Sixty Joyless De-Britished Uncrowned Commonpoor Years (1949-2009)

Elizabeth II Vice-Regal Saint: Remembering Paul Comtois (1895–1966), Lt.-Governor of Québec
Britannic Inheritance: Britain's proud legacy. What legacy will America leave?
English Debate: Daniel Hannan revels in making mince meat of Gordon Brown
Crazy Canucks: British MP banned from Canada on national security grounds
Happy St. Patrick's: Will Ireland ever return to the Commonwealth?
Voyage Through the Commonwealth: World cruise around the faded bits of pink.
No Queen for the Green: The Green Party of Canada votes to dispense with monarchy.
"Sir Edward Kennedy": The Queen has awarded the senator an honorary Knighthood.
President Obama: Hates Britain, but is keen to meet the Queen?
The Princess Royal: Princess Anne "outstanding" in Australia.
H.M.S. Victory: In 1744, 1000 sailors went down with a cargo of gold.
Queen's Commonwealth: Britain is letting the Commonwealth die.
Justice Kirby: His support for monarchy almost lost him appointment to High Court
Royal Military Academy: Sandhurst abolishes the Apostles' Creed.
Air Marshal Alec Maisner, R.I.P. Half Polish, half German and 100% British.
Cherie Blair: Not a vain, self regarding, shallow thinking viper after all.
Harry Potter: Celebrated rich kid thinks the Royals should not be celebrated
The Royal Jelly: A new king has been coronated, and his subjects are in a merry mood
Victoria Cross: Australian TROOPER MARK DONALDSON awarded the VC
Godless Buses: Royal Navy veteran, Ron Heather, refuses to drive his bus
Labour's Class War: To expunge those with the slightest pretensions to gentility
100 Top English Novels of All Time: The Essential Fictional Library
BIG BEN: Celebrating 150 Years of the Clock Tower

Tuesday 29 January 2008

Hockey without the Queen

I have an intense dislike for the new modern hockey arenas slowly sprouting up all across Canada. And this is why:

When the last Ontario Hockey League game is played at the Memorial Centre, those in attendance will have to give a royal wave goodbye to the portrait of the Queen, which won't move to the new Kingston Regional Sports and Entertainment Centre.

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will remain inside the Memorial Centre and loom regally over the ice surface. The building won't close and the Queen will stay with it.

In the new facility, the city has plans for plaques along the main concourse to recognize all those who donated to the facility.

There will also be plaques near the donor's wall to commemorate the $4-million provincial contribution to the building and city council members who took an active role in the project.

The sports hall of fame will have plaques of its inductees, but the layout and look of the wall won't be the same as in the Memorial Centre.

"That's about it as far as plaques and portraits," said project manager Lanie Hurdle.

When standing to sing the national anthem, a regular occurrence before sporting events, those in attendance will be able to face the Canadian flag, but no longer the Queen.

8 comments:

mrcawp said...

One by one, bit by bit, the battle is joined.

Creeping republicanism, or at least inadvertently preparing the groundwork: so that well-meaning, but ignorant subjects, particularly younger ones, can come along and assume an a priori irrelevance and pointlessness in the Crown.

But that irrelevance is being achieved right now. It has been determinedly and ideologically wrought these past 100 years. It must stop. Many sympathetic to republicanism are so because they feel an urge for coherent identity, belonging, national loyalty, etc. People like JJ say you cannot have this with the Monarchy. But the fact is we once did, and in many ways still do. The choice to get rid of it IS a choice.

Jeremy said...

What a shame, especially given the long and deep connection of the Crown with hockey in Canada. Not only the Stanley Cup, but portraits like this one. I think my loyalty was fostered, in part, by standing in Brampton's chilly Memorial Arena singing the anthem while facing the portrait of Her Majesty.

It's sad to lose this culture, and this connection to tradition, but most of all it's, as Scott says, tragic to see these managers are already assuming "an a priori irrelevance and pointlessness in the Crown," thinking the change means nothing at all.

Any chance of a letter-writing campaign or similar programme of public pressure?

Anonymous said...

If you read between the lines in the article you'll see that it shows where the real loyalty lies these days: with money, those who made donations to build the new stadium are given pride of place over our Sovereign Lady

Maurice said...

Fact of the Day:

On 30 January 1606 Sir Everard Digby, Thomas Winter, John Grant and Thomas Bates were hanged, drawn and quartered for their part in Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot.

heritage.scotsman.com

Beaverbrook said...

Bingo, Anonymous hits it. No more Queen, just boring plaques and corporate boxes to Ted Rogers and Rupert Murdoch and the other grubby republicans with pockets stuffed with cash. The oh-so generous, using their wealth to de-commission our heritage.

Sir Edward Heath said...

"The oh-so generous, using their wealth to de-commission our heritage."

Sounds familiar.

Remember when the Lords in The House of Lords were chosen via that mysterious lottery called birth. Well, it has now been suggested that you can have a Seat in the Lords if you make a rather large donation to one of our political parties. The ultimate decommissioning of our heritage but also with a warning - to those who think a president won't be bought in a rather similar way.

Shaftesbury said...

Creeping republicanism in the Loyalist City? Former capital of the Loyal British Province of the United Canadas (1841-1844)?

And you ask me why I am despondent about the future.

Mark my words, I will be interred under a Red Ensign. A final statement that I have long had as my final wish.

Keir said...

I was doubly dismayed after the Jets unceremoniously left the NHL that the refurbished home of the 'Manitoba Moose' did away with the huge portrait of The Queen that evoked such nostalgia in an antiquated stadium for the smallest North American professional sports team where one could see moments that will always live on in the heart of a fan.