In May of 1939, I was taken by train to Saskatoon to see King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. As constitutional monarchs, they were doing the bidding of the British cabinet. War was looming. It was necessary to strengthen ties with Canada. Queen Elizabeth II, daughter of George VI, has also exemplified the same unswerving devotion to duty.
Monarchy is an archaic form of government which was well suited to controlling the quarrelsome nobles created by the feudal system and establishing a uniform legal system.
In 2011, the monarchy is symbolic. The marriage of a grandson of the Queen of Canada - and a future king - to a commoner has been called a Fairy Tale Wedding. The rich panoply of uniforms, the colours and sounds revived the weakening wellsprings of national pride. The monarchy may survive in Canada and Australia for another generation.
Although there have been good kings and bad in Britain, they have all been a part of the remarkable heritage of a people who were responsible for the Industrial Revolution, railways, a world language, treasures of the written word and advances in the arts of government. Let Britons take pride in their past.
For people in other countries who were avid spectators of the royal nuptials, the Fairy Tale Wedding was the Great Diversion among many other diversions. Worldwide, people were able to see how quickly the well-financed news gatherers and commentators could flit from one breaking story to another. The royal wedding was a public spectacle, a public diversion.
We all have private diversions, a round of entertainments and recreations which seem for many the only purpose in living. As media people described the new bride?s wedding gown, human misery continued scarcely abated in Haiti, Africa, Japan, the American tornado belt and, most probably, in other places the media have not yet visited.
We wonder if hunger, disease and warfare can ever be banished. Certainly, pleasure-seekers will have little part in the effort. The world needs more people who perceive and do their duties, like Elizabeth II. If we are all living just for the fun of it, the human race cannot survive.
