NEWS AND OPINION: Queen Camilla’s coronation dress was hand embroidered and it included two dogs as you can see in the photo above. They were included as a tribute to her to rescue dogs. They are both Jack Russell Terriers and their names are Beth and Bluebell. They were both adopted from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in February 2017.
This new robe was designed and hand embroidered by the Royal School of Needlework, while the robe itself was made by Ede and Ravenscroft.” – BAZAAR magazine.
Camilla was a friend of the late Paul O’Grady. He was a great friend and supporter of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. The Queen is patron of that charity. That is why she teamed up with Paul O’Grady for a special episode of ITV’s For the Love of Dogs. O’Grady shared his love of dogs with Queen Camilla.
But the issue I have today, briefly, is to ask who paid for this wonderful dress and how much did it cost?
We don’t know, but the number being mentioned online is £100 million for the entire coronation. And that cost has been borne by the taxpayer as I understand it as it was an official event and at a time when there is a cost-of-living crisis in the country. My guess would be that the dress must have cost upwards of £10,000-$20,000 on a purely commercial costing.
My point is that if you are not a royalist, as I’m not, then this sort of overt expenditure is a little hard to stomach. It was all a bit too lavish for my liking.
There is another issue to which I take objection but I understand the reason why this happened. The police arrested people who wanted to make a protest against the Coronation before they had a chance to even set up their placards. Their protest was scotched before it was born. They were squashed by the state.
Arguably, that smacks of a police state rather than a country which is meant to have the ‘Mother of All Parliaments’ i.e., a well-established democracy. One aspect of the coronation which does support the stability of Great Britain is the fact that in many countries where there is a changeover of the head of state there is an accompanying conflict of some sort as the competing dictators struggle for power. In the UK it is all jollity and street parties.
Although you can’t say that the British citizens have huge amount of pride in their country judging by the amount or mess they abandoned after the coronation. Take a look:
Allegedly King Charles III hates grey squirrels but loves the reds. Speciesism?
