Extending the Queen

source: onlinepetart.com.au

Australia chooses to celebrate the Queens birthday in June except Western Australia that celebrates it in September, albeit that her actual birthday is April 21^st. The Commonwealths way of “extending the celebrations”.

This is all well and good if you actually want to extend the celebrations. How many celebrations are truly worthy of extension? Olympic Game opening ceremonies are arguably some of the most spectacular and expensive celebrations but who amongst the millions of international television audience would want it to last longer that the current 4 hours duration?

Extending the celebrations just sounds like a convenient excuse for not being organised in time for the actual event.  “I will give you your present next week” translates to “I did not buy your present in time”, “we can have the party on the weekend” really means “we have not got everything organised to celebrate on your day”.

In Australia’s case it is really a selfish decision to have the public holiday later in the year. March and April are already full of public holidays, with ANZAC Day, Easter and Labour Day. We just want to spread the public holidays out. Sorry Ma’am but we are all a bit busy doing nothing to celebrate your birth right now, how about in a couple of months, our diaries are clear in June

By way of gifts a public holiday is an unusual one. It is a great gift for the public but what is it for the Queen? In comparison to the lives of most, every day of the queens life seems to be a day off, dressing up, fine dining touring the country or internationally.

To be sure with an estimated personal wealth of $500million and access to assets of the crown worth in excess of $15billion, Queen Elizabeth II wanting of little.  I find it difficult to buy presents for my father, retired working – lower middle class. How difficult must it be for Princes Charles, Andrew and Edward and Princess Anne to buy gifts for their mother/ Did she ever receive a hand print or pinch bowl made of clay in art class, or have to display a birthday card decorated in dry macaroni?

People can celebrate early, giving gifts ahead of time. They are organised ahead of time – sure. They too will come up with excuses, “you will be too busy celebrating on the day”, “Just a little something to get your birthday started early”. This all means it is more convenient to give the gift now, we would prefer not to have to go out of our way to make contact on your actual birthday.

The risk is that between people celebrating early and others celebrating late that no one celebrates on the actual birthday. This is no celebration.

Delayed celebrations are mainstay for the monarch. She ascended to the throne following the death of her father on 6 February 1952. The realm did not get to celebrate with her until her coronation on 2 June 1953, some 16 months later. This seems like a long probation period for job from which one cannot be fired, and the only prerequisite is birth. She has however had to face a lifetime of questions about redundancy.