In Pop Brixton, a trendy nightlife area in South London, it will God save the Queen sound different in the next few days. “DJs will combine the tune with a little soul, a little hip-hop, a little jungle,” said Harry Benjamin Asmah the Third, organizer of the four-day celebration to mark Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee.
‘We play music here for 44 hours and have food from all over the world. Having fun together is the best gift to our queen. She is a wonderful lady,’ says the 43-year-old Briton of Ghanaian descent, ‘who brings communities together.’
An estimated 15 million Britons, almost a quarter of the population, will participate in some way in the coming days in one or more of the 16 thousand festive activities for the 96-year-old queen, who will be on the throne for 70 years this year. Thursday and Friday are days off. Food, friendship & fun, that’s the motto. On the final day, squares, parks, streets and stadiums will be the setting for communal lunches. Crown Prince Charles and Camilla will join for lunch at The Oval cricket stadium elsewhere in South London. There are also Big Jubilee Lunches in Canada and New Zealand, among others.
Daughter of Harry and Meghan
It is uncertain to what extent the queen, who has difficulty walking, will participate in ‘her’ party herself. She will be absent from Trooping the Colour, the military parade held every year for her birthday. She will, however, salute the parade from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. She misses the Derby, her favorite horse race. Instead, she first meets her nearly 1-year-old great-grandchild Lillibet, Harry and Meghan’s daughter named after her. The rebellious couple will attend the festivities, but have no intention of stepping into the limelight.
The Queen is likely to join the grand parade, Sunday, from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, the same route she took after her coronation on 2 June 1953. On arrival, major names in British cultural life, including Sir Cliff Richard, pay tribute to the Queen in the shadow of the Queen Victoria Memorial. In addition, Ed Sheeran sings the national anthem, as well as his hit Perfect† It will be accompanied by images of Elizabeth and her husband Philip, who died last year, probably an emotional moment for the Queen.
The Jubilee will also be emotional for the British, although they will not show it immediately. Given her advanced age, it is likely that this will be the last major royal feast of the Elizabethan era. Step by step, the queen says goodbye to public life and prefers things that she really enjoys. The recent Royal Horse Show, for example, where she was visibly enjoying herself.
Part of the British Identity
A notable moment was May 15 this year, when she sympathetically shrugged when noted television host Alan Titchmarsh lyrically described her as the ‘national heartbeat’. But the well-known garden program presenter did have a point. No Brit under 70 has seen a queen other than Elizabeth. In those seven decades she has become part of the British identity. In fact, she has become the personification of the United Kingdom. Even Republicans appreciate her and know that any plea for a republic will stand no chance as long as she is on the throne. Elizabeth the Last, they call her, in the hope that after her the thousand-year-old island monarchy will have had its day. To most Brits, she’s simply Elizabeth the Great.
While she appears less and less in public, her face is omnipresent in the streets. From a huge screen she smiles at the tourists at Piccadilly Circus and seven photos of her are projected on the boulders of Stonehenge, one for each decade. From libraries to cinemas, from schools to stations: cloths or flags with her image hang everywhere. The demand for Welsh corgis, her inseparable dogs, has increased significantly. Inspired by her refusal to retire, British women are working longer and longer.
“I see her as a grandmother,” publicist Tomiwa Owolade recently wrote in The Evening StandardShe is dignified and wise, and, more importantly, trusted. She embodies a link to the past that I recognize and cherish. She was already queen when the first James Bond movie came out, she was queen when England won the World Cup. When she celebrates her anniversary, I am proud.’ Owolade recalled that in 1961, against the advice of her prime minister, Elizabeth visited Ghana, which had become independent a few years earlier, and danced with the communist leader to Highlife music, a combination of Western jazz and music from the Ghanaian Akan people.
Nostalgia
Keeping the Commonwealth together is one of its great achievements. And not only that. She is also an anchor for the United Kingdom. Even the nationalists in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have a soft spot for her. The same goes for Brexiteers and Remainers: both sides agree that Elizabeth has been a formidable head of state for 70 years. Buckingham Palace was also not amused when, in the run-up to the EU referendum, Brexiteers attempted to recruit her as a supporter of their cause. Together, Brexiteers and Remainers will now eat scones, sandwiches and Scotch eggs.
For the British, the party will be a moment to forget all worries: inflation, the Brexit troubles, the bitter culture struggle, the problems in healthcare and the anarchy in Downing Street. The party is good for nostalgia. Leading up to the anniversary, the nation swooned over the BBC documentary The Unseen Queen, which featured video-8 footage shot behind the palace walls by the Windsors over the years. Some pubs hand out free beers to visitors who mention the magic word ‘1952’, the year that started an eventful era in British history.
It’s the time for the British to ‘Thank you, Ma’am‘ to say to the big, little lady.
