The man formerly known as Prince Charles has just become our liege-lord, apparently.

I resorted to my dictionary. “liege” describes the relationships between a “feudal superior” and a “vassal”. A “vassal” (that’s you) is a holder of land “on condition of homage or allegiance” or a “person in a subordinate position”.

So, peasant – have you listened to the words of the proclamation that was read out all over our country at the weekend? You can read about the rituals, and read the words of the proclamation, here…

Accession council and principal proclamation

The words of the principal proclamation

…our MPs, and our councillors up and down the land, whether socialists, greens, democrats or anything else, have gone along with this on our behalf, agreeing “with one voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart”, that this man is now our “lawful and rightful Liege Lord”, “by the Grace of God”. They have spoken for everyone in the United Kingdom, and across the commonwealth. They affirmed that he (as head of the Church of England) is “Defender of the Faith”, and they all cheered, and shouted “GOD SAVE THE KING.”

“Defender of the Faith”, eh? A bit awkward for you if you’re a humanist or a member of any other religion but C of E, but that doesn’t matter, apparently. Here are the supposedly socialist councillors and supposedly transformational Greens and all the rest of them, all usually so very keen on being “inclusive”, doing it in my town…

There was a gathering of oh, more than 50 people in attendance. One in about 2000 of the population of our town were eager to be there and knuckle under.

Did you feel any different, in the gap between the death of The Queen and the proclamation of The King? Any less of a vassal? Apparently the word “interregnum” doesn’t apply here. There isn’t really a pause between one royal and the next. Apparently, the kingness transfers instantly, it’s only the human that dies, not the magical kingness.

But they do seem to rush out that proclamation, almost as though they know if we had time to think and organize, we might pay attention to those words, and decide along with the campaign group “Republic”, that enough is enough — after all, even of the many who were indeed very fond of Elizabeth II, and wish no disrespect to her whatsoever, a large proportion had been assuming we would “make Elizabeth the last.”

I never wished her any harm – although I would have liked to – I still would like to — see some of her progeny called to defend themselves in a court of law.

The City

There is a special reading of the proclamation for the City of London, that world-renowned tax haven, that self-referring world-within-a-world that even has its own police force, the command and direction of which even the Met don’t know an awful lot about. It’s no secret why that is the case. One of the BBC commentators blatantly said how important the City had been to the kings over the years, particularly for the financing of wars.

While the media make much of a funeral director’s window sticker that offended some hearse followers, and police confirm their intention to arrest any protestors who “might offend someone”, it might also be worth mentioning that the City of London is the smoke-and-mirrors mechanism that is there to protect and maintain the billionaires that are ruining us all.

While we’re thinking about who’s getting offended, let’s revisit that famous time when a BBC Newsnight presenter got a bit frisky, and played out with that other song…

… and if anyone is offended by that, do remind them that Johnny Rotten was one of the first whistle-blowers on the topic of Jimmy Savile, and he (Rotten) was banned from the BBC for his pains.

Here are the lyrics to God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols.

God save the Queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
A potential H bomb

God save the Queen
She ain’t no human being*
There is no future
In England’s dreaming

Don’t be told what you want, you want
And don’t be told what you want to need
There’s no future, no future
No future for you

God save the Queen
We mean it, man
We love our Queen
God saves

God save the Queen
‘Cause tourists are money
And our figurehead
Is not what she seems

God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh lord God, have mercy
All crimes are paid

When there’s no future, how can there be sin?
We’re the flowers in the dustbin
We’re the poison in your human machine
We’re the future, your future

God save the Queen
We mean it, man
We love our Queen
God saves

God save the Queen
We mean it, man
There is no future
In England’s dreaming

No future
No future
No future for you
No future
No future
No future for me

No future
No future

• Re “she ain’t no human being” – Really, “The Queen” isn’t a person – there was a woman called Elizabeth. I daresay she lived the best life she could from where she started. She was a human being. “The Queen” never was, and “The King” isn’t either. When you drop “polite”, and start being honest, you find you can be much more human. It hurts sometimes, but it does allow real kindness.

The Sex Pistols were my era. I was at their first live concert. They were loud and not particularly proficient. They swore. They spat and flailed around. As far as I know though, they never lied to anyone, they never harmed any children, and they didn’t do bullshit. When the little gang of pogo-ers in front of the stage yelled for an encore, the band told them straight that they’d already done all the songs they knew how to play.

I don’t suppose the councillors in my town really believe all that feudal stuff – I expect they were just being polite – and in some cases, rather over-fond of the dressing up box – but I resent it. Tolerating bullshit leads to tolerating real harm. Rotten was banned from the BBC for speaking the truth. It was considered impolite. Perhaps if we were lucky enough to be citizens of our own country, rather than obedient vassals of a liege lord, we would be able to tolerate a bit of dissent, and be braver about rejecting bullshit, and as a result perhaps we’d find out sooner when things are going horribly wrong.

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