MIXED-RACE, ANTI-TRUMP – AND A NEW CHAPTER FOR THE ROYAL FAMILY?
Métisse, anti-Trump – un nouveau chapitre pour la famille royale?
La date est fixée : le prince Harry et l’actrice américaine Meghan Markle se diront « oui » le 19 mai prochain. Comment les « pro » et les « anti-monarchie » perçoiventils l’événement ? Un vent de modernité souffle-t-il sur la famille royale ? Le quotidien britannique The Independent livre son analyse.
The announcement of Prince Harry’s widely anticipated engagement to the US actress Meghan Markle sent the world’s media into paroxysms of excitement.
2. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Harry is a member of the world’s most famous royal family, while Markle is a poster girl for American television: he, the product of a British aristocracy at its most dysfunctional; she the mixedrace child of an LA psychotherapist and an Emmy award-winning lighting director. It has modern-day fairytale written all over it.
1. widely anticipated très attendu / engagement fiançailles. 2. while tandis que / poster girl figure emblématique / lighting director chef éclairagiste / modern-day des temps modernes / fairytale conte de fées / it has...
written all over it cela saute aux yeux/ici, incarne. 3. For hard core royalists the excitement at the thought of a 2018 wedding will be hard to contain. Just as Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton six years ago saw London thronged with flag-waving well-wishers, so enthusiasts will expect to hang out the bunting for Harry and Meghan. Diehards will already have cleared their diary for the entirety of next spring in order that they can slap on the Union Jack face paint, 3. hard core fervent / hard difficile / just as tout comme / to see, saw, seen ici, être le témoin de / to throng envahir / flag-waving agitant des drapeaux / well-wisher sympathisant, admirateur / so ici, de la même façon / to expect (s’)attendre (à), prévoir / to hang, hung, hung out sortir, (sus)pendre (à l'extérieur) / bunting (inv.) drapeaux / diehard inconditionnel, pur et dur, fervent (ici, royaliste) / to clear ici, libérer quelques jours dans / diary agenda / in order that afin que / to slap on se tartiner/s'enduire de, appliquer / travel to the capital and wave red, white and blue in the faces of the newlyweds.
4. Inevitably, sceptics were quick to react with equal and opposite force. For republicans, the prospect of more taxpayer pounds being newlyweds jeunes mariés. 4. prospect perspective / taxpayer (des) contribuable(s) / pound (£) livre (sterling) /
spent on yet another set-piece royal event sticks hard in the craw. The chance to raise a toast to the monarchy’s future, theoretical abolition is the only silver lining.
5. Whichever way you look at it, however, it is impossible to deny that the marriage of the fifth in line to the British throne and an American TV star is a major global news event.
NO DEBATE
6. While Harry might not be the first British prince to marry a divorcee, Markle’s mixedraced heritage brings something new to the table. The future Mrs Wales has herself expressed pride in her background saying that she has come to “embrace” her identity as the daughter of a white father and black mother.
7. What is interesting, however, is not that her ethnicity is a point of great debate; but that it is not. That is as it should be, yet it is hard not to suspect that in the not so distant past there would have been a great deal of flustered twittering both in aristocratic circles and among certain sections of the wider public. The lack of agitation suggests that British society has largely moved on and that the royal family has moved on with it.
8. To that end it is perhaps notable too that Markle has been publicly critical of the world’s conservative-in-chief, Donald Trump, describing him in a 2016 interview as “divisive” and “a misogynist”. Once she has married into “the firm”, Markle may have to keep her views to to spend, spent, spent dépenser / yet another encore un(e)..., un(e)... de plus / set-piece bien réglé/préparé/ organisé, traditionnel / to stick, stuck, stuck in one's craw rester en travers de la gorge / chance opportunité, occasion / to raise ici, porter / silver lining point positif. 5. whichever way you look at it dans tous les cas / however cependant / to deny nier / in line to the throne dans l'ordre de succession / global international. 6. heritage ici, origine / to bring, brought, brought sb new to the table ici, être une première / pride fierté / background origines / to come, came, come to ici, finir par / to embrace accepter, assumer. 7. point ici, sujet / yet cependant, toutefois / to suspect soupçonner, (s')imaginer / in the not so distant past il n'y a pas aussi longtemps / a good deal of beaucoup de / flustered troublé, choqué / to twitter gazouiller; ici, twittering conversations, échanges / both à la fois (et) / among parmi, chez, au sein de / section partie, catégorie, classe / wider public société dans son ensemble / lack absence / agitation ici, désapprobation, débat / largely en grande partie / to move on évoluer. 8. divisive qui sème la discorde / the firm ici, la famille royale / view opinion. herself: but it is comforting to know something of her politics. It might add some frisson to a future state visit by the US President.
MODERN ROYALS
9. Prince Harry, for his part, has come to typify the modern Windsors. Indeed, it is arguably him more than any of the rest of the clan to whom Britons can relate. In part that reflects the fact that he and his brother were the primary subjects of the extraordinary proxy grief which poured forth from ordinary UK citizens on the death of Princess Diana two decades ago. The sense that Harry and William should not experience the same level of intrusion that their parents had suffered remains strong.
10. That isn’t to say that Harry in particular has always managed to avoid the attention of tabloid editors. His Nazithemed fancy-dress mishap at the age of 21 earned notoriety and censure in equal measure. Yet for many people the error of judgement served only to reinforce the feeling that he was just an ordinary young man who didn’t deserve to be picked to pieces by vultures in the media.
EVOLVING TO SURVIVE
11. In recent times he has spoken well about the impact his mother’s death had on him. The pain he experienced is not unique – but the public context in which he was forced to mourn most certainly is. The decision to describe publicly how he battled to deal effectively with his grief was brave and intensely modern. 9. to typify représenter / indeed en effet / arguably sans conteste / Briton Britannique / to relate to s'identifier à / primary premier, principal / subject objet, personne concernée / proxy (par) procuration, empathique / grief chagrin, douleur, deuil / to pour forth se déverser, affluer / citizen citoyen / on lors/à l'annonce de / decade décennie / sense sentiment, avis / to experience connaître / to suffer souffrir/être victime de, subir / to remain rester. 10. that isn't to say that cela ne veut pas dire que / to manage to parvenir à / to avoid éviter, échapper à / fancy dress déguisement / mishap mésaventure / to earn sb... valoir à qn / in equal measure de la même façon, dans la même mesure, (tout) autant / to deserve mériter / to be picked to pieces ici, faire l'objet d'un acharnement médiatique / vulture vautour (fig.). 11. pain douleur / to mourn faire son deuil, pleurer (disparition) / to battle se battre / to deal with gérer / effectively efficacement, bien / brave courageux. 12. For a great many years the monarchy seemed perpetually out of step with Britain’s shifting social sands – distant, old-fashioned, the emblem of a stuffy, out of touch elite. In the last 20 years, that has changed to a remarkable degree; the shock of the public’s response to Diana’s death having forced the Queen and her family to face up to the fact that for an anachronism to survive it must evolve.
13. They have given contemporary faces to an ancient institution and made it seem more relevant. Harry’s engagement to Markle – her ring designed by Harry and incorporating diamonds owned by his mother – is the icing on the cake.
14. Paradoxically, some of the forces which have taken us down the road to EU withdrawal – anxieties about globalisation and fear of modernity – are threatening to drive a reversion among many in British society to the insular attitudes of a bygone age.
15. Those attitudes are not, in the long run, sustainable of course: the world will not stop turning.
16. Is it too mad to wonder, once the Brexit dust settles, whether the younger royals may – against all the odds – represent a Britain looking forward to the future rather than an imagined past? 12. a great many de très nombreux / to seem sembler / out of step en décalage / shifting sands sables mouvants; ici, changements / old-fashioned d'un autre temps, dépassé / stuffy vieux jeu / out of touch déconnecté de la réalité / to a... degree à un point... / to face up to se confronter à; ici, accepter. 13. to make, made, made ici, rendre / relevant ici, pertinent (dans le monde d'aujourd'hui), moderne / to design imaginer / to own posséder / the icing on the cake la cerise sur le gâteau (icing glaçage). 14. force ici, facteur / to take, took, taken sb down the road to mener qn à / withdrawal retrait / globalisation mondialisation / fear crainte, peur / to threaten menacer / to drive, drove, driven entraîner, motiver / reversion retour / bygone révolu / age ère. 15. in the long run à long terme / sustainable qui peut durer. 16. mad fou / to wonder se demander / once the dust settles une fois que la situation se sera quelque peu calmée (litt. une fois que la poussière se sera déposée) / whether si (oui ou non) / against all odds contre toute attente / forward vers l'avant (ici, l'avenir) / rather than plutôt que.
The monarchy seemed perpetually out of step with Britain’s shifting social sands – the emblem of a stuffy, out of touch elite.