‘The jubilee celebrated the Queen and provided a pattern for future’

WHILE millions watched the Platinum Jubilee festivities to thank the Queen and reflect on her 70 years on the British throne, for the monarchy itself, the four-day celebrations were also about looking to the future.

The Queen’s absence at many of the Jubilee events because of health issues meant the celebration of her reign provided a focus on the next monarchs, her son Prince Charles and his son William.

Royal biographer Robert Lacey, the historical consultant to Netflix’s hit TV drama The Crown, said the queen was laying the ground for what comes next. “The Jubilee had a doubleedged significance,” he said. “Yes, it celebrated the queen and what will one day be the past, but it’s also provided a platform for the new formula and pattern for the future.”

The monarch missed out on most of the big Jubilee events due to what the palace calls “episodic mobility problems”, which have forced her to cancel public appearances recently and have highlighted her advancing years.

In her absence, son and heir Charles,73, and his son William, the second in line, have been to the fore.

Last Sunday (5), the Queen appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace flanked by the three next monarchs – Charles, William, and his eldest child Prince George.

Journalist Tina Brown, a longtime observer of the British royalty, also said the Queen had been focused on succession.

“Her feelings and her sentiments right now are all about estate planning for the monarchy,” she told BBC TV. “Her only care right now is that things should be put in a good order for Charles and that everything can be done to make his reign easier.”

Brown and Lacey said that was why the queen used the actual 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne in February to announce she wanted Charles’s second wife Camilla to be queen consort, removing any future controversy over her role.

Lacey said the jubilee had reminded many people of the positives a monarchy brought, adding: “Charles and Camilla are associated with that in a way you would not have thought possible a few years ago.”

But for all the celebrations this week and plans for the future, there remain some dark clouds on the horizon.

Polls show the queen is hugely popular and older Britons are overwhelmingly in favour of the monarchy, but they also indicate young people are far more indifferent and support has slipped over the last decade.

While her grandson, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, kept a low profile during the jubilee, the prince is writing a memoir due to be released later this year that could contain more explosive details.

Barbados removed the Queen as its head of state last November and there is a growing feeling that republican sentiments will grow in the 14 other countries that have the British monarch as their queen. The new centre-left Labor party in Australia, which voted against ditching the monarchy in 1999, has named the country’s first “assistant minister for the republic”.

“I don’t know that it will ever be the same when she’s not here any more, that’s how we feel about it (in New Zealand),” said Patricia Burrowes, 80, who travelled from Auckland for the Jubilee.

Some at the festivities felt the monarchy would remain integral to Britain even as the queen’s role might be drawing to an end.

“It’s easy to be critical of it and say it isn’t for these times,” said Ian Higgins, 62, a mental health nurse. “But I think having something that brings people together that isn’t political but unites people is so important for this country, and the rest of the world loves it as well.”

As to whether there would be a similar outpouring for Charles when he becomes king, the feeling was mixed. “We’ll have to wait and see,” said Amanda Mackenzie, 51, a yoga teacher from London. “We’ll have to wait and see.”