State opening of Parliament 2006

State opening of Parliament 15th November 2006, The Queens crown has been brought from the Tower of London today, she only wears it very few times in the year, maybe just a couple, so, this is quite interesting thing to watch.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Elizabeth
• II
• parliament
• london
• queen
• royal
• crown

[mc0558]

As the Queen gets older, and more fragile, the obviously reduce the size and the weight of the Imperial State Crown. I don't know why she just doesn't switch to Queen Victoria's miniture crown and have the Imperial State Crown place beside her on a table next to the throne.

All of these uniforms, dignitaries and this ceremony are symbols of the solumnity, grandure and glory of the British and Commonwealth peoples.

[joeblowpz]

Its not really a hat, its a crown, and the British Crown is basically an artificial person, and who ever inherits it is the king or queen. So the crown is the powerhouse (you see it on passports, law documents, state logos etc and in court its "The Crown Versus"). So thats why its a big deal, as it represents a kingdom that can be passed on when the current owner (god forbid) dies. Hope that helps :)

[gagothesith]

> Do we really need such pomp and circumstance

> over an unelected Head of State?

It is precisely because that Head of State is not someone who could come and go on each election day that there is pomp and circumstance--this is not you at a ball or a Prom where someone who was a commoner until this morning and will be a commoner again the morning after gets to wear a tiara or a crown for one evening during her entire life.

[Georgiahulse]

The question is, is all this necessary? Do we really need such pomp and circumstance over an unelected Head of State?

[invicta1983]

agreed. the best thing is to just ignore them. Most British people that make anti-american comments are on the hard-left or hard-right!

[Nosmos]

Pompus ceremony.

[lastminuteregret]

We parted from that "marriage" out of our own greed. The American Revolution, if you actually look at it, is nothing to be proud of. We revolted over taxes when we paid the least taxes in the whole Empire.

[shebopaloobop]

I think we need the voice of reason here.

Everyone just calm down, on both sides of the Atlantic. I am American, born and raised, my people have been here since 1634. I happen to have enormous interest in other countries and cultures, and I know more about British culture, royalty, and politics than many of my British friends do. For every ignorant American, there is an ignorant Brit, and ignorant Indian, an ignorant Chinese, etc... Let's not make blanket statements about Americans or Brits..

[ffairlane57]

For a 19 year old, that's what I call loyalty!

I am the same culture as you, just a pond away. Only difference is you will catch me singing the Sex Pistols version of 'God Save the Queen' instead of 'Rule Britannia'.

[ffairlane57]

because I am a comedian and, my first comment was a joke. perhaps you should have taken a light-hearted laugh yourself. Have a nice day!

[ffairlane57]

To answer your question, We Americans parted from your monarchy 222 years ago. It was not a good marriage.