The Royal House of Windsor
Mountbatten
Mountbatten Windsor
Saxe Coburg Gotha
Or all of the above. It seems all this was discussed at great length in the UK in the 1940s and 50s. But in the 70s, things had moved on.
I started teacher training in 1973 and soon discovered the subject of the queen's family name was a major topic of interest, along with her children, her husband, her (auld witch of a) mother and her extended family. This was before we had 'Neighbours' on the telly so we were always looking for entertainment.
Not that anyone in Glasgow was interested in what we called 'the auld biled bean' but her sister was a bit of a goer and, after an affair with a divorced man, had been married off to a well-connected society photographer - who turned out to be gay. It said so in the papers.
That marriage was going down the pan by 1973 and in all the "ladies' staffrooms" of Glasgow's schools, the hot topic was: would Princess Margaret be the first royal to get divorced and - to quote the same papers - be allowed to 'look for happiness.' She seemed quite happy parked on a private island in the Caribbean looking for happiness but hey, what would we know?
I hadn't encountered this interest in the royals before so I was quite surprised to find Scottish teachers, who didn't know the people involved and could really have had no interest in any of them, sighing loudly in the staffroom as they marked their jotters or did their knitting, and muttering "Poor Princess Margaret.'
Now I grew up in a socialist (often communist) Glasgow family (I bet I'm on a watch list after this along with CND, Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace) and I couldn't understand the interest.
I did remember the queen visiting Govan in the 60s to see the new houses being built for poor people then. My mother's sister was at the event in some trades union capacity and reported back to the family that Her Maj's comment on some wee wumman's new hoose was: 'Is this all you have?'
That went down a treat in Govan: bomb us, pull down our tenements, destroy our communities, decant us in our thousands to some field in Pollok and then feel sorry for us...
Us trainee teachers played no part in discussions of poor Princess Margaret, who turned out to be a raging nympho who was on the gin by 10am most days. We knew our place: in some schools, a few teachers had discussed with their classes whether they could be arsed having students teaching them and had decided no. We offered to go back to college and make sure these schools were never troubled by the likes of us again. We reckoned they wouldn't miss us, since when we arrived for our 5 week stint seven of us had been shunted into a toilet next door to the staffroom with one classroom desk and 3 primary-size chairs - and no kettle.
It was certainly good fun when there was a staffing crisis a few years later and teachers had to be imported from Australia and Canada to work in Glasgow. Well, as they say in Argyll, 'we laughed.' But we didn't offer to move to King's Park to help out.
Later, my job took me to Argyll and the islands. The queen and her family were there often in the summer, along with an assortment of political hangers-on, their boats rocking in Queen's Bay or up at Kiloran in Colonsay. Or flying into the 'drome' in Islay and being whisked off to Islay House or Lord Astor's estate in Jura.
It was said they got peace to enjoy their holidays there. In fact, nobody really cared whether they were there or not. These are working communities. Always polite to visitors but usually too busy to get involved. Not that anyone would see a visitor stuck - all except that nasty wee ratbag Michael Forsyth who came to Colonsay and ditched his landrover. Probably the only time no one has ever offered to help a visitor.
But the rules were clear: You didn't engage with these people. Her Maj may be a constitutional monarch with no real power, but she gets what she wants. She's had a long time to set the rules. I was surprised to see her grandson and his wife take her on and not at all surprised to see them emerge from discussions with Her Maj with no concessions.
He's a poor soul, Harry. I can't imagine what the inside of his mind looks like: he effectively lost his father (another basket case) in the divorce when he was 11 and lost his mother when he was 12. The worst photos of that time show him following Diana's coffin. It tells you a lot about the Windsor family that they allowed that to happen.
It could turn out that the best thing to happen to Harry is to leave the UK. But there's a chance Meghan Markle is going to have 2 children to look after all her life, rather than one.
Mountbatten Windsor
Saxe Coburg Gotha
Or all of the above. It seems all this was discussed at great length in the UK in the 1940s and 50s. But in the 70s, things had moved on.
I started teacher training in 1973 and soon discovered the subject of the queen's family name was a major topic of interest, along with her children, her husband, her (auld witch of a) mother and her extended family. This was before we had 'Neighbours' on the telly so we were always looking for entertainment.
Not that anyone in Glasgow was interested in what we called 'the auld biled bean' but her sister was a bit of a goer and, after an affair with a divorced man, had been married off to a well-connected society photographer - who turned out to be gay. It said so in the papers.
That marriage was going down the pan by 1973 and in all the "ladies' staffrooms" of Glasgow's schools, the hot topic was: would Princess Margaret be the first royal to get divorced and - to quote the same papers - be allowed to 'look for happiness.' She seemed quite happy parked on a private island in the Caribbean looking for happiness but hey, what would we know?
I hadn't encountered this interest in the royals before so I was quite surprised to find Scottish teachers, who didn't know the people involved and could really have had no interest in any of them, sighing loudly in the staffroom as they marked their jotters or did their knitting, and muttering "Poor Princess Margaret.'
Now I grew up in a socialist (often communist) Glasgow family (I bet I'm on a watch list after this along with CND, Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace) and I couldn't understand the interest.
I did remember the queen visiting Govan in the 60s to see the new houses being built for poor people then. My mother's sister was at the event in some trades union capacity and reported back to the family that Her Maj's comment on some wee wumman's new hoose was: 'Is this all you have?'
That went down a treat in Govan: bomb us, pull down our tenements, destroy our communities, decant us in our thousands to some field in Pollok and then feel sorry for us...
Us trainee teachers played no part in discussions of poor Princess Margaret, who turned out to be a raging nympho who was on the gin by 10am most days. We knew our place: in some schools, a few teachers had discussed with their classes whether they could be arsed having students teaching them and had decided no. We offered to go back to college and make sure these schools were never troubled by the likes of us again. We reckoned they wouldn't miss us, since when we arrived for our 5 week stint seven of us had been shunted into a toilet next door to the staffroom with one classroom desk and 3 primary-size chairs - and no kettle.
It was certainly good fun when there was a staffing crisis a few years later and teachers had to be imported from Australia and Canada to work in Glasgow. Well, as they say in Argyll, 'we laughed.' But we didn't offer to move to King's Park to help out.
Later, my job took me to Argyll and the islands. The queen and her family were there often in the summer, along with an assortment of political hangers-on, their boats rocking in Queen's Bay or up at Kiloran in Colonsay. Or flying into the 'drome' in Islay and being whisked off to Islay House or Lord Astor's estate in Jura.
It was said they got peace to enjoy their holidays there. In fact, nobody really cared whether they were there or not. These are working communities. Always polite to visitors but usually too busy to get involved. Not that anyone would see a visitor stuck - all except that nasty wee ratbag Michael Forsyth who came to Colonsay and ditched his landrover. Probably the only time no one has ever offered to help a visitor.
But the rules were clear: You didn't engage with these people. Her Maj may be a constitutional monarch with no real power, but she gets what she wants. She's had a long time to set the rules. I was surprised to see her grandson and his wife take her on and not at all surprised to see them emerge from discussions with Her Maj with no concessions.
He's a poor soul, Harry. I can't imagine what the inside of his mind looks like: he effectively lost his father (another basket case) in the divorce when he was 11 and lost his mother when he was 12. The worst photos of that time show him following Diana's coffin. It tells you a lot about the Windsor family that they allowed that to happen.
It could turn out that the best thing to happen to Harry is to leave the UK. But there's a chance Meghan Markle is going to have 2 children to look after all her life, rather than one.
Comments
Post a Comment