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Happy Jubilee, Ma'am

Rob Beschizza at 10:23 am Fri, Jun 1, 2012

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From Cyriak, of course. [Video Link]

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MORE:  jubilee • queen • videos

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  • Paulo Ugolini

    Why?

    • nem0fazer

      Because

  • Richard Dagenais

    Is this supposed to be funny? I’m no royalist but this is in pretty poor taste.

    • http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza

      Too well done to taste much of anything, really.

    • ZikZak

      Hey, her head wasn’t mounted on a stick or stripped of flesh by a starving mob…I’d say it’s a pretty optimistic projection.

  • Richard Dagenais

    His other videos are generally terrific. I’m just put off by this one because of the subject.

  • awjt

    I’m glad the USA doesn’t have a monarch, what a waste of energy.

    • Shinkuhadoken

       You narrowly avoided monarchy in 2004 as I recall.

      • http://twitter.com/matcatastrophe mat catastrophe

        we have an oligarchy, which is SO much cooler!

        • awjt

           I’m not standing up for the status quo, but I *AM* happy we aren’t under the tyranny of one capricious soul…  Instead we are under the tyranny of an evil minority of the power-hungry, BUT… that’s an udder debate for an udder day.

          • http://twitter.com/matcatastrophe mat catastrophe

            The cows are pleased with you, citizen. Fnord.

      • awjt

         USA Today is my trusted, go-to source for news delivery.  Thanks for that!

  • http://japansunset.blogspot.com igzabier

    Oh my, has BB acquired an edginess heretofore uncommon?
    Ah, but death does humble us all.
    And humble v.s. Monarchy may shock but also educate, eh.

    The video seems merely a slight step past happy fascist pablum of our lady’s jubilee fantasy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Forposting/100002531076048 Justin Forposting

    “60 Years on the Thrown”  means something different in American English

  • danegeld

    Poor taste.

    • http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

      You’re right, monarchy is so outlandish and dated.

      Wait, did you mean the video?

  • petertrepan

    The poor taste is probably due to hasty cooking in open flame. There is an art to barbecue.

  • nem0fazer

    Love it! Thank you Cyriak and boingboing for pointing out some of us don’t approve of this royal nonsense. A healthy lack of respect for an anachronistic and revolting institution.

  • Rich Keller

    I thought it was a rather animated commentary on the pomp and circumstance surrounding a moribund institution.

    • Antinous / Moderator

      Which is enjoying its highest levels of popularity in pretty much forever.

  • petertrepan

    Is her Jubilee going to be anything like this, or do different monarchs have different types of Jubilee?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oFkKrozqiw 

  • sgtdoom

    Reality Chronicles

    Before you can understand their Great Game, you must understand their Grand Design.

    The Corporation 
    The oldest corporation, of Anglo-Dutch origin, is also the longest enduring corporation in the Western Hemisphere, perhaps the world, predating the Norman Conquest of 1066, officially the City of London Corporation (“The City”), owner of property in the financial districts of Wall Street, Hong Kong, Sydney and Dubai.
    The City and the City Cash.  (City Cash may well be the longest continuing financial fund in history, going back at least eight centuries.)

    Globalization
    The process whereby the Transnational Capitalist Class colonizes the planet.
    It’s really that simple.

    Ultra-Leverage
    Securitization and resecuritizations take place on Wall Street (although usually legally recorded in Delaware), then they are transferred to The City, or London, for further leveraging through their process of rehypothecation.

    The Corporation, Globalization and Ultra-Leverage.
    Their Grand Design, their Great Game.
    In economic warfare, sides must be chosen.
    Of course, there is the human factor; there have been mistakes.
    Hitler, Stalin and Mao veered off course.
    Nixon was supposed to have been elected president originally in 1960, not 1968, but a crafty criminal mastermind named Joe Kennedy altered that.
    Inexorably though, their power and wealth and extreme criminal ways too often succeed.
    Sides must be chosen.
    (Parochial-minded and egocentric types who have never read foreign news, news and publications outside their mother countries, won’t be aware of the international scope of things, the obvious patterns.They won’t be familiar with the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Taxpayer Union, and a host of other global associations which serve as the guiding templates to national and local associations.)

    • petertrepan

      I’d say that if anyone has a grand plan, they’re making a hash of it. Most of the history of the world looks like a cross between a bar fight and a Black Friday sale.

  • Donald Petersen

    I liked that, and I even have a modicum of affection of ol’ Betsy Windsor.  She reminds me of me own sainted mum, who’s three years her junior.

    I chuckled out loud, I did, and never mind the taste.

    Actually, I sometimes wonder if we might see, in our lifetimes, a reigning monarch who decides to abolish her or his own monarchy instead of waiting for a revolution, invasion, or other form of deposition.

    Wonder if they could get away with it?

    • Bevatron Repairman

      Probably the two most powerful monarchs — in terms of real political authority — of the last ten years were the King of Tonga and the King of Bhutan and both gave up quite a bit of power.  The King of Tonga was probably under more pressure than the King of Bhutan, but both took a lot of the steps on their own and are to be commended for it.

      • Garrett Eaton

        Isn’t North Korea a quasi monarchy?  Honest question…

        • Antinous / Moderator

          North Korea is much more of an absolute monarchy than Saudi Arabia, which is a religious oligarchy in which the ulema could make the King go away if he steps out of line.

      • Antinous / Moderator

        The Queen doesn’t have any power to give up. She can award the Order of the Garter and the Order of the Thistle, plus some personal service awards. Beyond that, she knights people whom the government chooses, reads an annual speech written by politicians and heads a bunch of charities.

        • purpleplat

          She still has the Royal Assent: http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/lords/lrds-royal-assent/

          And ‘invites’ the winner of a general election to become Prime minister and form a government.  Interesting in a hung Parliament.

          • http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers

             I bet she loves a hung parliament, the saucy old minx! Phwoar!

    • LikesTurtles

      Probably not. The monarchy is bigger than the person holding the monarch’s position. They could abdicate the throne but someone in the line of succession would make a claim to it.  Not that the monarch couldn’t have some influence in abolishing the institution. Holding the position while saying it should be abolished is a pretty powerful statement. Of course there might be a few countries in which the monarch does have the power to abolish the monarchy but I don’t believe that to be the case with any of the realms overwhich Queen Elizabeth rules.

      I suspect that after she dies, you’ll find many of the states she currently rules over will become republics. In most of those countries, for the majority of the population Elizabeth is the only head of state they’ve ever known. She’s part of their identity. Doubtful that Charles or William will have that degree of emotional connection for them.

      • Edward Pearse

         I think a lot of it will depends on whether she outlives Charles. Her Mum lasted over 100 so she may not be going away just yet, and the popularity of “King William” would be enormous. Certainly the gossip mags would be falling over themselves to plaster “Queen Catherine” over their front pages.

        • Hakan Koseoglu

          “King” William is popular at the moment, just wait for 20 years and we shall see. I was a little lad when Charles got married to Diana and at least my grandma liked them.
          I am hoping that King Charles’s reign  will put an end to this Monarchy nonsense.

  • http://gruffguano.wordpress.com/ Gruff Guano

    I liked the video.  It’s funny, and if at all there’s a point to it, then I’d estimate it underlines the fact that monarchs are the moldering remains of a redundant medieval class system. 

    A heritable supremacy is the opposite of a democracy.

  • Nash Rambler

    All I can say is that she is well on track to having the very last laugh.  Happy Jubilee, you grand ol’ gal you!

  • taras

    A 21st century Memento mori!

  • gaiapunk

    Down with Monarchy wherever it may be.

  • Glen Able

    I found it reminiscent of the death sequences of various bad guys from the Indiana Jones films.

    Come to think of it, those were all Germans too.

  • tw1515tw

    Although the idea of a monarchy is hard to defend, it’s hard to criticise the way she has carried out the duty for 60 years. Given the choice between her and some other heads of state…

    And she’s a good shot

    http://twistedsifter.sifter.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/queen-elizabeth-shooting-a-gun.jpg 

    • http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

      What duty exactly? The stuff that comes with the job?

      • tw1515tw

        The same sort of stuff that the Presidents of Ireland, Germany and Italy do. For the last 60 years and until she dies.

        Patron of 620+ charities.
        Handed out 400000 honours and awards.
        & 600+ Investitures
        3 million items of correspondence
        Hosted 1.1 million people at Garden Parties
        Tuesday meetings with the Prime Minister 1951-date
        256 official overseas visits
        Circa 400 engagements per year
        100,000+ telegrams to centenarians
        Attended 34 Royal Variety performances
        91 State banquets
        Opened Parliament every year except 1959 and 1963

        She probably smells enough fresh paint and bleach when she visits buildings for it to be a health hazard.

        http://www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary/Factfiles/80factsaboutTheQueen.aspx
        http://www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary/Factfiles/60factsaboutTheQueen.aspx

        • http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

          None of that makes up for the fact that, as you said in your first comment, the idea of a monarchy is hard to defend.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Kelly/692448753 Jim Kelly

    She ain’t no human bein’.

  • http://twitter.com/chrisjimson chris jimson

    “hmmmm. . . yes. . . quite.”