So ‘finally’ we know. The Royal Wedding will take place on April 29th. A blessed relief? Union Jacks and commemorative doilies at the ready? No, me neither.
I have no problem with them personally and the best of British luck to Wills and Kate but it is difficult to get excited about the Royal Family in these modern times, straitened or not. I can’t imagine that will change even if the Queen cedes her throne (as she should) to Charles. Monarchs shouldn’t be like baldness and having twins, it shouldn’t skip a generation. To be honest, once Elizabeth hangs up her crown, I’d quite happily cash in the Royal Family, turn Buckingham Palace into shelter accommodation for the homeless in London’s near vicinity and just move on from there. Alternatively, foreigners love the Royals so can’t we just add it on to Las Vegas or put it in a Japanese Museum somewhere and we’ll split the gate receipts? Anyway, selfishly speaking, the UK having a President would just mean more elections which can’t be a bad thing from where I’m sitting. I am pretty sure there are more than a few Scottish republicans who think along the same lines.
This wedding is already sowing division at the border given that England (and perhaps Wales?) will receive a public holiday on the 29th but, as such decisions are devolved to Holyrood, it will be for the Scottish Parliament (Government?) to decide if we should follow suit. I daresay that MSPs will want to avoid the bad press and lack of respect in not calling a holiday for that same day but I do wonder to what extent the public will be behind such a decision. Would it not be more appropriate to have a holiday on St Andrew’s Day (as will be debated in Holyrood this week)? We could postpone this one public holiday and do it on 30th November 2011 on some sort of trial basis, see if we want it to be long term. We already have Easter booked in for late April, we don’t want to cram everything in together.
And anyway, the end of April and start of May is becoming quite a crowded field – Holyrood elections, AV referendum and a Royal Wedding. That’s a lot to pack in and we wouldn’t want to lose our focus when making the difficult decision of what type of Government we want to have going forward. Not to mention voting system, of course.
Maybe Scotland should just give April 29th a miss? But I would say that from down here though, wouldn’t I…
#1 by cynicalHighlander on November 23, 2010 - 2:39 pm
We could do this instead Declaration of independence
#2 by Jeff on November 23, 2010 - 2:44 pm
I don’t want to take the wind out of your Saltire CH but you’ll struggle to manage that before April 29th.
#3 by Sean on November 23, 2010 - 3:05 pm
I suggest we do it before November 29th!
I suggest we do it before 3.29pm!
#4 by Aldos Rendos on November 23, 2010 - 3:14 pm
As much as it pains me to say it. Sadly baldness doesn’t skip a generation…..
I actually saw the headline ‘Prince and Kate to marry on 29th April’ on the BBC. My first thoughts were – what? Prince and Katie Price are getting married!
#5 by Jeff on November 23, 2010 - 3:26 pm
He’d have a good reason to put his rib back in at least…..
#6 by Doug Daniel on November 23, 2010 - 3:48 pm
Ah, a royal wedding: Union Jacks in the streets, the TV and newspapers telling us how proud we are to be British, and reminding us how great that icon of Britishness – the monarchy – is and how loved it is throughout the world…
It’s very convenient to have all this just a week before voters go to the polls to decide whether to give the SNP a second term in government, isn’t it? Or am I just being a cynical stick-in-the-mud?
Lots of luck to them anyway, hopefully they’ll get a bit of space to live their lives in peace instead of being hounded by the press – to give the rest of us some peace as much as for their own sanity. Hopefully Kate (sorry, Catherine) can adapt to life as a royal from her roots as an everyday, common-as-muck millionnaire heiress!
Actually, on a more practical note, won’t it be an awful strain on the police to have all this going on at the same time? I’d have thought the month before an election would have been a pretty busy time for the police, what with all the politicians out and about, with eggs being thrown about and grannies to be insulted – shouldn’t there be an attempt to avoid any other major events in that time?
#7 by Dubbieside on November 23, 2010 - 4:26 pm
Doug
It may just have the opposite effect. It will be like having 1966 rammed down our throats again.
Election slogan “the only way to stop this crap that we are paying for is vote SNP”
#8 by Spoonsy on November 23, 2010 - 4:52 pm
Dubbieside:
Actually, voting SNP will do nothing of the sort. As Alex Salmond said: “I find the Queen in very lively form. She looks in robust health and I envisage her as being Queen of Scots for a very long time to come.
“The monarchy is very important because some people, not many hopefully, still have the impression that in gaining independence and political control – so far as you can have it in the modern world – we want to shut ourselves away from everyone and everything.
“It is just the opposite. Things we enjoy and have in common would still be shared. In the sense that the monarchy is a symbol of that social union then I think it is very important to stress that point.’
I’m actually wondering how long it will be before a rumpus erupts, as it inevitably will, over whether Salmond gets an invite to the aforementioned Royal nuptials or not.
#9 by James on November 23, 2010 - 5:13 pm
The rumpus is indeed inevitable. I’ve pre-sunk my heart.
#10 by Caron on November 23, 2010 - 4:57 pm
Don’t be so mardy!:-). Let’s think about this. Do we want a public holiday in April when the weather is usually good and Scotland is coming into its most beautiful period of the year, or in November when it’s freezing?
I really don’t think the SNP Government is stupid enough to fail to give people in Scotland an extra day off a week before they’re up for re-election.
And, for political campaigners, it’s a real gift cos you have an extra day when your activists don’t have to go to their day jobs and can be out on the streets delivering leaflets or knocking on doors.
A big win win, I’d say.
#11 by Malc on November 23, 2010 - 5:23 pm
You think there won’t be a suspension of the campaign for the day then?
Also – I don’t know which part of Scotland you’ve been living in, but April for me tends to be wet and windy… a day off in November at least gives you the chance to get some Christmas shopping done! 😉
#12 by Jeff on November 23, 2010 - 10:19 pm
Loving the use of mardy Caron, though I have had Gordon Brown’s favourite band the Arctic Monkeys stuck in my head ever since…
I think you’re right, the Government will fall in line and give the holiday but I’m with Malc, there’s plenty of holidays around that time and I could definitely do with one round about now.
We can split the difference and a half-day each. A half-day is effectively a holiday anyway….
(Incidentally, I’m a sucker for hype so for all my bah-humbugness I wouldn’t rule out my joining the throng at Westminster Abbey, cheering them on. Sad but true)
#13 by Dubbieside on November 23, 2010 - 5:26 pm
Spoonsy
Actually it will. How much do you think Australia, New Zealand and Canada will be paying towards this? A big fat zero even though the monarch still has a ceremonial role to play in the Commonwealth.
Our money will still be going into the Westminster pot to pay for all the little things like police, army etc. Maybe we should have whip round to pay for the fuel for the fly past.
#14 by CassiusClaymore on November 23, 2010 - 5:26 pm
This is an OG by the Unionists. More and more Scots are republican in mindset and will be irritated by the inevitable hysteria in England over this.
There will inevitably be mass conflation of Britain/England in the media, again that will harden the SNP vote.
Not too concerned about the impact of this. Commiserations to Ms Middleton for marrying beneath herself, though.
CC
#15 by Malc on November 23, 2010 - 5:27 pm
I got married in March. My wife went to St Andrews Uni too. How come we never got a public holiday? Aren’t we all in this together?
#16 by Caron on November 23, 2010 - 7:03 pm
Malc, I reckon there might be a suspension of campaigning for the hour or so they’re in the Abbey, but that leaves 23 other blissful hours of political frenzy.
Late April and May are my favourite times of the year.
And as for Christmas shopping – give me online any day.
#17 by Malc on November 23, 2010 - 8:00 pm
When Diana died, they suspended the referendum campaign for a week. Fair enough – that was for a funeral and not a wedding – but it was a royal event.
Funny you say that re: Shopping. Mrs H did all her’s online on Sat while I watched two rugby matches.
#18 by Indy on November 23, 2010 - 8:14 pm
Malc asks
“You think there won’t be a suspension of the campaign for the day then?”
Nope. It was one thing when DIana died – people were genuinely in shock and it would have been extremely disrespectful. This is different.
The good thing is that folk will get a holiday so activists will be free and many more people will be at home. As Caron says we won’t chap doors or deliver leaflets during the actual ceremony but the rest of the day is ours.
PS: Of course Alex Salmond will be invited and of course he will go. Why wouldn’t he? He is no longer a bolshy student activist after all.
#19 by Malc on November 23, 2010 - 9:25 pm
Fair enough. I was just asking the question!
#20 by Matt Wardman on November 23, 2010 - 10:19 pm
>Doug
>It’s very convenient to have all this just a week before voters go to the polls to decide whether to give the SNP a second term in government, isn’t it? Or am I just being a cynical stick-in-the-mud?
I think you slightly overestimate the importance the rest of us attach to the SNP ! What difference would it make?
>Hopefully Kate (sorry, Catherine) can adapt to life as a royal from her roots as an everyday, common-as-muck millionnaire heiress!
Common as muck indeed – both parents working for BA. Flight despatcher + stewardess.
Rgds
M
#21 by Jeff on November 23, 2010 - 10:48 pm
Of course, two ‘elite’ St Andrews graduates getting married a week before the Scottish election could put Iain Gray in a difficult position:
“While Alex Salmond was studying the dismal science – economics – in the academic birthplace of Thatcherism, I was studying natural science in the academic home of the enlightenment.”
Hopefully Geography and History of Art is more up Iain Gray’s street…
#22 by Shuna on November 24, 2010 - 8:44 am
Sorry had to laugh at Malc’s suggestion that a day off in Nov would allow you to get some Christmas shopping done. Guess who WAS planning to do that today but has be thwarted by jack knifed lorries on icy roads and whose other route is reported as hazerdous with more snow forecast????????
Bring on the Royal Wedding I say – I could do with an extra day off just after Holy Week….
#23 by Malc on November 24, 2010 - 9:04 am
Just because its a day off doesn’t mean you have to go out to do it! You can sit at home on your day off and do your Christmas shopping online. Or if you have a cushy job, you can always do the same – at work!
#24 by Jeff on November 24, 2010 - 9:38 am
Sorry Shuna, I forget that not everyone gets Easter off…!
#25 by Shuna on November 24, 2010 - 4:27 pm
lol thanks Jeff! Malc I was combining shopping with an eye check up – perhaps a little more environmentally friendly than online shopping (additional delivery miles etc) ….does that get me some green points?