Jubil(ee)ation

Although London has 33% of its inhabitants who are pure British citizens, I have managed to make quite a few British friends during my time here.  Of these, I would say half are either royalists or do not really care much about the Royals and the other half are sheer republicans.  In my case, I do not have much of an opinion, since Malta ceased being part of the Empire a long time ago, although I must say my host country has generally been quite kind to me and, as a sign of respect, I do respect HM and her entire entourage.

This weekend, I would daresay that the entire U.K. is suddenly enthusiastic about the Queen, in the light of her 60th Jubilee celebrations and, even more so, because of the 4 day weekend we are enjoying...

It is surprising to note that, while back home all public buildings and schools would invariably sport a huge photo of the President in the building's foyer, I have not yet encountered this practice here.  However, in London, wherever you go, you can see the Queen's presence in one way or another: my own workplace is called Imperial College, the Royal Albert Hall, so-and-so Palace, Queen's Gate or Palace Gate, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Royal this and that, Jubilee Line, Royal Mail,  Royal Opera House, Royal Academy, Royal Festival Hall, Royal College of Music...the list is endless.  Deep down, they all love the Royals.  And, Queen or no Queen, the Brits do love their pomp and ceremony and the Jubilee was no exception trying to make the best of this once in a life time event.

My interest in the British monarchy was rather limited to the Tudor period until a few months ago, but I kicked off my personal tribute to the Windsor house last week when I read "The King's Speech", entirely devoted to HM's father.  I managed to start it and finish it in the same day.  Not that I am suddenly such a big fan of the Queen or her family, but (a) it is a good book and (b) I travelled some 300km on the train that day (up to Coventry and back) and, naturally, had plenty of time to kill.  But the big thing happened this weekend, precisely coinciding with the early summer bank holiday...

Summer 2012, which had supposedly started last week with temperatures surpassing those back home, is now suspended but the Diamond Jubilee festivities proceeded nonetheless.  From our experience of the NYE events in Central London, we decided to head off to the River 3 or 4 hours earlier than the scheduled time, to ensuire getting a good spot.  Our efforts were rewarded, at the cost of standing in the same location from 11.30 till 4.30, but we did get a (distant) glimpse of HM...more on that later.

The weather did not disappoint us: it was London at its best with grey clouds, mist and the light drizzle.  Of course, had it been sunny and bright, people would have thought the pictures are a forgery.  From our vintage point beside the Millennium Bridge on the North Bank and facing the Globe and Tate on the right and the cloud-covered Shard on the Right, we waited and waited for the 1000 piece flotilla escorting the Royal Barge.  It was a sight simply seeing the Brits, most of them having come a long way from the North, dressed up in white, red and blue, wearing such coloured wigs, Union Jack outfits, waving flags and, of course, eating.  People had been there since 8am or even camped overnight, though they only were ahead of us by 50cm.

Thanks to the joys of smartphones, we knew exactly when the Queen left Battersea via BBC live and waited and waited till the first boats appeared.  And then they reached us: colours and energetic rowers, bells and flags and then sea cadets and scores of Commonwealth flags (Malta included) and finally the Queen and the Royal Family.

It was impressive to see that the 86 year old monarch was still waving incessantly and had not sat down yet (and indeed did not sit till the very end).  From our enviable viewpoint, we only saw the Queen having the size of my thumb - I had always thought the Thames was quite narrow but I was wrong - but it was worth the wait. It was one of those "I was there" moments.

And the organisation?  Impeccable, British style event handling: some 1,000,000 turned out along the Thames' banks on the day and there was not even one moment of confusion.  Amazing people.  No wonder these guys had 25% of the whole world's territory and population in their control.

Of course, the pageant was not all: a huge concert is scheduled tonight featuring Sir Macca, Sir Elton, Sir Cliff, Kylie, Steve Wonder and much more.  I can't wait for it to start, though unfortunately my name was not amongst the lucky 10000 randomly picked ones.  Nonetheless, I will join the Brits and shout, "God save the Queen!"