The Coronation, yes, I did watch big chunks of it. No, not live, that would have been around 3 am for me.
My favourite bit? Seeing the royal coach weaving its way to the Abbey, golden with the six grey horses and the livery people in red and gold. And those two foot-people, walking briskly all the way, I hope those shoes were made for walking, they didn’t look like it. And, the sight of the sea of red uniforms and all those horses.
As I watched that whole ancient ceremony with the beautiful singing and liturgy, I felt that for Charles and Camilla, king and queen, however, momentous it was at times rather awkward, even an embarrassing ceremony. How could you look your best in those heavy gowns, sorry they looked moth-eaten, sure they weren’t, and you are handed all those awkward things to hold and then had to read strange words, and then a crown on your head… As I looked at them, I thought how over the last few years, Charles, an anxious man, looks happy when he is with Camila. I see how he appears to draw strength and comfort from her presence. And there she is, faithful and supportive by his side. And look what she has taken on – Charles, a complex character, who is now a king, and her role as a Queen.
And then I see another Head of State couple, who were also at the Abbey, our Canadian Governor General, Mary Simon and her husband. She is Canada’s first, and long overdue, Indigenous person appointed to this position. She is Inuit from northern Quebec. She started her career in broadcasting, then was a diplomat and had a senior role in the Public Service as well as public life. She continues her lifelong work as an advocate for the Inuit and the other First Nations People of Turtle Island.
As GG she leads many official ceremonial events. And this is when I see the GG couple. Her husband is neither Prince nor King, but he is His Excellency the Vice-Regal Consort and he is there, faithfully by her side like a faithful knight. Such as when the GG was greeting the Pope when he arrived in Alberta last summer. First, the Pope was greeted by Mary Simons, as Head of State, and then introduced to her husband. He was standing so discreetly by her side that most of the broadcast commentators did not know who he was. By now they must have worked it out and be used to seeing him.
However, as a CBC-Radio-Canada alumnus, along with others of my CBC-SRC generation, we know this is our former colleague, Whit Fraser, who made his career as a CBC journalist in the north. He is also an author and was engaged in civil society in the North. So very much a person who has achieved in his life, and married for three decades to Mary Simon and now lending his support and love to her as Governor-General.
And these people are no spring chickens: Charles born 1948, Camila 1947, Mary 1947 and Whit 1942.
Most of us born in the 1940s, are cruising along in retirement. But these two couples are deep into prominent roles of service. So I say, thank goodness for and thanks to their faithful loving lady and knight!
