The Queen is a fan

[Joney]

A friend texted me this morning and very excitedly told me that Leonard Cohen was going to play to the Queen for her diamond jubilee!! I think she may have got it a bit wrong. However she then sent me this link and it does indeed seem that the Queen is a fan.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... urite.html

[lizzytysh]

OHHHhhhhhhhhh... I wish the Queen would have Leonard be the one to perform it.
At least she loves his song.

[Amalthea]

I don't care much for the royalties, to be honest (not even the royalties in my own country), but at least she has good music taste. But I wonder though, even if Leonard had been asked to be the one to perform the song, do you think he would have accepted? I mean, isn't it sort of a (big) political statement to do that? Or is that just me?

[lizzytysh]

I really don't feel it's a big political statement to accept an invitation to perform for royalty of 'another' country, so much as it is to reject an invitation. Canada and England have had their 'given' relationship for a very long time ... and my understanding is that the monarchy isn't really about politics, but rather simply a centuries-old institution. Parliament, however, is about politics.

[lightasabreeze]

I know Prince Charlie is a fan. Not a royalist myself, but pity she can't request he play more than just one concert here though.

[tomsakic]

Which queen? Uk?

[hydriot]

Lizzy is correct. The Queen is above politics and is therefore the figurehead around which we can all unite at times of crisis. She is also the head of the armed forces, and so the ultimate protector of our freedoms. As William's service as an air-sea rescue helicopter pilot and Harry's service as a spotter in Afghanistan show, the royals don't just sit around getting fat at somebody else's expense any more. That all ended in 1936.

Ben Elton, the comedian, who was very republican in his younger years, summed it all up rather well a few years ago. "Who would you rather have as Head of State?" he asked, "A politician who really really really wants the job, or someone who has to do the job?"

[tomsakic]

Oh, I just read the link to see what queen. There are other realms here outside UK... I see, she's a fan of The Tenors and Alexandra Burke.

[John Etherington]

Can't they give "Hallelujah" a rest, and sing "The Lumberjack Song" instead?

[LisaLCFan]

Leonard is never going to be rid of that "Godfather of Gloom" moniker, is he?

[tomsakic]

Better that, Lisa, than sing for any "queen". And I mean, it's The Sun.

[LisaLCFan]

I take it, Tom, that you are not a fan of the monarchy (any monarchy!), nor of The Sun, for that matter!

As for the political situation... (and, honestly, the Queen, monarchy, etc, is a political situation) ... I won't go there (this is not the politics section)!

[mutti]

Growing up in Canada we all had to sing 'God Save the Queen' in school...not sure if they still do or not.
Leslie

[bridger15]

Growing up in Canada we all had to sing 'God Save the Queen' in school...not sure if they still do or not.
Leslie

Hey Leslie, being a woman of a certain age, when I was in school in Toronto, we all had to sing, "God Save The King".
And we were taught the "King's English".
---Arlene

[Merganser]

I really don't feel it's a big political statement to accept an invitation to perform for royalty of 'another' country, so much as it is to reject an invitation. Canada and England have had their 'given' relationship for a very long time ... and my understanding is that the monarchy isn't really about politics, but rather simply a centuries-old institution. Parliament, however, is about politics.

While it's certainly true that the United Kingdom and Canada are separate countries, Canada is still one of the Commonwealth realms (that's not the same as being a member in the Commonwealth of Nations, there are only 16 Commonwealth realms, and 54 Commonwealth nations) and as such, Elizabeth II is also the Queen of Canada (and of Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, and several other countries).

So yeah, he's a citizen of another country, but if he performed for her, he'd still be performing for his queen.

I don't know if Cohen's a monarchist, a republican, or doesn't care, of course. So he may or may not consider her to be his monarch, but legally speaking, that's how it works. Don't take this to indicate that the royal family has any particular power or influence in Canada (beyond that of any other famous person with ready accecss to mass communication, of course) or any other non-UK commonwealth realm (and the degree of their influence in the UK is debatable as well), but in the form of law, she's the queen of Canada and is represented there by her Governor-General, who carries out her wishes as regards that nation. In practice, obviously, the Prime Minister runs the show and the Governor-General defers to that individual. The retention of the monarchy, especially in modern constitutional monarchies, is generally a function of two things: 1) tradition and 2) practicality. These systems work, and most governments are loath to change working systems to ones that might go haywire and all crazypants.