The Queen is Dead -- Long Live the Queen

She’s still dead.

 

She's so unlikeable that this should be tagged NSFW. Doesn't say a lot good about Charles, either.

 

I will say that as someone who is into choral music, this was **chef's kiss**. The "I was glad" (that's the song they played when they processed into the Abbey) with the vivats gave me goosebumps. I knew they were going to do "Zadok the Priest," which is so good that UEFA blatantly ripped it off to do the Champions League anthem in the 1990s, but they messed up the timing. What they should have done is started Zadok the Priest later so that at the exact time the choir came in, they did some pyro and blew up the little lean-to they had going on there to reveal the King. Now that would have been showmanship.

In the year of our Lord 2023, I don't doubt that a very high church service featuring, among other things, jewels stolen from an array of countries in the global South is rather ... gauche. That said, it's pretty interesting, to me at least, to be able to see rites and liturgy dating back literally a thousand years. So I'm interested in that, mostly because the Battle of Agincourt is not on YouTube.

Even better, it's pretty interesting to be able to watch that later in the day because I was not getting up early for this. As a wise man once said, "Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government," and sure enough, what does the procession have, a strange woman distributing a sword.

The best part of being an American Anglophile is how you can enjoy how ridiculous things like spelling color with a U, Newcastle United fans, and Liz Truss and not have to worry about the consequences.

 

That's a big reason I signed up with Hulu.

 

Was up early Saturday morning driving to a thing, and listened to the BBC radio coverage. Snuck peeks at red lights on my phone of BBC coverage.

We were in London in November and toured the Tower and Palace. It was amazing to see all the things protected in the Tower - crowns, orbs, scepters, giant platters and pitchers and big gold Frisbees, all used or on display.

In the Palace Throne Room they have the official chairs dating to 1837. Opulent, of course, and regal. I got the stink-eye and finger-wag from one of the tour guides after I leaned against a wall. No leaning, touching, running, photos, loud conversation or other uncouth behavior, please.

 

Hmm. .... now that you mention it ....

 

Zardok the Priest is a great song

 

BritBox had a great one-hour rehash of the whole thing, most of which was spent in the Abbey. Found myself going to Wikipedia a bunch. Favorite thing was that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s parents were alcoholics who divorced when he was three, and his father nearly married Vanessa Redgrave before her mother put the kibosh on it.

And damn if the Orb didn’t look like the Holy Hand Grenade.

 

Zardok the Priest sounds like a Doctor Who villain from the Fourth Doctor era.