They're royally at it again!

The British Royal Family seems hell bent on killing me.

Why, I ask myself, do the future nuptials of the second grandson of an ageing Germanic dwarf squatting tenaciously on the British throne merit even a mention on Spanish television, let alone a fairly extended puff.  On Radio 4 yesterday when I listened to the news, it was the lead item!

I am just waiting for some lickspittle apology for a journalist to suggest that the wedding (sorry, The Wedding) of these two young people (to whom as human beings I bear no ill will and wish all the luck in the world for their successful future) will bring a moment of happiness and delight, will lift the spirits of the nation when so much of what happens in the world today, and especially in Britain is so dull and dour!  Surely, they will state, only the most dyed in the wool sourpuss could fail to allow the spirits to be lifted by such a fairy tale narrative of true love!  Well, well, well, no sooner speculated about than it happened on Radio 4, the “little patch of brightness” justification for a totally unjustifiable institution.

The Coronation of Elizabeth II has been described as a bright splash of colour in the drab days of the early 1950s.  The Festival of Britain of 1951 (which had been strenuously opposed by the Conservatives throughout its development) had offered a picture of progress dangled seductively (though impossibly for most) in front of a population hungry for something more than they had been enduring in the days and years of austerity after the end of the Second World War in 1945.   

In the year of the Coronation in 1953 food rationing still had a year to run.  Rationing meant that when buying certain food items, coupons torn from an officially distributed book had to be presented to the shopkeeper so that only the government imposed limited allowance could be purchased by an individual.  Meat was the final item to come ‘off ration’ in 1954.

In a post-nuclear age in which an atomic and a hydrogen bomb had been dropped, in a time in which an entire continent (and indeed continents) was being redrawn and rethought, the British press and a young BBC television system colluded in the celebration of an anarchic, anti-democratic hereditary power grab completely at odds with the meritocracy that people thought they were voting for in the election at the end of the war.  
‘Bread and circuses’ to deflect the attention of the population from what is important, worked for the Romans and has worked for unscrupulous governments ever since when they needs to hide harsh reality from a population which should be rising and smiting the rulers who continue to take advantage of them.

I feel sorry for Charlie-Boy as he ages into a crusty old fuddy-duddy, seemingly and bizarrely older than his ancient mother.  When speaking of the succession people always think of the grandchildren’s generation and not that of the heir apparent.  Who, let’s be fair, wants to see an ageing nonentity decked out in fancy dressed clothes trying to eradicate the memory of his mother who always did things so much better than he?  He is going to look and sound absurd when he finally gets to mount the throne and he, like so many members of a ‘royal family’ which only exists because a supine government allows it to exist, actually believes that he some something unique and god-given to bring to political debate.

Via the ’spider’ letters to governmental departments we know that Charles has been trying to influence policy, trying to act as if a king-in-waiting actually mattered in the day to day running of the state.  Mostly, of course, these superannuated ‘royals’ are knobheads more attuned to going on holidays than having an understanding of affairs of state.  They have carnal affairs, are filmed frolicking about naked, keep their mouths open when they should be shut, make the most of their ability to have a comfortable life and then drone on and on about concepts like ‘duty’ to keep us grateful.

The fact that a royal family exists anywhere in Europe today, is a condemnation of the people of the counties that allow them to parade their ‘birth right’ advantages.  Our queen is queen because her playboy uncle had an unsuitable affair with a divorced woman and her father smoked himself to death.  Et voila! A ‘royal’ princess is encouraged to mount the Confessor’s seat and be crowned with an absurd bauble whose vulgarity is only mitigated by the sheer cost of the thing.

Here in Spain we have an arrogant and tall monarch who has taken to the television to lecture Catalonia about their naughtiness.  The historical irony of having a member of the House of Bourbon lecturing anyone is too sad to even be amusing! 

Our King is King of PP and PSOE – they after all did the stich up to ensure that he succeeded his father, there being no process in the Constitution to facilitate abdication. 

His father, the elephant killing, philandering, failure ‘abdicated’ rather than take the continuing poor publicity which was centring more and more on the institution of the monarchy itself.  In an astonishing broadcast (or rather one of his astonishing broadcasts) that he made, I think to demonstrate the fellow feeling with his subjects that were reeling from the financial collapse of western capitalism (just before he went on an all expenses paid luxury safari to kill elephants) he emphasised that we are basically all in this together and he uttered the deathless words that, “Justice is the same for everybody!”

Except of course it isn’t.  Not here in Spain.  We are not all equal before the law, that is to say The Law is there for everyone, but certain people can only be tried by higher courts e.g. Senators and Members of the Congress of Deputies.  Justice is not the same for everyone, that is a lie or at least a bending of the truth to such an extent that you are basically saying “the thing that is not”.  In Britain and Germany the number of people who are in a privileged position as far as the law is concerned is precisely zero.  In Spain there are hundreds, if not thousands.

The playing around with concepts of freedom and liberty are going to be particularly obvious as we move into the election campaign leading up to the crucial vote on December 21^st which is universally seen as a referendum on independence for Catalonia.

Our President and key members of government are in exile in Belgium; members of the government have been imprisoned by the National Government here in Spain and two members of independentist organizations have also been imprisoned.  A western European country with political prisoners!

The fountains in the centre of Barcelona have been illuminated with yellow light, a tribute to the yellow ribbon worn by those who are demanding the release of the political prisoners.  This illumination has been banned by the electoral commission – I wonder if they are going to ban colours which match the political parties of the opposition to independence?  I think not.

The judges were supposed to have delivered a ruling today about the continued detention of the political prisoners.  Finance has been organized, as well as a party to greet the freed prisoners.  The judge, without explanation, has delayed his pronouncement until Monday, we suspect because of the preparations laid to make the most of the release of the prisoners.  Petty spitefulness well worthy of their paymasters in PP.

So, if you can remember that far back in this screed, just why did I accuse the Spanish ‘royal family’ of trying to kill me?  Well, I have high blood pressure (controlled) and the royals and their lickspittle backers in PP, PSOE and Cs seem to be going out of their way to see just how much aggravation I can take until I break or burst!

To which the answer is: having lived through the Evil Reign of Thatcher and the lower than vermin Conservatives and come out the other side, having to deal with nasty make-weights like Rajoy, The King, Spanish Justice, Cs and PP are more like limbering up exercises than anything truly hurtful.

Bring it on!  And let’s see what happens on the 21^st of December!