I rose early this morning as sleep evaded me after 6 am. By 9 am I had been in both Sainsburys and Tesco, the fridge and freezer were full, cupboards almost stacked, and second breakfast consumed.
This strangely enough was timed just fine for the 'Trooping of the Colour.'
Why troop the colour? In days gone by soldiers needed to know where they were on a battlefield, it was very easy to get mixed up in such circumstances, and so officers would march up and down in front of the paraded troops, thus 'trooping,' the flag, and each would take note of his regiments flag. This of course goes way back into time, the Romans always paraded their standards for the men to follow. It was of course the duty of the enemy to capture such banners, carrying the flagw as always a dangerous experience.
For many years the flag has been 'trooped' on the monarchs birthday, not that the monarch was needing to know which flag to follow, and this practice continues today.
The Guards regiments, along with the Household Cavalry, and the Royal Artillery (I forget their proper designation) march in turn before the Queen, (today it was Prince Charles standing in for his aged mother) after she has recognised the flag. All this involves a lot of pomp and circumstance, with the gentry in the crowds, all the high heid yins appearing, parents of individuals guardsmen boasting, and the camera's always watching, watching, watching, hoping for a mistake from a royal, or something 'adorable' from the kids. Afterwards they all go home, bar the soldiers who spend the rest of the day cleaning, polishing, and boasting to family that "I was there!"
In times past my dad always watched this, back then on our 'Ferranti' black and white TV. In the late 50's and 60's it was clear that all over the nation ex-servicemen were watching the drill of the busby wearers closely. It was clear that like my dad, they were yelling at the screen "Call yourselves soldiers?" "That line is not straight!" "Put your busby on properly!" And so on. Millions of men who had endured such drill under Army, Navy or RAF corporals always knew the best way to drill, and the Guardsmen were never doing it correctly.
How did we win that war?
Not being much of a royalist I have tended to ignore this event over the past few years and today I found myself wodnering if it really was worth having? Certainly pomp such as this exists in most countries, even if not quite the same as here, but has the time for this past? Should such events be renovated? If the monarch is to remain the troops will need to look to him, such events are therefore required. However, the sight of men who have fought their way up the military ladder (literally in some cases) wearing aged hats adorned with feathers does speak of a past time that no longer rings true.
The flag waving patriotic crowds love parades, which is fine, kids like it, especially when royals walk among them, something the queen and Charles have done often. But the monarchy has to change, not just because Charlie is coming to it. He appears to have indicated a cut in the costs, Andrew will not be pleased, and changes are required, but will he speak out on the political situation once king? I think not. Many wonder why £28 million has been spent on this while people are struggling, but it has always been thus with a monarch. We wait and see, but cannot avoid pages and pages of this in the papers over the next few days.
