LONDON – The ‘raucous and teeming’ scenes which met Queen Elizabeth II as she led a 1 000-boat flotilla to mark her diamond jubilee show that British pride is alive and well, the nation’s newspapers said yesterday.
Over 1.2 million braved foul weather to cheer on the queen as she made her way down the River Thames on the red-and-gold Spirit of Chartwell amid a water-borne procession of kayaks, steamers and tugs.The crowd’s defiance highlighted British perseverance, which will be needed with economic storm clouds looming, Monday’s papers argued.The editorial of The Times’ souvenir edition said the showpiece event had turned the murky river ‘into a Canaletto for the 21st century.’It said the crowd’s response recalled historian Mandell Creighton’s 1896 description of the English character as ‘an adventurous spirit… courage to face dangers, cheerfulness under disaster and perseverance in the sphere which he has chosen.’The beauty of yesterday was raucous and teeming,’ it added. ‘Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lay open to the clouds and to the sky. For all the rain, Earth had not anything to show more fair.’It concluded that the open display of national pride raised hopes that Britain ‘will always be home to a happy breed of men, and women… a precious stone, set in a silver sea.’Elizabeth, 86, is only the second British monarch to celebrate a diamond jubilee, after queen Victoria. – Nampa-AFP
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