[UPDATE: She has in fact died.]
You may recall the massive coverage given last April to the death and funeral of Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, with the BBC pre-empting coverage of all other programming. This was a bit much even for some Britons, who complained that their favorite programs were being replaced with endless blathering about him. The idea that the whole nation was in mourning for a long time over the death of a 99-year old man was always preposterous.
If that was done for her husband, imagine what the coverage will be like for Elizabeth when she dies. We already have in place what looks like a death watch because she seems to be having some health issues, which is not surprising for someone who is 96 years old.
Elizabeth has had a remarkably long reign. She seems to be physically tough and one wonders what she thinks of newspeople eagerly anticipating her death. It would be nice if she recovers from whatever currently ails her and lives for some time, just to spite these ghouls.
But if and when she eventually dies, we can be sure that the US media, inexplicably devoted to covering the minutiae of the lives of a family that has no discernible connection to the US, will follow the British media in going with over the top coverage for days on end, displacing much more important and relevant news, even if there really is no public appetite for such excess.
If you look on Queen Elizabeth II’s long form birth certificate, her family name from her own grandfather would have been Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Of course, as with many immigrant families who essentially invaded Britain (albeit in 1066), the family changed their name when it became politically incorrect, during WWI.
Beats reporting Donny T’s endless verbal trots.
It would be nice if she recovers from whatever currently ails her and lives for some time, just to spite these ghouls.
“I’m not quite dead yet…”
Actually, I just heard she has died. And so out binge-watch begins…
Long live King Charles III, I guess…
Queen died this afternoon in Balmoral
Time to start the conspiracy theories.
Our two leading suspects are Charles Windsor and Liz Truss, but dark horse candidates are always welcome.
Go!
Gives our mint people something to do -- putting Chuckie’s picture on bills and coins.
Speaking of conspiracy theories, what will the LaRouchies do now that they no longer have the Queen to blame for running the entire American drug trade?
@6: She was murdered by a dark horse? Neighhh!
I doubt Liz Truss actually pulled the trigger, metaphorically speaking, but she must be doing cartwheels of joy. What better distraction could she hope for; months of mourning and a coronation to come.
Mano, you realize that you’re just another brick in the wall-to-wall coverage, right? I guess you could classify it as meta-coverage. Still.
#6
[Gravel voice]
This is an obvious false flag event, people. This is an attack, an ATTACK, the first offensive in the new phase of the war waged by GLOBALISTS against you and me. We the people are under attack, and the leftist pedophile ring just disappeared one of their own so she can be replaced with the more aggressive younger generals in her family and all her personal files can be memory holed. BRACE yourselves people, the pedophile princes are at the helm of the family now and Epstein is about to come out of hiding and Biden’s mask is about to come off -- he’s been Hillary’s PUPPET all along. Hillary and her lover EPSTEIN recruited prince Andrew decades ago and now he is free of the timid matriarch, they’ve all FREE and will come for your children -- YOUR CHILDREN -- in the coming days. Keep your loved ones close and your guns even closer people, be ready to FIGHT LIKE HELL to keep them all -- Hillary’s emails and Podesta laid it all out plain as day years ago people…
[/Gravel voice]
I usually watch an English-language telecast from DW News followed by BBC World News America. Both half hours were all Elizabeth.
It was the lead story on my local TV news; but they only spent about three minutes on it. About two-thirds of NBC Nightly News was Elizabeth.
As I write this, we’re about fifteen minutes into the PBS Newshour; and, yep, all Elizabeth so far. The intro to the show, however, mentioned two other stories, one about the nuclear power plant in Ukraine, and one about the midterm elections, so I guess I’ll leave the TV on with the sound off for a while to see what they have to say about those. I’ve read that PBS will have a one-hour special about Elizabeth after the Newshour.
As I wrote in a comment to one of PZ’s posts, I have zero interest in the lifestyles of rentiers and the infamous.
She’s passed on! This queen is no more! She has ceased to be! She’s expired and gone to meet ‘er maker! She’s a stiff! Bereft of life, she rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed ‘er to the throne she’d be pushing up the daisies! ‘Er metabolic processes are now ‘istory! She’s off the twig! She’s kicked the bucket, she’s shuffled off ‘er mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-QUEEN!!
Anyway, less than a decade after the Nuremberg trials the Brits in Kenya were putting hundreds of thousands of African people into concentration camps and, well… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Mau_rebellion#British_war_crimes
I’d prefer it if she lived and the monarchy died….
And now for a king whose most significant accomplishment is being born to a queen!
I’ve just checked the BBC scedules for today. All regular programming has been removed and replaced with wall-to-wall Elizabeth. So, no Have I Got News for You. That sucks.
The interior of St. Paul’s Cathedral is something to behold.
“St Paul’s Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grade I listed building. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604.[1] The present structure, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its construction, completed in Wren’s lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding programme in the city after the Great Fire of London.[2] The earlier Gothic cathedral (Old St Paul’s Cathedral), largely destroyed in the Great Fire, was a central focus for medieval and early modern London, including Paul’s walk and St Paul’s Churchyard, being the site of St Paul’s Cross.
The cathedral is one of the most famous and recognisable sights of London. Its dome, surrounded by the spires of Wren’s City churches, has dominated the skyline for over 300 years. At 365 ft (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1963. The dome is still one of the highest in the world. St Paul’s is the second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom, after Liverpool Cathedral.”
False.
Literally the only live-to-air TV that ever goes on in our house is the BBC, specifically Ceebeebies and CBBC. (I have two children aged 4 and 2). Ceebeebies is completely unchanged and as far as I’ve observed hasn’t mentioned anything at all. CBBC had a brief continuity announcement between shows just now where a presenter stated simply “you may have heard something important has happened. Our friends at Newsround will keep us informed, go to the website for more information.” And that was it -- back to the regular children’s shows, uninterrupted and unchanged.
Now, you might say “duh, they’re kids shows, they should be unaffected”, I’d counter that it’s inconceivable that such a thing would have happened when I was a kid. Kid’s shows in the seventies were on the main channel, BBC1, between about 16:00 and 17:30, and as I recall they’d regularly be bumped to BBC2 or cancelled altogether is something as trivial as a Test Match was deemed more important. I have hope for a less monarchist future because kids today are being insulated from the bullshit surrounding the death of an old lady, legitimately sad as that death undoubtedly is for her family and actual friends. Then again, I can see this being another stick right-wingers can use to beat the BBC with.
The most annoying thing about all this is the impression that many of these news outlets have ghoulishly had their packages on standby ready to go for a decade or more, and somewhat relish being able to finally pull the trigger. That, and the fact that there really is almost nothing to report.
Information of legitimate interest and true newsworthiness at this point is limited to:
1. When will the funeral be?
2. Will we all get a day off work?
3. When will the coronation be?
4. Will we all get a day off work?
Nobody I know gives two shits about anything else, but the papers and TV will be full of it for at least the next ten days, filling space with irrelevant bullshit.
O happy days for the other Liz. Nice distraction.
Boris Johnson must be really unhappy that he had to leave office just before she died, so that he will not have a prominent role in all the pomp and pageantry of the next few weeks with the funeral and coronation.
@Mano, 20: I think Johnson is probably pleased Truss will be forced to navigate the media minefield. She’s way more likely than him to fuck it up in a way that damages her, all of which brings closer the day he can ride to the rescue of a Conservative party that has lost badly due to her disastrous leadership.
Bear in mind the Tories have not lost a general election under Johnson. When* they lose under Truss, he’ll be in a position to say “told you so” and offer his services to regain power. I believe Tories, and especially those who voted Tory in 2019 in “red wall” seats, really are fucking stupid enough to have him back.
*In fact I think they’re so fucking stupid that I wouldn’t bet more than £10 on Truss losing the election. The British -- or rather specifically the English -- electorate are demonstrably a self-sabotaging stupid pack of c**ts who deserve to starve. The problem is their choices will cause others to starve who don’t deserve it. Yay democracy.
The line of people wanting to walk by the Queen as she lies in state is 2 1/2 miles long. Westminster Hall is 900 years old.
The Royal Standard, draping the Queen’s coffin.
.
“This enormous flag draped over the coffin of Elizabeth II is comprised of quadrants, two of which are identical. This flag is known as the Royal Standard, and it serves as the British monarchy’s official banner of arms. Each quarter depicts a distinct constituency ruled over by the queen herself during her lengthy reign (via Royal Family).
The Top Left And Bottom Right Symbols Represent England
As you can see, the top left and bottom right quadrants are always the same. Both of these quadrants feature three golden lions with their right paws raised amidst a backdrop of red. According to The Guardian, these gilded lions are inspired by the ancient folklore from bygone English kings.
The origins of lions as a royal insignia of English royalty may be traced back to William the Conqueror, who initially had only two on his shield in during the mid-11th century, per BBC. Eventually, in the 12th century, Richard the Lionheart would include the third lion into his coat of arms to inspire his warriors on the battlefield (per The Guardian). These mythological golden lions have since remained on the banner of the Royal Family of England for generations.
The Top Right Symbol Represents Scotland
The banner in the top right corner symbolizes the queen’s northern principality of Scotland, with a vivid red lion against a backdrop of yellow. This lion has a considerably more ferocious pose, standing upright as if poised to attack. For centuries, this flag was considered Scotland’s unofficial flag and served as the royal emblem of the Kings and Queens of Scotland (per Historic U.K.).
The Windsor dynasty, including the late queen and her successor the current King Charles III, can directly trace their bloodline back to James VI of Scotland. These Scottish ancestors are deeply rooted in their family tree (via National Records of Scotland). So much so that the queen’s casket was adorned with the Crown of Scotland for the Giles Cathedral liturgy.
Interestingly, the original Royal Standard draped over the queen’s remains during the service at Giles Cathedral was the Scottish Royal Standard, as she died in her Scottish Summer home of Balmoral Castle (via BBC). Instead of the English coat of arms, the Scottish variation of the Royal Standard has two red Scottish lions in the top left and bottom right quadrants and the English coat of arms in the second top right quadrant (per Royal Standard).
The original Royal Standard flag has since been replaced with the original flag displaying the two English golden lion quadrants, as the queen’s remains are now lying-in-state at Westminster until her funeral on Monday, September 19th (per Metro).
The Bottom Left Symbol Represents Northern Ireland
Finally, the bottom left emblem, a silver harp on a blue background, depicts the queen’s most troubled province, Northern Ireland (per Royal Standard). The harp is a powerful emblem in Irish folklore and the island’s national instrument. It can be found on coins, pint glasses, passports, and everything in between.
However, given the tumultuous relationship between the two islands over the last 800 years, the inclusion of the Harp in the Royal Standard to represent Northern Ireland has had its fair share of controversy in the past (to put it mildly). Given that Elizabeth II’s namesake, Elizabeth I, famously once decreed that all harps should be burned and all harpers should be hanged during her reign over the island, it’s easy to see why some would object to its presence on the official Royal Standard.”