Millions of Loyal Subjects

I was ready early, for Matthew would arrive at 6:40 and - given St Ives traffic - could not stop longer than the moment it would take me to hop in. So I trotted up to the Royal Cinema to wait. That cinema was playing the new Top Gun movie momentarily (last year it was the new Bond movie), and I had not yet seen it. I would see it, certainly, but not tonight. Not when the Male Voice Choir were rehearsing. 

Already teenaged girls were queuing up for the film, getting their money out and shouting to other approaching teenage girls. I wondered if they knew Tom Cruise will soon be turning 60? Or maybe there were other younger blokes in the movie causing all this drama? but probably not. Probably it really was Tom Cruise, although I could not myself figure it out.

While trying to figure it out, Matthew's car drew up to the curb and I got in.

"Y'alright?" he said in the friendly way of all Cornishmen.

"Oh yes, very well. Thank you for taking me!"

In the front sat choir member Jeff, who chatted softly to Matthew as we passed the lovely Nancledra, Treverack, St Michael's Mount, and the Jubilee Pool in Penzance. The Jubilee Pool would be earning its name this weekend as everybody celebrates the Queen's Jubilee. The Queen has been Queen for seventy years now (hurray!) and that makes this her Jubilee year. Millions of loyal subjects are gearing up for the bash, as they have all been given a four day weekend in which to celebrate it.

We arrived at the church in Paul, and I spent the next two hours listening to men who had grown up singing songs in four part harmony. One need not wonder where this phenomena of Cornishmen and music came from. They are born into it and almost can't help themselves. 

Standing around afterward, someone mentioned the Jubilee, and the fact that the choir are having a concert on the Sunday.

'Oh," said I, "it must be in honor of the Jubilee. How nice!"

"Well no, not exactly," said one.

"Why not exactly?" 

"Not everyone is a Royalist, you know," he said. "Not everyone wants to honor the Royals the way you Americans might." 

I was shocked, I say. Shocked. Why wouldn't they honor the Queen? She has worked so hard all her life, drove a truck during the War, raised a family of five children, and held the country together through sad divorces, fires, scandals, deaths, and disloyalties from within her own ranks. I certainly like her, and wouldn't be able to quite name out why others wouldn't.

"It isn't really about the Queen," said the original man. "It's really about Royalty. Lots of folk don't think we need Royals."

"Well, I think you need them!" I said, wondering whether they could ever actually GET RID OF THE WINDSORS. Surely not! But it was time to go back down the hill, so for the moment my questions went unanswered. 

As we drove, I tried to imagine an England without Royals in it. Impossible! What would they do with Buckingham Palace and Windsor? Turn them into low cost housing? And what about the spectacular William and Kate, the future King and Queen with their perfectly splendid two princes and one princess coming down the line, all set and ready? 

I like the British Royalty. While there might be some tough nuts in there, the Queen balances them out fairly well and I hope it is a long time, a very long time before you and I hear anything sadly final about her. 

She's a Brick.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady