Coronation Saturday

Nobody does pageantry like the British, in part because nobody has hoarded more wealth for the purpose, although our current corporatocracy  perhaps exceeds them. We watched the proceedings with North American  awe, appreciating the music, the fabric art, the architecture, the artistry, the "spin" (particularly that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, repetitively declaring Charles and Camilla to be chosen by God as "servants of the people"). 

The pageantry comes at great cost to a great many: enslavement, resource theft, plunder, abuse of people and planet, inutterable suffering of people in the so-called Commonwealth, and of course the deep inscription of classism on our bones and the bones of many of our ancestors. So many have paid for this pageantry, we thought we might as well sit back and enjoy it.

On the other hand, a great many people depend on the rituals of pageantry for a living. I think of them as theatre people. The money circulates among the artisans and people who take care of all that gold, brocade, arm bands, spurs, horses, hats, musical instruments, and so on.  

We guffawed when the BBC announcer got his words confused (presumably) and said this King has come "not to serve but to be served" instead of parroting the reverse.