow young
George, and we have many more days when the Royal family are given wall to wall
coverage by the media: days when sour-faced republicans cry into their wine,
cursing the great deluded unwashed who, without a semblance of decorum, fawn
and fret in front of the television lens over the birth of a future monarch.
As
for me, well, I will wet the baby's head - cheers!
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