Mother Davis tips her tiara toward the far side of the Atlantic and writes,
The news today has been rich with comments about President George W. Bush’s cheeky behavior toward the Queen of England. I wasn’t invited to attend the festivities myself, but the people who were there say that President Bush first insulted Queen Elizabeth by suggesting that she is so old she might have been around for historical events hundreds of years ago. Then, horror of horrors, President Bush is said to have winked at the Queen.
I’ve got two reactions to these events taking place in my mind, simultaneously. My first reaction is to conclude that President Bush is a boorish moron who doesn’t know how to carry himself in a dignified manner.
My second reaction is to remember that the English monarchs stopped being our rulers back in the 1770s, with the American Revolution. Why should President Bush treat Queen Elizabeth differently than any other visiting foreign dignitary? Why should he, here in the United States, kowtow to the pretensions of the British royal family to being better than everyone else? Why shouldn’t it be the Queen who adapts herself to our standards of social interaction?
I cannot settle upon which reaction is the right one.
Playing tiddlywinks with a Canadian penny,
Mother Davis
It is hard to decide for me as well; I think the remaining few monarchies in the world are silly things, especially given the level of education and freedom in the UK and ripe targets for jokes ie Monty Python; but Bush’s overgrown frat boy nicknames and jokes with people are insulting to most; judging by the grimaces of the recipients.
The UK monarchy is purely symbolic now.
Kinda sucks that they’re still born richer than most people could ever hope to be even if they worked themselves to the bone.
Symbolic of what? Do pure symbols get greeted by the President of the United States at a formal dinner?
Among the duties of the Presidency is being the symbolic head of the nation. The UK has a person (in the form of the king or queen) filling this role and another person filling the roles of commander-in-chief and the head of the executive branch of government. So, Bush’s ceremonies for the Queen of England as a symbolic representative of the UK is completely appropriate.
That being said, I think that Bush is secretly jealous of the Queen’s status. We all know that he would love being King George.