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Tomorrow is the coronation of King Charles III, which I understand is a ceremony similar to a bar mitzvah ceremony. Although it marks a transition that has already taken place – Charles automatically became king when his mother died last year – people are still enjoying the public event.
Things have gotten a little tighter in London. The streets and stations in the center of the city are full of signs passive-aggressively warning people that the “main event” will cause traffic jams and road closures, which seems like a strange if-you-know-how to describe a literal national holiday. Yesterday, a friend texted me asking if I knew why so many helicopters were buzzing around the neighborhood where the Times has its London bureau. It turned out to be security for a pre-coronation appearance by William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales respectively, who stopped by the pub for a carefully orchestrated and secured “relaxed” photo op.
I found myself instinctively parsing the outfit, which made him look like he was dressed for a slightly different event: William was tieless and open-collared, they were princely out in a t-shirt and jeans, while Kate, in long. red coat accessorized with white stiletto pumps and a white leather bag, it looks like she is headed for a wedding today.
Then I felt bad, as I almost always do when I see the Princess of Wales, because the monarchy in this country seems like a cruel institution for those who are caught, and Kate’s dress always seems symbolic of the way her marriage is limited. his life. Maybe he just likes red coats! Why am I even thinking about this?
Hilary Mantel got a lot of pushback over this 2013 essay in the London Review of Books, which people deliberately misread as an attack on Kate Middleton, then Duchess of Cambridge, rather than on the monarchy. But I always thought it was a clear illustration of how the royal family in general, and female members in particular, were treated as objects for public consumption rather than human beings.
“I saw Kate as a doll hanging from a certain fabric,” Mantel wrote. “That day she was a mannequin in a shop window, without a personality of her own, defined by what she wore.” Mantel ended with a call for mercy, pleading with the press and the public not to be “brutes” to Kate as they have done to other royal women.
The British tabloid press – preferring to ignore the implication that he was at fault – called the description misogyny. But Mantel’s essay gives more sympathy to the person wearing the clothes than the glossy magazine or tabloid story, because there may be a difference between the person they appear to be and the person they want to be, or actually are.
Lately I’ve also been reading “The Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor,” by Andrew Downie, a tougher account of a very different member of the royal family. It is an extraordinary portrait of the former King Edward VIII, detailing his and his wife’s strong Nazi sympathies, including evidence that he was in touch with Hitler’s emissaries about negotiating a “peace” deal that would see him return to the throne. to help convince Britain to surrender.
It is also a sad account of a person trapped in emotional childhood, who desperately tries to secure personal adoration and destroys the chance to achieve his goal.
He is obsessed with Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee, who is dethroned. The book describes how his upbringing as the Prince of Wales did not equip him with a personal life. “I remember like it was yesterday morning after we got married and I woke up and there was David standing by the bed with this innocent smile, saying, ‘And now what should we do?'” Simpson later told Gore Vidal (Duke was known to his family as David). “My heart is sad. Here was a man who had every day arranged for him all his life and now I was going to change the entire British government, trying to figure out what to do.
His openness to Hitler’s rule appears to be due to his desire to regain his lost status and the respect that comes with it. He desperately wanted to convince his family to give Simpson the title of “Her Royal Highness”, or at least officially accept him in the palace, but they refused. The only people who treat the Princess as royalty, according to the book, are the couple’s household servants.
What are you reading?
Linda Long, a reader in Atlanta, GA, recommends “Crying at H Mart” by Michelle Zauner:
I have become totally addicted to Korean TV dramas because of the happy endings and slow burn. This includes keeping a spreadsheet of events and stars. I didn’t know anything about South Korea, so I decided to read about it. “Crying in H Mart” depicts the importance of food and motherhood, and provides insight into immigrant life in America and Korean culture.
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