British Royal Traditions.Are They Worth Keeping Or Not?

XV Научно – практическая конференция

Секция «Иностранный язык»

BRITISH  ROYAL TRADITIONS

Are They Worth Keeping Or Not ?

                                        Выполнили: Зиатдинова Юлия, 8 а класс

                                                                            Шайбакова Наргиза, 8 а класс

                                                                                                МОБУ СОШ № 15

                                                         Научный руководитель: Шайбакова М.Р.,

                                                                                  учитель английского языка

Нефтекамск, 2011

                                         2

                                   Contents

I. Introduction.

II. Main part

1. British Royal ceremonies:

a) Trooping the color;

b) Changing the guard;

c) Mounting the guard;

d) Сeremony of the Keys;

e) The Lord Mayor’s show.

 2. Mounting the Guard in Russia.

 3. Different opinions about the monarchy and its pageants.

III. Conclusion.

3

Introduction

      British people are proud of pageants and ceremonies of the national capital –

London. Many of them are world famous and attract numerous tourists from all

over the world. They include daily ceremonies and annuals. Changing of the Guard

at Buckingham Palace at 11.30 a.m., Ceremony of the Keys at 10 p.m. in the

Tower, Mounting the Guard at the Horse Guards square are most popular daily

ceremonies.Of those which are held annually the oldest and the most cherished are:

the glorious pageantry of Trooping the Color, which marks the official birthday of

the Queen ( the second Saturday in June); Firing the Royal Salute to mark anni-

versaries of the Queen’s Accession on February 6 and her birthday on April

21;opening of the Courts marking the start of the Legal Year in October; and Lord

Mayor’s Show on the second Saturday in November, when the newly elected Lord

Mayor is driven in the beautiful gilded coach pulled by six white horses to take

the Royal Court of Justice where he takes his oath of office and becomes second

in importance in the City only to the Sovereign ( Queen).

     Similar ceremonies were held in Tsarist  Russia, too. One of them was

Mounting of the Guard in the Kremlin and where at this time was the emperor .

 Different people have different points of view about the ceremonies and the

monarchy itself. Some people consider that they are of no use at all and it’s just a

waste of time and money. But others believe that Royal ceremonies are a beautiful

tradition and they help to unite the nation. Does the British Queen play an

important role in the life of the country, though it is mostly ceremonial? Does a

country need any ceremonies and traditions? In this work we tried to find out the  

answer to these questions.

4

   1.The British Royal ceremonies

1. Trooping the Color

   Trooping the color is one of the most magnificent military ceremonies in Britain and perhaps in the world. It is held annually on the reigning monarch’s «official» birthday, which is the second Saturday in June.

    Queen Elizabeth II is Colonel-in-Chief  of the Household  Division of five regiments of  foot Guards and two regiments of Mounted Guards. The Trooping marks the official birthday of the Queen and each year the color of one regiment of Foot Guards is displayed to the music of massed bands.

    The ceremony stemmed from the need of soldiers to recognize the colors of their regiment in battle. The Parade is complex and precise and all seven regiments of the Household division take part, but only one color is trooped each year.

     Wearing the uniform of one of these regiments the Queen leaves Buckingham Palace and rides down the Mall to the Horse Guards accompanied by the sovereigns Mounted Escort from the two Household Cavalry Units – the Life Guards wearing scarlet tunics with white plumes in their helmets and the Blues and Royals in bluе tunics with red Plumes.

    Precisely as the clock on the Horse Guards Building strikes 11, the Queen takes the Royal Salute. After inspecting her troops, the sovereign watches a display of matching to the tune   of massed bands before the solemn moment when the Color is trooped by being carried along the motionless ranks of guardsmen lined up to wait the Queen. The Color is then «trooped» or displayed to her.

    Afterwards, she returns to the Palace at the head of the Guards deputed to mount the Palace Guard. Royal Family appear on the balcony of the Buckingham Palace to acknowledge the fly-past of the Royal Air Forces at 1 p.m. Only one Color is «trooped» annuallyб that of each regiment in strict rotation. Originally it was

                                                         5

called «lodging» the Color: each regiment's own Color being laid upб to music known as a «Troop».

    The five regiments of Foot Guards can be identified by the plumes in their caps or bearskins, and by the spacing of the buttons on their tunics. The Grenadier Guards have white plumes and evenly spaced buttons; the Coldstreams, red plumes and buttons in pairs; the Scots Guards, no plumes and buttons in threes; the Irish Guards, blue plumes and buttons in fours; the Welsh Guards, white-and-green plumes and buttons in fives. The Guards have been carrying out their duty of guarding the sovereign since 1660 (the time of the restoration of Monarchy).

2. Changing the Guard

    The spectacular ceremony of Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace attracts numerous spectator from the country and tourists from different parts of the world. The Guard is changed at 11.30 a.m.daily. It is formed from one of the regiments of Foot Guards. A band leads the new guard from Wellington or Chelsea barracks to the palace forecourt and after the ceremony it leads the old guard back to their barracks.

     The history of the Foot Guards goes back to 1656, when Charles II of England, during his exile in Holland, recruited a small body-guard, which was merged in the regiment of guards enrolled at the Restoration in 1660. On St.Valentines day, 1661, on Tower Hill, what had been the Lord General’s Regiment of Foot Guards, formed by Oliver Cromwell in 1650, took its arms as an «extraordinary guard» for the Sovereign. Having marched from Coldstream, near Berwick -upon- Tweed, it acquired the title of the Coldstream Guards. Its motto of nulli secundus sufficiently denoted its denial of precedence to the first Guard. The latter acquired their title of Grenadier Guards and their and their bearskin headdress – later adopted by the Guards brigade – by virtue of their defeat of Napoleon’s grenadier guards at Waterloo.

6

In 1661 the Scots Fusillier Guards became known for the first time as the Scots Guards. In 1707 they were put on the same footing as the other two Guards regiments.

     In 1900 Queen Victoria, pleased with the fighting quality of the Irish regiments in the South African War, commanded the formation of the Irish Guards.

     In 1915 the representation nature of the brigade was rounded off by the formation of the Welsh Guards.

     The Brigade of Guards serves as a personal bodyguard to the Sovereign. When the Queen is in residence at Buckingham Palace, there is a guard of four sentries. Only two are on duty when she is away from London. When the Queen is in residence at Windsor Castle, the other Changing the Guard ceremony takes place in the Quadrangle there at 10 a. m.

3. Mounting the Guard

     Mounting Guard takes part in another colorful ceremony which is held at 11 a. m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on Sundays at the Horse Guards, a square facing Whitehall. The entrance to the Horse Guards is guarded by two mounted troopers who are at their posts daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The guard is formed by units of the Household Cavalry ( Mounted Guard) – the Life Guards and the Royals ( the Blues and Royals).When the Queen is in London, an officer, a corporal of horse, 16 troopers and a trumpeter on a grey horse take part in the ceremony. The Royals can be identified by the red plumes on their helmets and by their blue uniforms. The Life Guards wear white plumes and by their blue uniforms. The Life Guards wear white plumes and red tunics.

4. The Ceremony of the Key

7

    Every night at 9.53 p.m.the Chief Warder of the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters) of the Tower of London lights a candle lantern and then makes his way towards the Bloody Tower. In the Archway his Escort await his arrival. The Chief Warder, carrying the keys, then moves off with his Escort to the West Gate, which he locks,  while the Escort «present arms».Then the Middle and Byward are locked.

     The party then returns to the Bloody Tower Archway, and there they are halted by the challenge of the sentry. «Halt!» he commands. «Who goes there?» The Chief Warder answers, «The Keys». The sentry demands, «Whose keys?» «Queen Elizabeth’s keys», replies the Chief Warder. «Advance, Queen Elizabeth’s keys; all’s well», commands the sentry.

     Having received permission to proceed through the Archway, the party then form up facing the Main guard of the Tower. The order is given by the officer – in – charge to «Present Arms».The Chief Warder doffs his Tudor – style bonnet and cries, «God preserve Queen Elizabeth». «Amen», answer the Guard and Escort.

      At 10 p.m. the bugler sounds the «Last Post»(signal to return).The Chief Warder proceeds to the Queen’s House, where the keys are given into the custody of the Resident Governor and Major.

     The ceremony of the Keys dates back 700 years and has taken place every night during that period, even during the blitz of London in the last war. On one particular night, April 16, 1941, bomb blast disrupted the ceremony, knocking out members of the Escort and Yeomen Warders. Despite this, the duty was completed.

     Only a limited number of visitors are admitted to the ceremony each night. Application to see it must be made at least forty – eight hours in advance at the

Constable’s office in the Tower. Visitors with the permission are admitted at 9.40 p.m. and leave at 10 p.m.

5. The Lord Mayor’s show

8

    The splendid civic event known as the Lord Mayor’s show is watched by many thousands of people, who throng the streets of the City of London to see this interesting procession and admire its glittering pageantry. The ceremony is the gesture of pride in the City’s history and strength as a world commercial centre. The ceremony seems still more bright and colorful because it is always held on the second Saturday in November when the city is often wrapped in mist or rain.                    

        Its origin dates back more than six hundred years, when it began as a waterborne procession with ornate barges sailing down the river Thames. Dressed in his fur – trimmed scarlet gown, a «Сap Dignity», and wearing the great 5 feet long gold chain of office the newly elected Lord Mayor first watches a cavalcade of decorated floats pass by his official residence, the Mansion House. Then he steps into his gilded State Coach and takes up his position of honour at the rear of the procession. Accompanied by the Pikemen in their half – armour the Lord Mayor is driven in his Gilded coach from Guildhall, past St.Paul’s Cathedral, down Fleet street to the Royal Court of Justice, where he takes his oath of office before the Lord Chief Justice. The tradition of taking oath («declaration») originated in 1230 during the reign of Henry III and the final declaration was made before the Barons of the Exchequer.

        The Lord Mayor’s coach, weighing 4 tons and pulled by six horses was built

in 1757 and was painted by the famous Florentine painter Giovanni Cipriani. A body guard of  Pikemen and Musketeers march beside the coach. Many people in the procession wear traditional historic costumes. Each year a theme relating to London life or history is chosen and floats decorated with tableaux on this theme precede the Lord Mayor’s coach. The Lord Mayor who is also the City’s Chief Magistrate, is selected by the liverymen of the City Companies (guilds). One of the most distinguished of London’s Lord Mayors was Dick Whittington (1423) who held office four times. After the oath has been taken, the entire procession returns via Victoria Embankment to the original point of departure.

9

    On the following Monday evening the Lord Mayor gives a splendid Inaugural banquet at Guildhall. This has two traditions - -a first course of turtle soup and speech from the Prime minister.

      The glittering occasion is attended by many of the most prominent people in the country and is usually televised. The Prime Minister delivers a major political  speech and the toast of the hosts on behalf of the quests is proposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

        2. Mounting the Guard in Russia

    One of the most colorful and spectacular military ceremonies is Mounting the Guard. It was restored in 2004. It linked together the different ages of Russian armies and reflected the deep history of ratnyh traditions of Russia.

     The tradition stemmed from the first Russian military Marking of Peter I. Similar ceremonies were held regularly in Tsarist Russia, however, often not in the Kremlin, and where at this time was the Emperor – in St.Petersburg and Peterhof.

      In Soviet times the ceremony was replaced by the ceremony of changing the guards at the mausoleum of Lenin. In modern Russia, the so called post number one has been restored at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Later Mounting the Guard included the following elements: formation, report of the chief guard, inspection of the appearance and weapons, music performed by the band, mounting the guard, solemn march, accompanied by the band.

      The new ceremony is held with the participation of the costumed horse and foot guards of the Presidential Regiment. Special Presidential Guard Regiment goes to the Ivanovo square under the sounds of flutes and drums. After that the military carry the flag of Russia along the motionless ranks of soldiers. Then the military demonstrate ceremonial arms drill. The ceremony is accompanied by the Presidential Orchestra.

10

    Most of the details of today’s ceremonial ammunition are taken from the uniforms of the years 1907 – 1913, which was designed by the courtyard of Nicholas II to celebrate the anniversary of the victory in the War of 1812.

     Special cavalry guard of the Presidential Regiment participates in the ceremonial Mounting thу Guard.                                                              

               3. Different opinions about the monarchy and it’s pageants

      People have different points of view about the ceremonies and the monarchy itself. We read a lot of interesting literature in our class, watched a number of

video-clips of different ceremonies. After that we offered a questionnaire to our classmates. There are 20 students in our class and the opinion poll showed the following results.

    As we see 60% of the students believe that royal ceremonies are a good tradition and help to unite the people of the nation. Most of the students (75%) would like to have such ceremonies in our country. Many students consider that the Queen plays an important role in the life of Great Britain, in spite of its being mostly ceremonial.

    However 70% of the respondents think that a republic is an ideal political system and it is quite contradictory to the previous answers.( It makes us think that monarchy is never going to be restored in Russia.)

    As for the colorful and spectacular ceremonies, all of them made great impression on the students. But Trooping the Color, one of the most magnificent military ceremonies in Britain and perhaps in the world, was the most impressive one.                      

12

Conclusion

   The British monarch’s constitutional role is mainly symbolic and the Queen’s most important function is ceremonial. Winston Churchill often described parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy as not perfect – but the best that man had created .It is human nature to need a leader in the helm.

    Since Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, she has represented Britain in visits to most parts of the world. Prime Ministers come and go, but she carries on above  politics, a symbol of British traditions.

     We know about the Englishmen’s love of traditions. They are known to be very conservative and they never approve of great changes.

      The opinion poll showed that not only the Englishmen love traditions. Whatever the political system is: a parliamentary monarchy or a republic, people will strive for peace and stability. Ceremonies and traditions evoke a sense of pride, unity and stability. Isn’t  it too important for us nowdays?

13

Bibliography List

    1.Trooping the Color.  From  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trooping_the_Colour. Accessed: 12 January 2011

2.Кисилев П.,British Royal Ceremonies. From Home English. Available: http://www.homeenglish.ru/refbri.htm. Accessed: 2011.

3.Церемониальный развод конных и пеших караулов. Туроператор

“Премиум сервис”.Available:

   http://www.pstour.ru/catalog/1112865116/1112865148/1145345337.htm. Accessed 01.11.2011

4.”British Royal Ceremonies”.Образовательный портал Claw.ru. Available: http://www.claw.ru/a-humant/99994.htm. Accessed:2010.

5. Vaughan-Rees, Michael.”The Monarchy”.In Britain. Издательтво “Титул”.1997,pp.16-17.

6.”Her Majesty The Queen”. School English,3/2009,pp.8-9.

7. ”Oliver Cromwell”. School English,2/2009,pp.22-23.