Did he faint.....

merlotgran - my post wasn't posted with any angst, it was all 'said' in a normal, conversational tone of voice - I promise

Why were these boys not in school and that grumpy old woman should be put out to grass. Doesn't she know we are a nation of poverty and food banks for many children. Golden coaches. Shameful!!

Well, If that isn't an unpleasant comment, I don't know what is. Watching the Queen at the D.day ceremonies this morning, I for one felt proud and thankful that we have got such a splendid lady as our head of state, and not some faceless colourless President, who is here today and gone tomorrow. OK you can vote for him/her, but lets face it what you see is not always what you get, and in any case they won't be there for that long before they're off to the next money making scheme! I can't think of anyone world wide who actually dedicated themselves at the age of 25 to serve the nation for the whole of their lives, quite a tall order I'd say. The opening of Parliament IS tradition, (the gold coach does bring in the tourists, unlike a black limousine!) in my opinion a good one, but perhaps I'm wrong, but then Parliament itself is founded on tradition, so perhaps that should be swept away and another system put in it's place?!!!

How long did the boy lie around before someone came to his aid, that is the question, not whether the queen herself stopped to pick him up. I can't imagine he was left there to gasp until the proceedings were over.

This was a ceremonial occasion The person centre stage at the time, as in a theatre performance, keeps going while others cope with the unexpected. The ability to do that and not be distracted is part of her training, and picking up small boys who have fallen by the wayside is someone else's training.

And for blueskies comment, I hope it was tongue-in-cheek. There is a place for pageantry and ceremonial to keeep the spirits up as well as for belt-tightening. The golden coach was probably commissioned by the PM, with the encouragement of Visit Britain, not by her Maj, who would rather be on the back of one of the horses.

And she is not a grumpy old woman, she is taking her job seriously. Would you really rather she cracked dodgy jokes as she read out the speech her government has written for her? I expect she finds their ideas far from amusing.

Well said Elegran.

Yes, I agree!

I thought the new coach was a gift from Australia , I could be mistaken

My g aunts always told me - never diamonds before dinner, never did have any so that was useless advice

" grumpy old woman".

Posting that sounds pretty grumpy to me.

This world would be a dull place without the odd golden coach about the place.

And she's not grumpy. She's got a radiant smile. But nobody can be smiling all the time.

I agree, H.M has a lovely smile, her whole face lights up. Like all of us she can look quite serious at times, but of course she can't be smiling all the time, none of us can! The Golden Coach cheers me up no end, and as for the Household Cavalry, they are just FAB!

Pity she doesn't smile a bit more often then!

On the other matter, I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree.

Oh dear, that comment sounds quite bitter - what a shame.

She smiles in private and one-to-one. I don't think I would smile about hobnobbing with politicians.

nigglynellie

Bitter? About what? Maybe I don't share the same level of feelings towards the royal family that you seem to have but that doesn't equate with being 'bitter'. On a day-to-day basis, the royals don't enter my head once, to me, they are irrelevant to my life.

It isn't a shame at all - I find it odd that you see it that way.

Just because someone is not enamoured of the royal family does not make them "bitter". Using these sort of terms implies some sort of underlying and unpleasant personality trait.

The media also uses this method to deal with those who do not buy in to "brand Royal" - a rather disapproving and patronising tone which seeks to negate the views of those who don't go along with the traditional "party line".

No of course it doesn't, but the comment was pretty miserable! If the Queen smiled too much she would then be accused of insincerity! basically a no win situation, damned if you do and damned if you don't!!
You're right though, I do admire the Queen, and approve of the royal family, probably I'm out on a limb over this, and a bit over sensitive!

I like your g aunt's saying Annie. A way of saying, spend within your means?

"Using these sort of terms implies some sort of underlying and unpleasant personality trait."

That is a diabolical thing to say. A personal attack if anything is!

And don't forget "brand royal" makes a lot of money for this country. As well as adding pleasantness, interest, and enjoyment for many of the people of the UK.

It's easy to judge the value of royalty with common jealousy in the mixture, because we see our lives as not measuring up. But our lives can be just as good and rewarding as theirs, without all the trappings. And without the punishing schedules that go with thos trappings.

I'm still not sure why I should be jealous of the royals, or think my life doesn't measure up. The Queen is 88 and she's being wheeled out to open the "new" Reading station - how mind numbingly boring is that? 62 years of feigning interest in hordes of people you will never meet again and having everything you say and do criticised. No amount of diamonds or gold coaches would make me want to do it.

I don't think that would be boring. I would quite like to go all round the country opening new things.

And they don't have to "wheel" her anywhere.

^ If the Queen smiled too much she would then be accused of insincerity!^

Michelle Obama smiles quite a lot as did Diana, so too does Camilla; I don't recall anyone accusing them of being insincere - in fact, people tend(ed) to think quite highly of them.

That is a diabolical thing to say. A personal attack if anything is!

I think Eloethan meant that the use of the term was an implication against the person who it was being said about, not about nigglynellie herself.

Yes, that's what I meant - it's really not very nice to call someone "bitter" just because they have a different view from yourself.

Quite so Eloethan - can you imagine the threads on here if we just typed 'yes, I agree with you', 'you are quite right', 'I can't add anything because I agree with everything that everyone else has alread said'