The Diamond Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving and Carriage Procession: June 5, 2012


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I do agree with a slimmed down monarchy but I am not understanding today's balcony. How can the children of the FUTURE monarch be seen as being more worthy of being on the balcony than the children of the EXISTING monarch on HER jubilee? If we are going to talk about this being strictly about the succession then it should have been the Queen, Charles and William but Harry was there too . Also, as I have said before, we could have had an initial balcony appearance with all of the children and grandchildren and a secondary appearance with the family of the POW.
 
Viv said:
Hm.. as long as the Cambridges don't have any children Prince Harry is still pretty high up in the succession line :)! I don't know whether it counts in HM's considerations, but being a son on the heir apparent he's still high up in the royal pecking order!

viv
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I can imagine, what with both the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry being very fixed in the public eye these past couple of years, HM and any of the Royal family's advisers would be quite keen to get the younger generation out there as it would draw a lot more publicity to the thought of patron roles and other roles that the royal family have always been involved in.
As bad as it may sound I can't imagine the general public or the media would have as much interest in seeing the Princess Royal, the Duke of York or the Earl of Wessex doing these duties.
 
AdmirerUS said:
This is a lovely photo of Her Majesty arriving back at the home digs. Queen Elizabeth II Holds A Bouquet Of Flowers As She
But look to the right at the young lady at the door. Has she borrowed someone's uniform to sneak a peak and the royals coming back home? :ermm:
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Those two ladies in uniform were supposed to be the drivers of the third carriage if Prince Philip had been well enough to attend. I heard that the driver usually leaves a small posy in the carriage for the Queen. When the third carriage was not needed, she had the posy anyway and opted to deliver it in person to the Queen when she returned.

This was all inside the quadrangle of Buckingham Palace. I'm sure you need to do lots more than just "borrow" someone's uniform to get that deep into the security perimeter of the palace on a day like this!
 
The more I think of it, the more I think the group on the balcony was just right. If the balcony was full, the criticism would be that the monarchy is bloated and just getting bigger and bigger all the time. This way, she wasn't up there all alone but also she was not crowded out by too many people - the focus was all on HM.

If there were to be any change, the only one I think would make sense would be to replace Charles' children with the Queen's children - that would still keep the number of people low
 
It's been tons of fun this past weekend, I've enjoyed sharing it with all of you. What a great way to end it, now I'm off to party and celebrate one more time. I'll see you guys next week for more fun royal events!
 
With regards to the balcony controversy; the first thing we all need to remember is that this is obviously the way the Queen wanted it. She sets the tone and the parameters for what happens. It's certainly not a snub to HM's children as I just don't think she would ever do that.

Secondly; if you look at the seating arrangement in the royal box at the concert last night, The Queen was joined in the front row by 3 of her 4 children (I assume Edward and Sophie had to make way for the Archbishop of Canterbury whose attendance must have been some sort of retirement gift from the Queen). The Cambridges and Harry were relegated to the second row. I felt the concert was the highlight of the weekend so I think they got the better end of the deal.
 
Anyone notice how cheeky Catherine and Harry were on the balcony? I loved it.
 
To me, if the balcony appearance went the way the Queen wanted then that's the end of the story.
I can see several potential reasons for limiting the people on the balcony today, including the fact that presumably the entire family, or close to it, will be appearing next week.
 
There were apparently around 40+ members of the extended family in St Pauls today. People always grumble about a bloated and ever growing royal family when the entire crowd appears on the balcony.
Today sent a message.....here is your monarch, your future monarch and his family...this is the future.
Besides the rest of the gang can appear on the balcony after Trooping the Colour if she decides that is what she wants.
I doubt anything that happened today happened without her having the final say. As William said "you don't cross my grandmother".
 
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angela said:
I do agree with a slimmed down monarchy but I am not understanding today's balcony. How can the children of the FUTURE monarch be seen as being more worthy of being on the balcony than the children of the EXISTING monarch on HER jubilee? If we are going to talk about this being strictly about the succession then it should have been the Queen, Charles and William but Harry was there too . Also, as I have said before, we could have had an initial balcony appearance with all of the children and grandchildren and a secondary appearance with the family of the POW.
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I thought about that, too. I came to my personal conclusion that the Queen wanted the Jubilee to focus on her position as souverain, not on her personally. It's not like the British celebrated her birthday or her marriage anniversery but her 60 years of reign. Her family besides the POW-branch has not much to do with that, IMHO. Of course they are related to her and to Charles but when it comes to the succession, the first three in line were there plus wifes, who are future Queen Consorts. Let's face it: Harry at the moment is William's heir as long as William is not yet a father.

The queen IMHO knows exactly that she is a very old lady by now and that it is time to prepare the people for her demise and Charles' ascension. Of course, nobody actually wants that and all hope that it will be a day far away in the wider future, but that day will come and there's the 6xP-rule: Proper Pre-Planning Prevents Poor Performance. So the focus at the Jubilee was the queen and her husband, her heir and his wife, the heir's heir and his wife plus the heir's heir's heir. For these people will take center stage in the next years, not a gaggle of less senior Royals. Of course they will be there to celebrate the birthday (or so I guess) but the Diamond Jubilee was not only about the past but of the direct future of the monarchy.
 
I accept that this is what the Queen wanted, I agree with the concept of a slimmed down Royal Family and, as a Camilla supporter, I'm pleased that at the acknowledgement of her acceptance as a member of the Royal Family.

I remain disappointed that all of the Queen's children could not have been on the balcony with her. If the focus was going to be on succession then it would have been apporopriate for just the Queen, Charles and William (withour Camilla, Kate and Harry).

I think the Queen's cousins have given her incredible support over the past 60 years but if there had to be a slimmed down appearance then I would have preferred either the Queen, her children, grandchildren and their spouses or the just the Queen and her children.
 
I think that because the Queen feels that Phillip is such a support, that is why Camilla and Catherine were included. They will each be their husband's - the monarch's- support.
 
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Until William has children, Harry is the 3rd in line to the throne. Had Harry had a spouse she probably would have been on the balcony also, as would have Prince Phillip if he had not been in hospital. It was the line of succession along with spouses.
 
I think this is exactly what the Queen felt was best. I would be willing to bet that she called them by their titles when she stated who she wanted "on" and "not on" the balcony. It was purely looked at as "Head of The Firm", and where we are going. I agree with her. Next is Charles, then (hopefully) much further out is one of the boys. I enjoyed Charles Tribute to The Queen on the BBC. However, it was more film of him and everyone else, along with him laughing at the films. I would have laughed if I was in the same position. They were pretty funny. It seemed like a Tribute/meet the Heir Apparent.

80% approval rating. Work it while you got it! I am sure this is for another post, but based on my observation, skipping Charles (for any reason) would do more harm than good to the monarchy.

You are right Kitty. Who would have thought. Go back and look at pictures of the two of them in say, 1964. Charles was all nose and ears, and women were throwing themselves at Paul. Charles' head grew into his ears and nose, and Paul grew jowls.
 
It is the beginning of things to come. I have not reviewed this, however, I am sure many have. In the past, how often was Princess Margaret and her family on the balcony out of the total outings. The whole family will pop up from time to time, but only the big events. The family was pretty small in 1952. HW, DoE, PoW, PR, QM and P Marg. They grew as any family headed by and 86 year old. HM had 4 children and they each had 2 children.
 
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic, but the subject of trimming the size of the royal family prompted an interesting question. Someone asked me if it was true that the government restricted Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward to just two children apiece so that royal family didn't get too big. :eek::whistling:

I have no problem with the Queen limiting the amount of people on the balcony with her. In fact, it might have been a relief that Edward and Sophie were free to visit Philip in the hospital while the Wales family joined the Queen. But I hope that the general public doesn't come away with weird ideas about people getting "kicked out" of the royal family.
 
It's a bittersweet moment in many ways; in the midst of great jubilation it's also the passing of the torch to the next generation. It brings a lump to my throat.
 
VictoriaB said:
I accept that this is what the Queen wanted, I agree with the concept of a slimmed down Royal Family and, as a Camilla supporter, I'm pleased that at the acknowledgement of her acceptance as a member of the Royal Family.

I remain disappointed that all of the Queen's children could not have been on the balcony with her. If the focus was going to be on succession then it would have been apporopriate for just the Queen, Charles and William (withour Camilla, Kate and Harry).

I think the Queen's cousins have given her incredible support over the past 60 years but if there had to be a slimmed down appearance then I would have preferred either the Queen, her children, grandchildren and their spouses or the just the Queen and her children.
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My sentiments exactly. It would have been an amzing end to an amazing weekend if the entire family was there, but it was not to be. Does this mean Queen's Official Birthday Appearances will also be trimmed down in future? I hope not.

One thing I fail to understand is this need to "meet the Heir". It was about the Queen, and I thought it would have been a good time to thank the entire family for their service - they all do good deeds, after all. Anyone who doesn't know that Charles will be the next king needs to move out from under their rock!
 
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic, but the subject of trimming the size of the royal family prompted an interesting question. Someone asked me if it was true that the government restricted Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward to just two children apiece so that royal family didn't get too big.
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Can't believe this in a million years. Besides, Sophie would have had three children if she hadn't lost (at least) one that we know of.

There's a young girl and boy behind The Queen next to The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, anyone know who they are?
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Earl and COuntess of Ulster (though they're not as young as they look!)

Just a small side note - looking at the pictures from today, I thought that Zara looked pregnant....or the dress was just not fitting.
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I believe it's just her figure, maybe the muscles she uses in riding horses (which i know NOTHING about); she looked 'pregnant' on her wedding day too.

The QUeen looked lovely, but so sad during the 'God Save The Queen'; you wanted to give her a cuddle. Kate looked like she was born to do the role. Sophie looked very elegant (and Louise so cute). Good to see James visiting his grandfather in hospital. Do feel sorry a bit for Harry; he's moving down the 'pecking order' and as someone said, one day he'll be in the Duke of York's position, and his children will not be wanted, just like no one (except us TRUE royal watchers who understand the process) seems to want Beatrice and Eugenie now. Just think back to Princess Alexandra, also a daughter of a younger Prince, who was seen in tiara etc from a very young age, helping out the QUeen. We'll be lucky to see the two York sisters in a tiara for their weddings, and that might be it. I expect Sarah's tiara, which was just lovely. WHoops, going off thread here...
 
Obviously, the Queen personally decided to reduce the number of family members on the balcony, but it begs the question: Why this celebration? The extended family didn't even get to attend the lunch.

The Diamond Jubilee is a once in a lifetime (or several lifetimes) event. The Queen's children have loyally served the monarchy and each in their own way have paid a price for it. It just seems as though they could have gradually pared down appearances. It would have seemed more graceful to me.
 
I finally found an article with a photo of Princess Anne. I think all the ladies looked great (the gentlemen, too, but it is easier for them). I will say I think Camilla's hat was a tad too big, but the color and style was terrific. Princess Anne chose a great color for her and I liked the style. Sophie, Beatrice, and Eugenie looked elegant and very classy. I'm not sure about Zara's hat, but the Brits seem to love unusual hats.
Queen's Jubilee 2012: Kate Middleton dazzles in lace | Mail Online
 
I think Prince Harry will always be of special interest to most people. Partly due to his mother's celebrity, and partly due to his own natural grace and charisma. Moreover, he and William are very close, which, unfortunately, is not the case between Andrew and Charles. I also think that there will be a lesser interest in Beatrice and Eugenie because of their mother's celebrity. However, I do see Lady Louise leading a much quieter life, mainly because her parents do not attract the same attention that Diana and Fergie did. Actually, Lady Louise might end up having an easier time of it.

Sorry to go off topic, but the jubilee is not only about looking back, but looking ahead.
 
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US Royal Watcher said:
Obviously, the Queen personally decided to reduce the number of family members on the balcony, but it begs the question: Why this celebration? The extended family didn't even get to attend the lunch.
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There were other lunches and dinners. The Jubilee Weekend featured the queen as the Head of her dynasty, as the reigning souverain. It was to show off to the subjects that they have a queen to be proud of and that this queen has a son who will one day be king himself. A matter of continuity. All others in the monarchy are meant to serve - nobody is a peer to the queen except her son and his heirs in a way and we've seen the Prince paying allegiance to his mother at Caernavon quite some times in the reports of the last days: an important point. For Charles (and then William and Harry) plus their wifes are the first and mot notable servants of the monarch who herself is the servant of her people. At a moment like this, all other, even the most noble subjects, fade into the baclground for a while. This is how a dynasty works.
 
Interesting point, Kataryn. thanks.
 
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