The four days of Queen Elizabeth II’s official Platinum Jubilee celebrations, marking her seventieth year as monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, got underway on the sunny morning of Thursday, 2 June 2022, with an impressive display of pomp and ceremony-yet another example of the meticulously orchestrated and choreographed pageantry that the British continue to excel at. The extended-weekend celebrations came as a welcome distraction, at a time of economic turmoil and political upheaval, temporarily diverting attention away from a cost-of-living crisis, disruptions to trade and travel, and a series of unbecoming political shenanigans.
The opening day’s formal proceedings began with the annual Official Birthday Parade, from Buckingham Palace and along The Mall to the ceremonial parade ground at Horse Guards Parade, just off Whitehall, and back to the Queen’s official residence. The annual ritual of Trooping the Colour at Horse Guards Parade was then followed by an 82-gun salute in Hyde Park, fired by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery. The processional route was lined with thousands of cheering spectators, while many others, carrying Union Jacks and sporting other emblems of loyalty to their monarch or their object of admiration (for non-British subjects) took over the surrounding squares and streets in Central London. The monarch’s prerogative of two birthdays would probably appeal to many of her younger subjects. Her official birthday, an occasion for public celebration, is deliberately timed for better weather conditions, while her actual birthday, on 21 April (1926), is a private affair. The climax of the morning’s proceedings was a flypast involving seventy military aircraft, fronted by helicopters from all three services and culminating with the Red Arrows (RAF acrobatics team) flying in formation, marking out the number 70 in the sky. As dusk fell, beacons were lit across Britain, its three Crown Dependencies and 14 Overseas Territories, as well as in the capital cities of all 54 Commonwealth nations. On the British mainland, the longest chain of beacons involved 51 spots along the length of Hadrian’s Wall in the Northumberland.
The Queen had to forego the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on 3 June, being indisposed, as did a Covid-positive Archbishop of Canterbury. The service, including a sermon by the deputising Archbishop of York and a Bible reading from the Prime Minister, was followed by the Lord Mayor’s Reception at the Guildhall in the City of London. The following day will feature the Derby at Epsom Downs, normally a favourite destination for the Queen, and the Party at the Palace in the evening, including a concert, staged by BBC Studio Productions and displaying the musical talents of an idiosyncratic group of A-list performers. The Platinum Jubilee Pageant is to be the highlight of the closing day-Sunday, 5 June. Over the bank holiday weekend, neighbourhoods will come alive with festive bunting, either purchased or homemade (there is a supply-demand problem with the manufactured product), while 85,000 Big Jubilee Lunches and innumerable street parties, afternoon teas, barbecues, and picnics are scheduled to add to the jollities.
The subject of all this adulation became Britain’s longest-serving monarch on 9 September 2015, having acceded to the throne on 6 February 1952. She is also the world’s third-longest-ever ruling monarch. Elizabeth’s momentous reign has broken many records, including over 21,000 public engagements, official visits to over a hundred countries, and 112 incoming State Visits by foreign Heads of State. As constitutional monarch, she has supported 14 Prime Ministers and given the Royal Assent to over 4,000 Acts of Parliament, while her public responsibilities have extended to the patronage of over 500 charities and organisations.
Britain is very different place to what it was when Elizabeth became Queen in 1952. British society has become increasingly diverse, transformed by waves of mass immigration, from the New Commonwealth and latterly the European Union, into a multi-ethnic and multi-faith nation, where the Anglican Church’s influence continues to wane. Societal attitudes have loosened up as Britain has transitioned into a sexually permissive society alongside other Western liberal democracies. This transition has been facilitated by easy access to contraception, legalisation of abortion, decriminalisation of same-sex relations, the destigmatisation of divorce and illegitimacy, and, most recently, by changing attitudes to trans-gender people.
Staying on the domestic front, the nation has also become wealthier, even as the distribution of this new-found wealth has become less equitable over time. Standards of living have continued to rise and mass consumerism has uplifted households and raised expectations, while digital technology has created a new online world of social and commercial transactions. Class distinctions and hierarchies are being ironed out, and social mobility has increased, but suitable employment prospects and job security have declined in recent years. At a more fundamental level, community spirit has evaporated while a declining respect for authority and deficiencies in the enforcement of law and order have led to a increasing feeling of public insecurity.
Britain’s position as a global superpower has sustained a knock, with the stepping up of decolonisation during New Elizabethan times, leading to the independence of 45 countries, but also expanding the Commonwealth of Nations, one of the Queen’s most cherished projects. The UK’s attempts to develop links closer to home have also taken a hit, as a referendum in 2016 overturned a decision to joining the European Economic Community in 1973, unleashing the various phenomena of Brexit, the full extent of which is yet to be ascertained.
Britain’s economy has moved from a strong manufacturing base to a service-based entity, dominated by a loosely regulated financial services sector. The mining industry has collapsed, while North Sea fishing has been decimated. Regional disparities have appeared, caused by rural depopulation, from the streamlining of agricultural production, and a growing North-South divide, caused by massive deindustrialisation in the North and the Midlands. The political fragmentation of Britain has resulted from devolution of several administrative and legislative functions to its constituent nations. Much else, too numerous to list, has also changed over the last 70 years of Elizabethan rule, leaving an indelible imprint on a nation that has seen unprecedented change over a relatively short period in historical terms.
Steadily growing republican sentiments and the dubious activities of certain Royals may have dented the public image of the monarchy, but there’s no denying the Queen’s continued popularity, her personal integrity, strong sense of public duty, empathy, and discretion, which has sometimes contrasted with the dubious moral codes and actions of Britain’s political class, both past and present. The Queen has stayed aloof from political controversy and intrigue and refrained from interfering in matters of state, to the extent that it has proved impossible to decode her personal political preferences. While the monarchy is, for the moment, in safe hands, the same cannot be guaranteed under her successors-we will have to await events as they unfold. On the unique occasion of the Platinum Jubilee, unlikely ever to be repeated in the future, it seems entirely appropriate to end with the refrain: Vivat Regina!
Ashis Banerjee