SST: A slap in the face
The SST has labelled the decision for no member of the Royal Family to attend Sir Edmund’s funeral as a slap in the face for all New Zealanders. While not quite literally true, they are on the money and I am reproducing the whole editorial as it makes the case so strongly:
Republicans will rejoice that the royals have declined to come to Sir Edmund Hillary’s funeral. Buckingham Palace has, at a stroke, infuriated all of New Zealand and turned mild monarchists into red-hot anti-royalists. As PR botches go, it’s epoch-making and hilarious. But as an insult to this country and its deepest values, it is unforgivable.
Hillary represents the best of us everyone has been saying so since he died and was loved like no other New Zealander. The palace denies that the royal refusal will be seen as a snub to Sir Ed, and demonstrates the gulf between the toffs at court and the people of these islands. It is not only an insult to Hillary, it is a slap in the face for all New Zealanders.
It is also a breathtaking piece of hypocrisy. Britain and its rulers welcomed Hillary’s conquest of Everest as the “crowning glory” of Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953. The bewildered beekeeper found himself transmogrified into a knight. Britain regarded him as an honorary Brit and celebrated his climb as though a Brit had done it.
The new queen was happy to accept Hillary’s colonial tribute to her glory, and later gave him the ultimate royal honour by making him a Knight of the Garter. This is the greatest of the gongs, a personal gift of the sovereign. When Hillary went to London in 2002 she greeted him like an old friend.
This is why it is hogwash for the palace to say that the governor-general, as the queen’s personal representative, will be an adequate ambassador at the funeral. Nobody believes that when the governor-general turns up to cut a ribbon or attend a big-wigs’ tea party that he is a sort of virtual royal presence. The people who listen to him giving yet another vacuous speech of good cheer do not suppose for a minute that they are somehow in the presence of the Queen of England. Sending the governor-general to the funeral of the greatest living New Zealander is therefore not a special enough royal gesture. It certainly is not a decent response to the death of a man feted as a hero not only in New Zealand but in Britain, and whose funeral will be televised in many countries around the world. “Oh, Satyanand can do it,” is not only a lazy response, it is a shameful one.
Edmund and Elizabeth’s twosome was for many monarchists a kind of symbol of the close bonds between their countries. The fact that she can’t be bothered even to send a minor princeling or pint-sized princess to farewell him should tell even them that these bonds are broken. Most New Zealanders know that already. They no longer crowd to see visiting royals. They know that New Zealand is in practical terms a republic. But this astonishing insult should now spur us into making the break with the palace official. What better proof could there be that we no longer have anything in common with this bizarre institution?
Helen Clark won’t do anything, of course, because although she thinks the monarchy is absurd she is also desperately interested in hanging on to power. Till now, she has supposed that stirring up a debate over the monarchy would just cause her unnecessary trouble. But maybe this time around she is wrong. Maybe the Queen’s insult will really spark the start of a republican revolution. Maybe this time Clark will stand up for what she believes.
The Queen offers a memorial service in England for Hillary, as though this makes up for the royal absence at his real funeral. This just makes things worse. One can’t be bothered to go all the way down there, but one will light a candle in one’s chapel.
No, ma’am, it won’t do.
In a separate story, they also report on reaction quoting a UK royal correspondent who labels it an “astonishing” snub.
The Royal Family sent a member to the funerals of Norman Kirk and Keith Holyoake. They have been badly advised in their decision not to attend Hillary’s. There is no question that there were Royals available with no clashing engagements, and there was definitely time for a flight over to be arranged.