I have been busily trying to complete two orders and my Queen Elizabeth II doll in her coronation dress (all of which are looking quite spectacular). All of the dolls are almost there, but like, I suspect, many others I did take a couple of hours off to watch some of the coronation of Charles III.
Because I specialise in dolls with royal connections, some assume that I’m a full-blown royalist. I confess that I am not. There is a constant friction in my mind between the splendour and drama of the costumes and the associated tide of history and the food banks, the homeless, those less fortunate – i.e. those who happen to have chosen the wrong parents. And, like many others, the UK taxpayer footing a quarter of a billion pounds bill seemed, shall we say, extravagant to say the least – especially given the £1 billion+ fortune inherited by Charles.
I read a piece by Daniela Elser on the coronation which put it better than I can, which you can find at: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/royals/kate-middleton-spectacle-at-coronation-proves-meghan-and-harry-lost/news-story/235d28870dee174acf43cc5a6c1eaf0b
“If you think about it too much, there is something fundamentally ludicrous and ridiculous about a monarchy but for two hours on Saturday, it was nigh on impossible not to be totally swept up in the nearly otherworldly wonder and awe of it all.
To be a tad cynical for a moment, as first century poet Juvenal might have put it, this was ‘bread and circuses’ on an epic scale: Entertain the masses with the palliative feel-goodery of a huge, lovely spectacle!
But still, bottom line, I think it just might have worked or at least gone a long way to washing away some of the bad taste of recent years.
……………. Kate … played a sartorial blinder and turned up in a Cinderella-worthy Alexander McQueen gown and ornate floral headpiece that within nanoseconds editors around the world were probably describing as iconic ……………… watching Kate sail down the Abbey aisle done up like a 21st century Roman goddess or a couture Britannia; watching a divorcee from Wiltshire who loves Shiraz wear a crown; and watching the whole breathtaking spectacle of it all, something seemed apparent.
The royal house has come out on top.
For years there, as the Sussexes routinely turned up on TV screens and on podcasts to purge their grievances, the royal family often looked outfoxed, outmanoeuvred and just plain out of step. A big part of the problem: Monarchies in the modern sense don’t look like much. Shake hands, wave, plant tree, knight and repeat. But what the world witnessed on Saturday was a truly extraordinary, spine-tingling display of what monarchy can be; a magisterial display unlike anything else in the world.
………….. And even though it was the King and Queen who ended up with the crowns, there was no bigger star than Kate. In not adhering to centuries of tradition and wearing a tiara, in transforming herself into some sort of figure who seemed out of history and time, like some sort of Roman goddess, what she managed to do was to make the monarchy seem great again.
What Charles, Camilla, William and Kate have just done is manage to arrest much of the brand decline of this hereditary throne business, at least for a bit anyway. It might not be a permanent stay of execution but any chance of British sans culottes carting guillotines down The Mall or at least moving trucks forcibly entering Clarence House have been delayed for a long while yet.
The Windsors are well and truly back in the wowing business”.
As I watched the fairy tale unfolding like a Disney pageant, the stars for me were the two drum horses leading the band, the greys pulling the coach to the abbey (their blue cording and rosettes against the white flesh was agonisingly beautiful) and Kate (repeat descriptions above). She was wearing a deep blue Royal Victorian Order mantle edged in scarlet over an Alexander McQueen embroidered ivory silk crepe dress. Her silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery headpiece was by Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen. Well done them!
It leaves me with a question for you, my readers: I have never made a doll of a living person before. But should I break with tradition and make one of Kate in her coronation gown?
Keep well. All the best
Victoria
Lady of Finavon