Her marmalade years
THE QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE ‘HAD SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE’
IF THE Queen wishes to consider a second career, I would suggest acting. She is a natural and doesn’t even need to train at RADA.
My favourite moment by far during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations was the sketch in which she took tea with Paddington Bear at Buckingham Palace. I had to look hard to make sure it was really the Queen and not someone who resembled Her Majesty.
What is hilarious is it has been faithfully reported around the world that the Queen really does keep a marmalade sandwich stashed away in her trademark handbag.
I do hope Eastern Eye’s good friend, Krishnendu Majumdar, was watching and gives her a Bafta in the next awards ceremony as chairman of the organisation.
The sketch made me quite peckish, so I had to slip into the kitchen and make myself toast with marmalade. It brought back memories, because this was a midnight ritual during my undergraduate days when friends in our digs would gather for communal toast and marmalade around the gas fire in my room.
In fact, there is nothing quite so British as marmalade, especially if it is homemade. Come to think of it, the Queen’s 70 years and counting on the throne can best be characterised as the marmalade years.
The other thought that came to mind – especially after watching the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral – is just how big the royal family is with uncles, aunts, cousins and so on. Very Indian. The Queen wasn’t there but her family bagged all the best seats. Had her relatives from Europe been invited, there wouldn’t have been room for anybody else.
And as with any Indian family, there are quarrels. Harry and Meghan, who can do nothing right as far as British newspapers are concerned, were treated like B-listers. Personally, I hate family quarrels, particularly between brothers. It might have been wiser not to have marginalised them quite so publicly.
What the British people would also have noticed is that Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, was projected as the forthcoming queen for when Charles becomes king. He made a point of having her by his side when he made his speech thanking “Mummy” at the Buckingham Palace concert.
The matter of who becomes head of the Commonwealth after the Queen has already been settled. India, by far the largest Commonwealth country, has agreed that it should be Charles.
What did the Platinum Jubilee celebrations mean for British Asians? The most significant event, in my opinion, was the service at St Paul’s. Although Britain is now largely a secular society and multiracial, multicultural and multi-ethnic as well, one should respect the fact that its centre of gravity is essentially Christian. That, I think, is a good thing, as someone who began at St Joseph’s Convent in Patna.
In Britain, the sovereign holds the title “defender of the faith and supreme governor of the Church of England”. These titles date back to the reign of King Henry VIII, who was initially granted the title “defender of the faith” in 1521 by Pope Leo X.
There are nuanced differences apparently between the Queen and Charles, who is inclined to be “defender of faiths”, aware that the country now includes Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Jews and members of other faiths.
I remember on a trip to Rome many years ago, Charles wanted to celebrate mass with the Pope. He was made to call it off by Buckingham Palace. He was furious. “It sure messed up his lunch,” was the comment from the accompanying palace press officer, Victor Chapman. Only I recall him using a stronger epithet.
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer made a mistake when he tried to be more loyal than the Queen by telling the Daily Telegraph it was the people’s “patriotic duty” to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. That suggested an element of compulsion. The beauty of Britain is that people did so voluntarily.
When the Zoroastrians fled Persia 1,000 years ago and sought refuge in India, they assured the initially sceptical Moghul emperor they would dissolve “like sugar in milk”.
British Asians should perhaps look again at the Queen’s little sketch with Paddington Bear. This is a deep society with many subtleties.
In a PG Wodehouse novel, Bertie Wooster would probably say: “Jeeves, I could do with a marmalade sandwich.”
To which Jeeves would reply: “I have already made you one, sir.”