Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee : Loves and Hatreds

Being the head of The Commonwealth of Nations (also known as The British Commonwealth), the head of constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and also the head of state of the Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories, Queen Elizabeth II has just celebrated her 60th year of throne last week. Yes! The Diamond Jubilee celebration.

The only other monarch in the histories of the Commonwealth realms having celebrated a Diamond Jubilee is Queen Victoria in 1897. The diamond jubilee tradition is to award Diamond Jubilee medals to various countries; holidays and events will be held throughout the Commonwealth. (FYI, the Big Ben will also be renamed to Elizabeth Tower to mark this celebration).



The Diamond Jubilee last week was just as huge and as spectacular as you may imagine. Union Jacks were everywhere; aircraft from the Battle of Britain (including Spitfires and a Hurricane) and the Red Arrows display team roared over the palace in a dramatic finale to the festivities, trailing red, white and blue smoke. Even me ( only watched the CNN Diamond Jubilee's coverage from this other side of the world), could feel the enthusiasm and euphoria floating everywhere in the atmosphere. It was pompous!

Queen Elizabeth smiled broadly and looked move by the scale of the tribute.

"It has touched me deeply to see so many thousands of families, neighbors and friends celebrating together in such a happy atmosphere," she said, in a message recorded Monday at the palace.

"I hope that memories of all this year's happy events will brighten our lives for many years to come. I will continue to treasure and draw inspiration from the countless kindnesses shown to me from this country and throughout the Commonwealth. Thank you all."
For the complete coverage on Queen's Diamond Jubilee, click here. 

Well, almost everyone cheered and had fun. Almost.
Some people talked about the monarchy only being little more than an anachronism in this 21st century. A ceremonial head of state, decided by blood? Some others talked about the cost, the cost of the monarchy (including this Diamond Jubilee's celebration). One anti-monarchy group says that the Royals cost the British taxpayer more than £200 million ($320 million), according to AP reports. Even official estimates say that she costs £40 million a year.
 To see how exactly the Diamond Jubilee and the monarchy esp. Queen Elizabeth II cost so much click here.

Queen Elizabeth II, is by far the wealthiest royal in Britain, with an estimated next worth of $510 million. The top members of the British royal family are worth more than $1 billion. Compared to that, top soccer star David Beckham's net worth reported to be $260 million. Even the value of the reigning soccer champions of England, Manchester City Football Club  reportedly worth only $443 million. Wow.
Here is the infographic from Wealth-X about top 14  royal line succession's net worth.

Despise those facts and hatreds,a poll from this year found that 69% of those polled thought the UK would be worse off without the monarchy. Why British still love the Queen and the monarchy? This post is getting too long, I'll post about it tomorrow on a new post. Come back!

to be continued...