Queen Elizabeth's 60th anniversary

February 6, 2012 5:27 PM

"I say, Philip, let's order a pizza and watch a movie with the corgis!" Queen Elizabeth celebrates 60 years on the throne.
posted by anothermug (63 comments total)

Queen Elizabeth celebrates 60 years on the throne

Oh man, I can't wait for my next copy of Private Eye.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:48 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

There is something inherently ridiculous about monarchists.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:55 PM on February 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Did Gove manage to get her that fucking stupid boat?
posted by Artw at 5:57 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Here's to another 60!
posted by cjorgensen at 5:57 PM on February 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

Surprisingly, she's not the longest serving head of state in the world - that's Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has been King of Thailand since 1946. She's also got another 3 years or so to go before she overtakes Queen Victoria as Britain's longest reigning monarch (although she is already Britain's oldest Monarch).

And they've both got a long way to go if they want to match Sobhuza II, who was Chief/King of Swaziland for almost 83 years.
posted by dng at 5:58 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

In that last pic...are Philip's medals photoshopped on? They certain are wider than his jacket-half.
posted by DU at 6:08 PM on February 6, 2012

She's done her job well, as much as I may disagree with that job.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:12 PM on February 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

She ain't no human bein'.
posted by Trurl at 6:13 PM on February 6, 2012 [5 favorites]

I honestly can't be arsed to care unless I can get a live feed of John Oliver and Andy Saltzman riffing on the flotilla. Bonus points if Jeremy Hardy joins in for ships 273-875.

(yes, I get most of my Brit culture from snarky comedy podcasts, why do you ask?
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:17 PM on February 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

The Guardian, of all things, has a great page devoted to the Diamond Jubilee, including a video of a gun salute.

You can't miss Daily Mail coverage (who would do it better?), plus the Express, although Majesty Magazine doesn't really have an online presence, for some reason.

Hello Magazine does, though, and you can also check out the Queen on the official Diamond Jubilee website, as well as the official unofficial Diamond Jubilee website.
posted by KokuRyu at 6:18 PM on February 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Describes Camilla: "a modest person and very likable and nothing seemingly obnoxious about her."

That's what I aspire towards. Workin' on it.
posted by ovvl at 6:18 PM on February 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I honestly can't be arsed to care

The only reason anyone in Britain cares is because we get an extra days holiday for it.

Well, not we, exactly, but all the few that still have jobs do.
posted by dng at 6:20 PM on February 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Corgis: The secret to immortality.
posted by hellojed at 6:21 PM on February 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

Bravo, huzzah, and long may she reign.
posted by pompomtom at 6:33 PM on February 6, 2012

In that last pic...are Philip's medals photoshopped on? They certain are wider than his jacket-half.

They'll be on an extender, allowing him to wear about a dozen medals in full. In fairness to him—and unlike some royals who like to collect baubles—most of the medals he wears regularly were earnt.
posted by Jehan at 6:50 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

It must be a bit odd to have people celebrate the day your dad died.
posted by idb at 6:58 PM on February 6, 2012 [16 favorites]

I wish there was someone in our government who's job it was to demonstrate poise and decorum.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 6:58 PM on February 6, 2012 [5 favorites]

God save the Queen.

Just like He did for all her forebears.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:59 PM on February 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Also if you haven't seen it already, here is the queen pictured with our last 12 presidents.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 7:01 PM on February 6, 2012

God save the Queen.

What? NO! She's overly saved! It should be "God attack the Queen, send big dogs after her that bite her bum. Let them chase after her and rip her knickers off..."
posted by Panjandrum at 7:05 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Last week The Economist had a roundup review of books about the Queen which included this remarkable bit of detail.

It is reported that the queen likes a travel rug round her knees and used to wear a hard hat when watching stallions cover her mares (now she stands on a viewing platform, after health and safety advice).

Man, I'd love to hear what Prince Philip has to say during the servicing.
posted by Nelson at 7:08 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

What struck me last week when I heard a bit about this on the CBC was that if it's her 60th this year, then it's been 35 years since the Silver Jubilee, and therefore 35 years since God Save the Queen. And that more of her reign has happened since the silver jubilee than happened before it. And that I always thought of her as having been on the throne forever, but it happened less than 20 years before I was born. Plus many more variations on Holy Fuck I Feel Old.
posted by looli at 7:11 PM on February 6, 2012

At least Philip has some consolation in his role. Elizabeth may be queen but he gets to be a god.
posted by honestcoyote at 7:11 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oops, here is the photo of the queen with the US Presidents.

http://lisawallerrogers.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/queen-elizabeth-with-12-u-s-presidents/
posted by psycho-alchemy at 7:12 PM on February 6, 2012

Queen Elizabeth celebrates 60 years on the throne.

I love potty humour!
posted by peagood at 7:28 PM on February 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

The only reason anyone in Britain cares is because we get an extra days holiday for it.

You do not speak for all of Britain by any means.
posted by Brockles at 7:37 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Long live the republic.
posted by monospace at 7:40 PM on February 6, 2012

I think you can both not see the point to the monarchy and still respect & feel affection for the Queen. I certainly do. She is very, very good at her job and when this story came out last year, I liked her even more.
posted by Wantok at 8:06 PM on February 6, 2012 [5 favorites]

"Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again"

.
.
.
well one hopes
posted by edgeways at 8:10 PM on February 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

I recall, when Hirohito died, thinking something along the lines of what Belloq said in Raiders of the Lost Ark. To paraphrase: we are only passing through history. He... he is history.

That's far too grandiose. No one person "is" history. You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.* Or, like the Showa Emperor or QE II, you become an icon, a marker in history that proclaims, "this was my time."

-----
*Yes, I'm quoting Harvey Dent. What of it?
posted by SPrintF at 8:17 PM on February 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know, Nixon was an icon of his time as well, now that I think on it. Poor America.
posted by SPrintF at 8:18 PM on February 6, 2012

You do not speak for all of Britain by any means.

Probably more of it than you'd guess from all this forelock tugging nonsense.
posted by Artw at 8:22 PM on February 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

The British have nothing on forelock-tugging nonsense compared to Americans, who treat the presidency with the awe of a monarch, even when hissing treasonously about its office-holder.

I'm pleased to have the Queen on my money. Not such a fan of her son. I think she's about all that holds the Commonwealth together at this point.
posted by bicyclefish at 8:34 PM on February 6, 2012

There's a lady who lives in my neighborhood who goes out every morning in sleet or snow and walks her corgi. And she's maybe Queen Elizabeth-ageish and she wears an overcoat and a headscarf, and goddamn if every time I see her I don't get a little grin. I don't know why Imaginary Queen Elizabeth lives in Minneapolis or what her deal is but God Save Her nonetheless.
posted by padraigin at 8:52 PM on February 6, 2012 [8 favorites]

The Queen can order her subjects, and she instead orders a pizza. I don't know what that says, but probably something. Does she order her cooks to make the pizza themselves, or to call a pizza shop and get one delivered. I imagine that'd be an ordeal.

'Ello, Pizza Hut*

Yes, I'd like to order a cheese and tomahto pie for delivery, please.

Right. Eight quid. Where d'ya want it delivered?

Buckingham palace, please.

Oh, piss off.

I'm quite serious. Take the service road and deposit the pizza at the delivery gate. The guards will be expecting you.

Oh, sure. And I suppose this pizza's a special for the Queen's diamond jubilee, innit?

etc, etc.

*google maps says that Pizza Hut is the closest pizza shop to the palace
posted by Jon_Evil at 9:05 PM on February 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

I'm pleased to have the Queen on my money. Not such a fan of her son.

Charles' plummy accent is infuriating.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:08 PM on February 6, 2012

*google maps says that Pizza Hut is the closest pizza shop to the palace

The Pizza Huts in the UK are not like the Pizza Huts in the United States. They're almost upscale. No, seriously.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:13 PM on February 6, 2012

The Pizza Huts in the UK are not like the Pizza Huts in the United States. They're almost upscale. No, seriously.

Er, what? Unless you're confusing them with Pizza Express, you've been drinking too much ale.
posted by Jehan at 9:56 PM on February 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm talking about the dank, dark, wood-panelled grease pits that are American Pizza Huts. The UK ones are clean and well-lit. It totally floored me when I went to one. Like walking into a McDonalds and someone offers you complementary breadsticks and olive oil. That level of shock.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:11 PM on February 6, 2012

Yeah but, they're not bloody upscale are they? Just because you've got a clean floor don't mean you're expecting Madge hersen to come waltzing through the doors. I know some pretty keen fish and chip shops, but they're not warranted By Appointment.
posted by Jehan at 10:23 PM on February 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Well, they're not Fish And Chip Hut.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:33 PM on February 6, 2012

Well aye that's the truth. Spose she might have a softer spot for pizza than she would for the food her own citizens eat. It wouldn't be thought deign now, would it.
posted by Jehan at 10:40 PM on February 6, 2012

Please tell me you don't talk like that in real life.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 11:29 PM on February 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Thanks, Britain. I was all "man, the fucking US" and now I'm all "Well, at least we don't have fucking royalty."
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:32 PM on February 6, 2012

Thanks, Britain. I was all "man, the fucking US" and now I'm all "Well, at least we don't have fucking royalty."

Kennedy, Bush, Roosevelt, Daley, etc., etc.
posted by maxwelton at 12:06 AM on February 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Guardian, of all things, has a great page devoted to the Diamond Jubilee, including a video of a gun salute.

The Guardian has been becoming more conservative for about five or six years now. Those of us who used to be major fans of the paper are painfully aware of this.

Fuck the queen, fuck the monarchy and fuck monarchists everywhere. They will go. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.
posted by Decani at 12:40 AM on February 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Kennedy, Bush, Roosevelt, Daley, etc., etc.
Not to mention Jolie/Pitt, Cruise, Winfrey, Clooney, Beckhams...
posted by like_neon at 1:57 AM on February 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

We willna' be fooled again"

The theme tune to the Scottish version of CSI?
posted by biffa at 2:10 AM on February 7, 2012

Well, the Guardian did put this on their front cover a few weeks ago.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 2:15 AM on February 7, 2012 [6 favorites]

There's still a lot of respect, affection etc etc for the monarchy especially among the older generation... that might change a bit if mad Charles makes it to the throne. I think the powers that be have their fingers crossed that he won't be around for long, or at all, and they are doing their best to build up William as a nice figurehead (alongside Prince Harry as the bit of rough who's going to get the empire back or something.)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:08 AM on February 7, 2012

I couldn't give a monkeys about who gets to wear the sparkly hat and have their portrait on the stamps but it's the vestiges of an authoritarian system (like The Royal Prerogative, the Privy Council and the unelected House of Lords) that really get in the way of the UK becoming a modern democratic state and that's all encapsulated by Liz, even if she does do her best to be as utterly bland and uncontroversial as she can be.
posted by brilliantmistake at 3:28 AM on February 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I was all "man, the fucking US" and now I'm all "Well, at least we don't have fucking royalty."

Oh come on. Your country wants a royal family so bad it squeaks. Your national attitude is to treat a politician like a deity and there is this constant dischord between "But he's the Almighty POTUS" ..... "But wait, we put him there, so we can talk about him like shit..... HOW DARE YOU HE IS THE POTUS" in waves across the country. The handwringing over that is quite amusing from the outside.
posted by Brockles at 5:35 AM on February 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Guardian has been becoming more conservative for about five or six years now. Those of us who used to be major fans of the paper are painfully aware of this.

Overton window, right? It's being pulled by the steady rightward drift of the rest of the UK press and political class.

And yes, it sucks.
posted by jaduncan at 5:50 AM on February 7, 2012

Oh come on. Your country wants a royal family so bad it squeaks.

The president is a terrible comparison to the British royal family. Any number of Hollywood's dynastic families bear a much stronger resemblance and have a greater air of surhumanization and mystique than our presidents, who spend most of their time trying to convince us that they're just regular folks. Hollywood celebrities of staying power don't pretend anything of the kind.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:50 AM on February 7, 2012

Is the House of Lords still a hereditary thing? I thought it had become an elected body.
posted by dejah420 at 5:51 AM on February 7, 2012

I was all "man, the fucking US" and now I'm all "Well, at least we don't have fucking royalty."

The benefit of having royalty is that they fulfill any need a society has for pomp, pageantry and prurient interest, and allow the actual politicians to just get on with their jobs. Canadian politicians don't have to put up with anything like the sheer level of intrusion into their personal lives that American politicians do. As long as they don't do anything too egregious, such as get arrested, or call 911 because a couple of the cast members from Royal Canadian Air Farce were hanging around outside their house, their private lives remain private and their spouses can stay completely out of the public eye if they wish, and we Canadians only concern ourselves with how they do their jobs.
posted by orange swan at 5:54 AM on February 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is the House of Lords still a hereditary thing? I thought it had become an elected body.

799 Members in total, with

a) 90 hereditary peers (elected by all the hereditary peers to represent them);
b) 26 bishops as religious representatives;
c) and the rest have been appointed by governments of the day for life.

There's no limit on the number of members, and indeed an idiotic government of the future could just attempt to appoint hundreds of members to sway the opinion of the chamber. That hasn't happened so far because it both Isn't Done (this is important in the UK) and there's the danger that the Crown might not sign off on the appointments.

It's surprisingly few steps above strange women lying in ponds distributing swords on a first glance, but works surprisingly well as a place with no democratic legitimacy that can act as a brake on the Commons and force large amounts of delay and extra discussion of contentious legislation.
posted by jaduncan at 6:04 AM on February 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Empire of a hangover. If anyone sees the Duchess of Cornwall, pop her in a postbox to Clarence House.
posted by jbickers at 6:32 AM on February 7, 2012

While so many of royal customs are an elaborate exercise in silliness (that flagdown exercise at 10pm at the Tower of London for one), I do understand the benefit of having a generations-spanning icon as a form of cultural loyalty; ironically, the fight against the British royalty in India in 1857 is an example.

The real jaw-dropping moment for me vis-a-vis Lizzie, though, was when I learnt that even Alex Salmond was a monarchist, despite not being a unionist. Not much chance of the House of Windsor being deposed if the lead rebel in the British Isles himself espouses loyalty to the Queen.
posted by the cydonian at 8:54 AM on February 7, 2012

There's still a baffling number of royalists in Britain, and they're not all coffin dodgers by any means.

I suspect (or hope, rather) a lot of it is affection for Brenda herself rather than the institution, and expect the numbers to drop a fair bit when Chas gets on the throne.

But I don't think he'll be there long, and everyone seems besotted with that lovely Wills & his fragrant missus for some reason, so their numbers will swell again.

They'll be around a lot longer than me and thee, though, that's for sure.
posted by ComfySofa at 11:28 AM on February 7, 2012

They are surprisingly important in trade dealings with the Middle East.
posted by jaduncan at 6:36 AM on February 8, 2012

Free day off! Thanks Queenface!
posted by mippy at 8:25 AM on February 8, 2012

I'm going to have to be nicer about the House of Lords.
posted by Artw at 2:31 PM on February 8, 2012