This weekend, millions in towns and cities across the UK will celebrate the 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
In London, its Platinum Jubilee is being celebrated with a range of events, from a parade to an overflight and a star-studded party at Buckingham Palace.
Meanwhile, the capital’s neighborhoods decked with red, white and blue flags are hosting more than 3,000 street parties and preparing feasts of “crown chicken” sandwiches and trifles. [sobremesa típica inglesa].
But as crowds gather in the capital, some young Brits are actively avoiding the festivities.
Many are indifferent, others irritated, with all the pomp and ceremony for a person and institution that they say has no place in their lives. They cite everything from colonialism to lack of diversity as reasons why they won’t be in the royal revelers crowd this weekend.
“I’m tired of this. I’m packing to go to Italy,” Joss MacDonald told CNN on Tuesday from his home in the London Borough of Hackney, where nearly 50 street parties were organized this weekend.
MacDonald said he would travel to Italy the next day – in time to mark Republic Day, the June 2 anniversary of the post-World War II referendum that saw the country abolish its monarchy in 1946.
The young man claimed it was a “fortuitous coincidence” that he would take advantage of by joining the Italians in their celebrations and partying on the streets of Sicily, before spending the rest of his holiday in the sun with his partner.
MacDonald said his childhood was not filled with memories of the queen and his family was far from being royally enthusiastic. But his mother still goes to a jubilee meeting on their street, he said, “mainly because it’s a good excuse for a party.”
Like many other young Brits, MacDonald said the monarchy, whose wealth and power are tied to a legacy of British colonialism, had failed to modernize and was disconnected from today’s multicultural Britain.
The 29-year-old potter said he thought the royal family with “its history of militarism and imperialism” was undemocratic and should be abolished – not celebrated on a four-day UK-wide jubilee holiday.
“I won’t envy people for a long time. I think the opportunity to have a big national party is great, but it’s a shame it has to be for this institution,” she added.
Impact Harry and Meghan Markle
Research suggests attitudes towards the royal family among young Brits have changed since 2019, a year after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding – a union that has raised hopes that they will reshape the royal family into their own contemporary and inclusive image. .
YouGov polls in 2019 indicated that 46% of 18-24 year olds thought the monarchy should continue, while 26% said the country should have an elected head of state and 28% were unsure.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in January 2020 that they were “stepping back” from their roles as senior royals, and in February 2021, the palace confirmed that they would not be returning as working members of the British royal family.
Poll conducted by YouGov from March to May 2021 showed that 31% of 18-24 year olds surveyed said they wanted to see the monarchy continue, while 41% believed Britain should have an elected head of state and 28 % were undecided.
Before the Platinum Jubilee, the CNN spoke with several Brits under 30 who live in London – the epicenter of the festivities – about their views.
Josie Watson, 25, will not attend the £15 million privately-funded “People’s Contest” festival on Saturday night, which will feature, among other things, a 6-inch puppet. feet tall of the queen as a princess with an entourage of corgi puppet dogs, a dancing wedding cake and singer Ed Sheeran.
Instead, the highlight of her weekend will be Abba Voyage, a show performed by the Swedish pop band’s holographic appearances, with her mother.
Watson said she is apathetic about the jubilee because “she doesn’t see the point in celebrating someone who was born into a family and given a role.”
The tech journalist lives in Ealing, a district in west London, where 154 street parties will be hosted by residents – among the most held in any London borough this weekend.
Despite growing up in a pro-monarchy family, Watson believes that “young people disconnect from the royal family because we never lived in a time when their leadership meant a lot.”
They served their purpose of providing “patriotism and leadership” during the war, but now “priorities have changed,” he added.
Robert Hazell, professor of government and constitution at University College London and co-editor of “The Role of Monarchy in Modern Democracy: European Monarchies Compared,” told CNN that there are many possible reasons for the apparent change in attitude towards the British monarchy among a younger generation of Britons.
“We have an aging monarch. It is difficult for young people to identify with someone who is very old,” Hazell said. But with Prince William and Catherine making more public commitments to their children, he expects interest to rise again when Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis become teenagers.
But for Watson, age is not the issue. “We just don’t see enough of ourselves in them,” she said.
Pakistani-British freelance journalist Asiya Istikhar, 22, said she felt a shift in the way ethnic minorities related to the royal family when biracial American actress Meghan Markle entered the picture.
When Istikhar was growing up, it became a ritual in her family to occasionally attend royal events, especially for her mother, who loved Princess Diana but herself was never interested.
It wasn’t before Prince Harry and Meghan’s relationship that she felt excited about royalty, she said. But that excitement quickly turned to horror when she saw how Meghan was covered in British tabloids.
“For many, many weeks, you would just pick up a newspaper or see various articles online that were ruthlessly destroying Meghan,” she said.
Harry spoke openly about the racial abuse Meghan faced from elements of the press in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, saying it hurt him that no one in his family ever said anything or showed “public support” to his wife in response.
Istikhar said this lack of support from the royal family for Meghan has not instilled much hope among young people – particularly black people – that the monarchy can change.
Istikhar plans to go to her family’s Birmingham home in a “purposely orchestrated” move to avoid the big celebration – and the 101 street parties that will take place in Southwark, on the south bank of the Thames, where she lives, because she has no interest in it. in celebrating the “70-year reign of an unelected monarch”.
Meanwhile, Roisin Conneely, a 26-year-old digital communications professional, has big plans for her weekend – spending it at her home in Redbridge, East London, watching the final season of “Stranger Things”.
“I couldn’t care less,” she said of the jubilee.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
