Philip Corbett was out and about for the Platinum celebrations
When on the first day of the Jubilee long weekend my alarm went off at 5.30am I did consider turning it off and going back to sleep. After all, as so many people had told me,‘you see so much more on the television’. I had however made my bacon sandwiches the night before and it seemed silly to waste the treat of cold crisp bacon alongside piping hot coffee on the Mall. Arriving at 6.30am I soon realised I should have been up an hour earlier as the Mall was filling up with people. The atmosphere was something I’d not experienced before, a mixture of patriotic excitement and a feeling of being part of history. We were in for a treat. *
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There was a Jubilee drinking game that included downing your drink every time someone said ‘no one does pageantry like we do’. That of course is true. Trooping the Colour is a wonderful spectacle, and of course an entirely practical one. I was lucky enough to have a standing ticket for the Colonel’s Review. HRH The Duke of Cambridge took the salute and, as with so much over the Jubilee, it was good to feel the monarchy was in safe hands. Back on the Mall for Trooping the Colour I found myself taking on the role of Huw Edwards helping people identify minor members of the Royal Family. ‘No that wasn’t the Queen, that was Princess Alexandra…and behind her that’s Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’. I felt slightly cruel breaking the news to three people that it was the wrong day for the Gold State Coach, and that they had missed the Prince of Wales going by. He is rather hard to recognise in a busby and on a horse.
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The flypast was just stunning especially as HM The Queen had appeared on the balcony. I could see her through a gap between a screen and the Victoria Memorial. I admit dear reader to having a tear in my eye. When it was all done the walk home was just as jolly. London was at its best and brightest and people seemed to be in a celebratory mood.
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On Friday all eyes turned to St Paul’s Cathedral for the Service of Thanksgiving. I learnt rapidly over the weekend that the BBC coverage without commentary meant you got to see more. Members of my parish were playing in a Steel Pan Band at the end of the Pageant on the Sunday. The commentated coverage pulled away from them for yet more interviews. Luckily I was able to watch them, and indeed enjoy the wonderful Mazz Murray singing Dancing Queen. She is one of the hidden stars of the West End. Her Norma Desmond at the Royal Albert Hall was one of the best I had seen. She held her audience in the dark in the palm of her hand!
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On Friday evening I found myself in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace to hear a concert of royal music by the choir there. A musical treat in wonderful surroundings, the Chapel in which Charles I had worshipped after all. Under the masterful direction of Carl Jackson the choir (who will sing at the next Coronation) offered us a little insight into the rich range of Coronation music. They had invited former choristers now in secondary school back to sing the ‘Vivats’ in Parry’s I was Glad. It was a spine tingling moment and so much better than the rather weak Vivats at St Paul’s earlier in the day.
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I had a musical treat of another kind on Jubilee Saturday, A liver performance by a wonderful Calypso musician Alexander D Great. He had written a new Calypso in honour of the Platinum Jubilee. ‘Big Party for your Platinum Jubilee’ encourages us all to celebrate with our Queen. The Calypso offers a political commentary and a take on history and Alexander D Great highlights the service and dedication displayed by the Queen during her long reign. Its available to download and I encourage you to do so!
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The ‘Platty Joobs’ (as I understand the social media influencers called it) was a great boost for the nation with a real sense of coming together to give thanks for the Queen’s long reign and to pray for her. She was visibly moved at the end of the Jubilee Pageant as she saw the crowds swelling the Mall. Perhaps she was surprised to see so many people there to support her and to say thank you. She should not have been. W.S. Gilbert sums it all up at the end of Pirates of Penzance when he has the Pirate King sing the words ‘Because, with all our faults, we love our Queen’. And so say all of us!
Fr Philip Corbett is Parish Priest of All Saints’ Notting Hill and St Michael’s Ladbroke Grove, and a former Editor of New Directions.
Turn to p34 for Philip’s interview with Ameer Kotecha of The Platinum Jubilee Cookbook.