Earlier this year, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to spend 70 years on the throne. As a result, we’ve all been given a bonus Bank Holiday weekend in June to celebrate the platinum jubilee.
From Thursday, June 2 to Sunday, June 5, festivities will take place across the country commemorating the 95-year-old’s reign. As part of this, Liverpool Council is encouraging people across the city to have street parties and has even waived the fees for road closures.
Announcing the plans, Angie Redhead, head of assets at Liverpool Council, told the authority’s culture and visitor economy select committee earlier this year that the main commemoration will be a “really celebratory, family friendly event,” the type of which she described as a “flag waving, marching band playing, scone eating” gathering. Documents submitted to the committee said that “one thing is for sure, visitors will leave with a renewed sense of civic pride and admiration for our monarch.”
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Ms Redhead said residents were encouraged to hold street parties for the jubilee and added: “It’s a real moment in time and we just want to do what Liverpool does best, sing Rule Britannia, wave our flags and eat our scones.” Is this really true though? Does Liverpool truly love the Royals?
If the internet is to go by, perhaps not. When this story first went live, the description of the Royal love-in was met with howls of derision from social media users and website commenters alike. This was a response that wasn’t a surprise to historian and Royal commentator, Dr Ed Owens.
He said: “It doesn’t surprise me that it’s been met with derision. It’s a similar picture in Manchester, both cities are resistant to being told what to do from above and having fun organised for them. Historically in the North West particularly and across the UK, it tends to be areas with working class backgrounds and left wing points of view that aren’t always seen as royalist in the same way as other areas.
“When these types of Royal events come round, the London perspective tends to be interpreted as the national viewpoint. It can be quite suffocating that there is an assumption that there aren’t differences locally.
“Britain is quite a divided nation in terms of its attitudes towards the Royal Family. You have 20-25% who identify as royalists, probably the same amount who would say they’re Republicans, in between you’ve got the unknown.”
When the Queen last celebrated a jubilee, the Diamond celebration back in 2012, hundreds turned out across the city to wave flags, throw parties and enjoy the festivities. This was of course during a year in which the European Championships were being held and the Olympic Games in London.
Dr Owens said he wouldn’t expect the same reaction from Scousers this time. He said: “People will take the extended holiday and not have to use up their annual leave, I’ve heard that a lot myself.
“They are often more interested in the good time feeling the event brings and long afternoons in beer gardens. Public attitudes are much more mixed.
“The vision of Royalist Britain isn’t something that everyone subscribes to. If you go back 100 years, it hasn’t changed and the headlines in the likes of the Daily Mail and Express can be quite suffocating.”
A limited number of small grants to contribute to the purchase of party decorations is available from the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund (Merseyside). Other Queen’s Jubilee celebration events taking place in the city across the bank holiday weekend include the food and drink festival Taste Liverpool.
Drink Bordeaux which will be taking over three areas of the city centre – Hope Street, Bold Street and Castle Street. Cllr Abdul Qadir, Liverpool Council cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said waiving the fee on road closures would “alleviate some of the financial concerns” should people wish to hold parties while his cabinet colleague, Cllr Harry Doyle, said he hoped “as many residents as possible take up the opportunity for their very own party and so we can have that festive feel-good factor right across Liverpool."
