by Richard A » Thu Jun 06, 2024 8:32 pm
I agree. Too many forget that they are human beings - possibly because the previous generation believed it was their duty not to show that. But at the same time, it's the deal. We pay for them the kind of figures that make the likes of Heid and Lianachan grind their teeth and believe that being able to pry into every detail of their lives is part of what we pay for. As Queen Caroline in The Madness of King George put it, "Smile and wave - it's what you're paid for. Smile and wave."
But the Crown Prince - even more than the King - is also a symbol of a new era. At the 75th anniversary, who would have predicted at the 80th, the Chancellor of Germany would be invited but not the President of Russia. But that is where we are. Today's alliance, shaky though it might be, runs to Berlin, not Murmansk. Hopefully the wheel will turn again and a new Head of State of a new Russia will be invited to a future event - whether or not anyone who was there on D-Day is still around to turn up. Just as I hope that I, not just our daughter, will get to see the UK's links with the EU re-established. Screw it - for all my pessimism, it only took 15 years last time. And things like that is what both the King and the Crown Prince symbolise - and the good thing is, they both know it.