Lady Nimue
Heir Apparent
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2014
- Messages
- 4,418
- City
- Pacific Palisades CA
- Country
- United States
Just to put my "two cents" in. There are just far too many people on the balcony this year. No offense, but it's time to cut down the number of people.
I think it's more to do with what loonytick said: it's a family occasion, a party occasion, not really about image or messaging anything (entirely, though there is some of that, for sure).
I also see it as a support to the Queen, who no longer has Philip beside her. It was a nice touch to have Andrew, Charles and William all in red uniforms and beside the Queen. Clearly some image going on, of course (like with William's young family, basically the Queen, Charles, Willam et al and Harry et al clustered together).
A few years ago I watched one of the documentaries the BRF periodically allows made "behind the scenes." This one, I don't recall the name, showed workers at Buckingham Palace explaining things about their jobs...the man who does a complete walk through the palace every day checking and winding all the antique clocks, the chef and waitstaff preparing for a state dinner, and a butler getting everything ready for Trooping the Color. IIRC, he was setting everything up in the room from which the balcony opens.
The impression I got from his explanation of what would be happening there is that, once they're back at the palace that day, the Queen considers that part of the day an extended family* party. In that room they're having their pre-lunch cocktails and enjoying some social time with all the cousins and such. They do all go out on the balcony, but at least in part that's the Queen as hostess offering her guests a chance to see the fly-past from a good point of view. That explains why we occasionally (rarely, but not unheard of) see non-family members out there with the family; those people have been invited to the party, and the Queen is not the kind of hostess who gives some of her guests a good view of the entertainment while others have to peek through windows.
Now, that's how the butler chose to talk about that part of the day. It may not give the complete picture of how the BRF think about the balcony portion of Trooping the Color. But at least a part of the mindset going into who is on the balcony, where they stand, etc. seems to be independent of any concerns or thoughts regarding image or messaging.
*As for who is or isn't "family," it seems quite clear from the people who regularly show up at the Queen's family events (Trooping the Colour, the family Christmas party, etc.) she defines the term the way most people do, which is to say that she's not getting technical about who is x degrees away on the family tree or which last name they have, but rather it's whichever relatives have always been included in family events, their spouses, kids, grandkids, etc.
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