Behind the Scenes at the Coronation - Boxing Day

[MrsLeonFarrell]

I love things that go behind the scenes at special events or show how TV programmes are made, or explain stuff I don't know about how stuff is organised. I'm the person who watches behind the scenes clips on YouTube! I know it won't be completely candid because the cameras are there but I'm still looking forward to it.

So I thought I'd start a fun thread asking what burning but trivial question would you like to see the answer to?

Mine - do royals have bladders of iron or do they build secret loo breaks into the schedule of big events?

I often mutter about complaining (but never do) because sport - any sport! - seems to take precedence over everything else.
It could be pro-am thumb wrestling and everything would be moved aside for it.

I’m always annoyed because they don’t do it for the snooker ( I do like watching Ronnie)

https://imgur.com/a/s3ZklbN

I like this one, it makes me giggle every time!

Well yes, the traditions of the Coronation are 1000 years old so they will seem faintly ridiculous in a modern context , but that’s not the point is it? Traditions link us back to our past, and this does not apply to just the Coronation nor is it peculiar to this nation. All peoples have old traditions and customs which are probably a bit silly if you look at them with a modern eye, but they are important to the context of those peoples and those nations.

Except C chose which 'traditions' he wanted and which in his opinion could bite the dust.

He's touted a modernised monarchy since forever.

Who was this circus for?

Does modernising the monarchy necessarily mean having to get rid of tradition? Charles believes in the Church and its symbolism so that may well be why he stick to lots of the traditional, more archaic parts of the ceremony. He did at least shorten it and relax the dress code for example.

Any traditions can be criticised for not being 'modern' - that's sort of the point.

Why have Guy Fawkes Day - from the Catholic point of view it celebrates religious intolerance and torture. OTOH, it is a tradition of bonfires, fireworks, baked potatoes and (in Ottery) carrying round flaming tar barrels on your back, and the origins are irrelevant except as a sidenote.

eek. Does anyone in Ottery manage to keep any hair? Sounds hazardous :S

Does modernising the monarchy necessarily mean having to get rid of tradition?

When 'tradition' is apparently fluid and exercised or discarded on a whim it makes a bit of a mockery of the term. The whole thing could easily have been scaled down and done and dusted in an hour or so but Charles decided to commission twelve (twelve!) new pieces of music all celebrating....him.

The question remains who was it all for?

I think commissioning music is lovely. How nice to encourage composers and musicians. I would have thought that was a positive.
I really liked the Gospel choir, they were wonderful.

I'd just like to know who paid for it (although I suspect I already do)

I wish he'd commissioned a new National Anthem!

I agree. It's such a dirge!

That would have been great!

I'm not a great one for music in general but I think that commissioning new music for things like coronations helps the arts and artists. A cultural life is important and in difficult financial times can naturally be short of attention and funding. In the same way I like that Camilla encourages reading and writing.

@MrsLeonFarrell I agree. Commissioning new music is good for the arts, and is the sort of tangible thing the Royals should be doing. Agree also about Camillas reading project.

Yep. Championing/commissioning the arts is something the RF should be doing.

Also agree about the National Anthem - I'd prefer something a bit more rousing 😂

Like Land of Hope and Glory, or Rule Britannia?!
😉

I agree with pp. Commissioning new music seems like such an odd thing to criticise Charles for! Support for the arts is such a good thing.

Don't go there! Any suggestions would get hoards of people pointing out all sorts of negative connotations...

Championing/commissioning the arts is something the RF should be doing.

While twelve (twelve!) celebratory pieces shoehorned into a two hour event seems excessive I'm not really bothered how many warblers Charles commissions if he's digging into his own pocket for it but as it's all gone quiet on the commissioning front since his hat party seemingly it's not something he's enthusiastic enough about to do on his own dime.

I still don't see a problem with commissioning the arts. It's good to promote music and musicians, from chamber choirs to Gospel singers. Obviously some people will disagree.

I thought it was a long held tradition for new musical works to be commissioned for such occasions. It gives prestigious work to people in the arts and I suppose could be a way of complimenting a composer the new monarch happens to enjoy the existing works of.

I thought it was a long held tradition for new musical works to be commissioned for such occasions.

Yet Charles has shown he's happy to ditch tradition when it suits. And if it's been a long held tradition, surely there's a more than adequate back catalogue for an advocate of a slimmed down monarchy (by implication cheaper) to have picked from?

I suppose could be a way of complimenting a composer the new monarch happens to enjoy the existing works of.

But why do we have to sub Charles' personal taste in composers?

Because it’s a tradition I suppose and he is the King, where that is to your liking or not. It’s just a fact as things stand. I don’t think commissioning music is going to cost a lot in the grand scheme of things. Do we have to be miserable and not have pomp
and circumstance? Lots of people like it, even if you personally don't. Isn’t most of the cost security anyway? That would happen whatever the ceremony was like. It’s not like the regalia etc was new 🤷‍♀️

So.

We have a king who can and does overturn tradition at will to public applause yet chooses to have the public foot an unnecessary bill for his own taste in party trimmings (I'll add the £8m spent on official portraits for public buildings here too) being defended on the grounds of tradition and all just because.

As an argument it's a bit circular isn't it?