She came to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial and the four of us went along to watch. As is typical with these occasions you don't see much more of them than their faces behind a tinted Range Rover window. In fairness I think they did a bit of a walk-about when they arrived but it was raining when they left so they headed off for tea and cake leaving us commoners to huddle under umbrellas. They drove by at 11.15am - the lady standing next to us had been there since 8.30am..
Here's a couple of pics
Even after we had seen them I'm not altogether sure that Eli really 'got it'. On the way back to the car he kept asking 'When are we going to see the King?'. It was too hard to explain.
*I must confess to unbridled ambivalence towards the Royal Family.
There are obviously loads of pros and cons to their existence. Ridiculous suggestions that they bring in tourists to Britain vs the demonstration of the effectiveness of a 'neutral' head of state vs a politically motivated one vs the inbred and privileged nature of the role vs a constitutional monarch in a guilded cage etc etc. It's all a little dull. To be honest since I've been in Australia my view has softened as I've been grateful that a much smaller slice of my tax is going to pay for them as well. I still suspect that Johnny Rotten had it about right when he sang 'God Save the Queen' in 1977.
It does makes me chuckle that she's head of State in Australia and appears on our coins and $5 note. I can't really be bothered to consider if it's right or wrong but I do agree that it serves to lift the tone of the place a bit. Having a 4 year old daughter who talks incessantly about Princess Catherine also helps.
Anyway, enough of that.
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