Fears that Scots and Roman Catholics would resent an official festival celebrating the 400th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth I's accession led to the proposal being dropped, Downing Street files reveal.
And no, not by our present yellow-belly of a PM:
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the plan for a series of national events - first floated by a Conservative MP in 1957 - was ditched despite the prime minister's enthusiasm.
No guesses why it wasn’t deemed politically correct, even 50 years ago, to celebrate one of Europe’s greatest ever monarchs:
A major objection is the feeling in Scotland about Her Majesty the Queen's title. Some Scottish opinion would resent any national festival connected with the accession of a sovereign who did not reign in Scotland." Elizabeth I was succeeded in 1603 by the Scottish King James VI, the first monarch to rule in both countries.
The year of 1957 was also the 250th anniversary of the dissolution of the Scottish parliament; at the beginning of the decade Scottish nationalists had stolen the ancient stone of Scone and repatriated it.
Hill's objections did not stop there. "There might also be some lack of enthusiasm, if not vocal opposition, among the Roman Catholic community," he added. "The Catholic church has little reason to celebrate the reign of Elizabeth I."
Plus ca change...
2 comments:
Bess does not get good press in Scotland for many reasons. The most prominent of course is the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Despite Mary being run out of town on her native heath, there was extreme anger in Scottish society over her execution and even a mild chance of war till James judged his chances of victory were extremely slim and he would jepordise his succession at any rate.
Certainly despite various reports about his reaction to his estranged mother's death which range from mildly pleased to inconsolable, he certainly barred the English Ambassador from Scotland in revenge.
When James took over down south he had his mother's remains reburied at Westminster Abbey and had Fothringay Castle, the site of her execution, torn down.
We can argue about Mary's behaviour, but essentially Scottish society to this day, particularly its historians, cannot forgive Elizabeth for what she did.
But I suppose she is a bit lower in English hate figures than her ancestor Longshanks who is even more despised for his many deeds, from his invasion, his execution of Wallace to his dying determination to annex the country, supposedly cursing it as he lay dying at Burgh-upon-Sands.
There is of course controversy over the term "Elizabeth II".
The EIIR issue is a dormant issue in Scotland as the Scottish state just tends to ignore it. All official insignia of ER controlled by the Scottish authorities (even in those halcyon days before devolution) has the Scottish coat of arms between the two digits and of course the Royal Mail has no EIIR letter boxes in Scotland - just crowns.
As for celebrating great monarchs, I did not exactly see the UK government pulling out the stops to celebrate the accession of Robert the Bruce in 2006, the seven hundreth anniversary. It was pretty muted in Scotland with I think an exhibition in the Scottish national museum. British museum - do not make me laugh.
Undoubtedly Elizabeth was prominent monarch of our time, but she does raise some hackles. Since we are all in the EU now, maybe we should mark some anniversary of Spain's Phillip II, a man of oversaw Spain's golden age.
Since he had a Brit connection (nephew of Henry VIII and consort of Mary Tudor), I am sure the English will eschew all talk of Drake etc and merrily crowd into the streets to eat Paella and drink San Miguel to salute the great man. I am sure the Dutch and Portugese will also join in the party.
Also 1815 is coming up. Not just the anniversary of Waterloo but also the two hundreth birthday of that giant of European politics - Bismarck. I believe he was very fond champagne (particularly from the Rhein area). I am sure the French will enthuasitically bottle some in his honour and drink toasts along with the Danes and the Austrians to the great man (!)
The EIIR issue is a dormant issue in Scotland as the Scottish state just tends to ignore it.
Just one reason why I think there isn't a snowball in chance of any kind of official celebration of her reign now. What surprised me though was the sensitivity of a post-war Conservative PM like MacMillan to such issues- it just doesn't fit into the usual stereotypes of the "imperialist" Tories of that period.
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