The Crown Jewels were beautiful, of course, although you aren't allowed to take pictures. There was a golden wine tureen, molded in the shape of a seashell, that held 144 bottles of wine in it; the Imperial Crown festooned with thousands of diamonds, thousands of dollars worth of gold, the ruby that supposedly belonged to Edward I, the Black Prince, and a sapphire allegedly from the ring of Edward the Confessor; the Imperial Scepter, capped with the largest high-quality cut diamond in the world; the Sword of Offering, dripping with emeralds; hundreds of millions of dollars worth of regalia all owned by one woman, who gained this wealth through no qualities of her own.
The Crown Jewels brought home to me a fundamental issue with Britain that I've been struggling with, though. The thing is, I love it here. I love their mass transport, their museums and galleries, their reverence for their own past, their humor, their tea and scones, their right to roam, their friendly pub culture, their nationalized health service, their lack of racism: so many things. If I could get a visa to return and stay here after graduation, I would.
But there's the one thing I just can't get over; why, in a country so full of smart people, do they continue to persist in having an aristocracy and a monarch, in perpetuating a system founded on giving wealth and power to people based on their blood, and not on what they do? For example, the Duke of Westminster is the sixth richest man in Britain and owns most of Central London, but he didn't achieve that through work; it was given to him because he was born to it, because a distant ancestor impressed a distant monarch and was given wealth in perpetuity. The aristocracy and the monarch don't do anything to receive their status; the monarch really doesn't do anything at all except open Parliament, give the running of the government to the Prime Minister, and live a life of luxury. And yes, she brings incredible amounts of money to the nation every year through tourism, but is that worth having a system where the common man can never hope to be at the top?
I know my ranting can be seen as hypocritical; after all, there have been reams of books written about how one's blood, and thus one's socio-economic status, determines one's outcome even- perhaps especially, in these last few years- in America. And I know that the whole 'some day, little Billy, even you can grow up to be President!' is, in the main, a comforting lie; if little Billy is born to a crack-addicted mother in the ghetto, does he really have any chance at all of becoming President or attaining wealth through hard work? But even if little Billy is born into poverty in the ghetto, there is always a chance, however small, that he could become something better. He could go to the library and self-educate. He could be lucky enough to have a teacher truly take an interest in him. He could gain scholarships. For an American child, there is always a chance- infinitesimally small as it may be- to be better than the generation before.
But in Britain, you can never be the Queen, or the Duke of Westminster. The Imperial Crown, and all the wealth and power contained in it, will never sit on your head. You may go to Eton if your parents are wealthy enough to pay the fifteen thousand pounds a year necessary, and to Cambridge if you're smart, but the power of the aristocracy, of the monarchy, will never be yours, and that's the fundamental difference for me.
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Your political ranting is pretty accurate in my mind.In America you have to be born into some sort of wealth to have power, just look at the ivy league schools the presidents go to. Also you can be middle class and run but get money from lobbyists that pay your way through college and pay for your campaign. So the same guys get it. Most of the presidents were related somehow anyway. That suit of armor looks wicked.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I think I side with Jack's opinion of royalty; that there is a need to have someone untouchable with no real power, otherwise we are too reverent of our politicians to hold them fully accountable.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to tell you what a good job you are doing with your pics........I know the camera is rather basic, but you are getting some really good shots......keep it up.
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I'm thinking some of your pictures are right up there with your dad's! ~~aunt pam
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