2021:2 - 4

I am an unqualified admirer of our armed forces and I am grateful for the service they render us even when it is in the theatre of unworthy and politically misguided conflicts. By that score I am preared to cut Prince Andrew some slack for being a boorish mediocrity. I am not willing to grant him any credit against any sexual misfeasance. But it is not the ninth in line to the throne who concerns me when I look back at February. No it is his similarly courageous nephew and sixth in line, Prince Harry.

By February this near incumbent of the seat of Defender of the Faith had absconded to America with his winsome bride. They issued a sick-making statement that they had not retired from public service but that 'We can all live a life of service'. This may, taken at its most literal (and thereby meaningless), be true but it is drivel when scripted for the mouths of two participants in the great reality television show that is California. Harry's great-great-uncle married an American divorcee. He surrendered his right to be King. It will take a remarkable and sad turn of events for Harry to have to reign but if he does he (or those who advise him) might consider the spiritual vacuity of his 'Christmas' card which wished his viewers 'Happy Holidays'. 

I know that this sounds like the whining of an old lady at the bus-stop, but, really, the Queen deserves better. 

After which whining let's turn to meatier matters in March. The Cheltenham Festival (that's horse-racing not its poor relation the Literary Festival) went ahead without me, indeed without any spectators due to the continuing Covid pandemic. I watched on television but, and I hate to say this, it was a relatively joyless affair. The procession of Irish winners, the dominance of the mega-stables, and the smaller fields are the main reasons why I fear for this most special of sporting events. The corporates and the lads in shiny suits have already taken some of the lustre off things. As it happens other commitments will mean I can't go this year either. Hopefully another absence will make this heart grow fonder.  

In April the Duke of Edinburgh died. There was a moving but somehow apt symbolism to pictures of the Queen sitting solitary at the Covid-regulated funeral ceremony. Her dignity served to remind those of us who, despite all logic, believe in a constitutional monarchy that what we really believe in is this Queen in all her absurd magnificence.