What a week

A lot has happened since my last post, momentous changes, the Queen died, we have a new King, we have a new Prime Minister all in a week. I feel as if it should be profound somehow and am surprised it really doesn’t feel as if it is. It feels rather the same as, the monarchy continues, the Queen is dead Long live the King. The new Prime Minister is, as far as it can be seen, the continuation candidate.

I am perhaps fortunate that I do not have a TV at present, the last one broke recently and as I am moving I thought I would get the new one after the move, so I am spared the wall to wall coverage dipping in and out on BBC iPlayer or catch up TV whenever I want to. Of course, I also catch the social media snippets which are usually showing an alternative viewpoint, for instance “not my King”, “You are a dirty old pervert” addressed to Prince Andrew as he followed the Queen’s coffin. 

Showing my age,(shh), I have now been alive for three monarchs. Will it make any difference to have a new King? I really don’t know. The fact that the Queen has reigned for 70 years and if you accept the monarchy and its wealth at all her reign has been a positive one in that she has tried and largely succeeded to “serve” her people. Her last act of service it seems to me was to make sure she was able to accept the resignation of our former Prime Minister, hanging in there until it was done! For all I know the Queen may have thought he was wonderful, though I somewhat doubt it. Where I feel the Queen erred in judgment particularly was over her son Andrew, leaving whatever actions which were finally taken far too late and trying to re-integrate him into public opinion and regain his acceptance by the public. In my judgment that will never be the case. However, as a mother trying to protect your favourite child it may be understandable if not acceptable.

As for the future, I am sure those who still wish to retain a monarchy will want to see it being streamlined, modernised. It seems to me quite inappropriate that there are so many homes whether owned by the state or themselves personally. You no longer have to keep moving from Palace to Palace to keep ahead of the poor sanitation, though by the state of the countries sewers it may not be long before this practice is resurrected. For instance, so far as I am aware, the King now has at his disposal, Buckingham Palace, St James Palace, Clarence House in the capitol, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, Balmoral Castle, Highgrove House, Castle of Mey, his holiday home in Romania, a house in Wales, probably others as well, which all seems a tad excessive. Perhaps some of these will go to Prince William as Prince of Wales or the Duke of Cornwall though he is acquiring a reasonable collection of property of his own.

I know this is a gross simplification and just an element of their lives, yet it seems to me the Royal Family must be seen to change if they are going to maintain any affection. It is a time when change is in the air and the Queen and the constancy of the Queen having being the monarch for such an extensive period is no longer there.

Moving to our new Prime Minister, I have commented about Liz Truss previously and it is probably too soon to make any real comment. However, I was troubled that on her first day in office she reportedly instructed government lawyers to research ways in which Westminster could block or override the Scottish Parliaments intended Gender Reform legislation. I would have thought that on her first day of office with the cost of living crisis, the rising inflation, the war in Ukraine and a myriad other issues to attend to this would not have featured at the top of her to do list or at all! It does not bode well. I suppose it is a question of watch this space.