Prince Louis not the only looking for peace and quiet after Queen’s four-day Jubilee party

This week Queen Elizabeth II celebrated 70 years on the throne with a huge four-day Platinum Jubilee* celebration.

She is the longest serving British monarch by a long way and, at age 96, is still determined to carry out her duty to the people of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, which means Australia.

Queen Elizabeth is held in great respect, in large part for her devotion to duty and service for the 70 years of her reign. While quite a few British royals have landed themselves in all sorts of trouble and strife, the Queen has been resolute* and indeed is probably the reason the British monarchy survives today.

Her Majesty is also the major reason why Australia is still a constitutional monarchy* and not a republic*.

So a large festive event was organised to mark an occasion that might never happen again: the Trooping the Colour parade, street pageants, a church service at St Paul’s Cathedral and a concert outside the front gates of Buckingham Palace.

Unfortunately, at 96 you can’t boogie all night long, so the Queen was only able to make two appearances on the famous palace balcony to receive the public’s warm adulation* and for her to acknowledge her people.

But even an event as well organised as this doesn’t always go to plan. As the saying goes: never work with children or animals!

When several generations of the royal family gathered on the balcony with the Queen to wave to the crowd it was a moment in history.

Photographers and TV cameras captured the scene for posterity*. Prince William and Kate the Duchess of Cambridge were there beside the Queen with their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis.

The youngest, four-year old Prince Louis decided he was going to steal the show. Parents would empathise* with Kate and William; imagine trying to get a four-year-old to stand and behave for a long period of time, especially in the gaze of the world’s media.

He’d had enough and was letting his mum know, much to the delight of the observing cameras.

When British air force jets flew loud and low over the palace in squadron formation, the young royal kicked up a real fuss, covering his ears and voicing his displeasure. The media went nuts and Louis’ performance was page one material!

I thought this would be a fun subject to draw a cartoon about, but I wanted to give it a bit of a twist.

The Jubilee celebrations were a success, the public’s affection for their ageing monarch clearly on display, but it showed that her future appearances would be limited.

I wanted to show her leaving the balcony and so I sketched her small figure in her customary hat walking back inside the palace from the balcony, maybe for the last time.

In the foreground I wanted to illustrate the public’s feeling for the Queen, so British flags are waving, hats are thrown into the air, confetti rains down.

Like a rock concert, despite the Queen having left the stage, the cartoon shows that the crowd are still cheering.

This is where I thought I could use young Prince Louis and his displeasure of loud noise.

So I drew him on the balcony as the Queen turned to go inside; he is the only one left. I portrayed* him as the press photos did, his hands covering his ears and a scowl* on his face as he addresses the thousand of well wishers below.

Like that famous line from the MC* who said “Elvis has left the building”, I drew Prince Louis telling the crowd to “stop all that loud cheering, Gran has left the balcony”. In other words, go home!

Something only a child could get away with, but he was probably right. After four days of celebrations on her front doorstep, Her Majesty was probably looking for a bit of peace and quiet!

GLOSSARY

• Platinum Jubilee: a celebration held to mark a 70th anniversary
• resolute: determined in character, action or ideas
• constitutional monarchy: system of government in which a monarch (king or queen) shares power with a constitutionally organised government
• republic: a country where the power is held by the people and the representatives they elect, and they head of state is not a king or queen
• adulation: very great admiration or praise for someone
• posterity: all future generations of people
• empathise: understand and be able to share the feelings
• portrayed: described, showed
• scowl: frown that shows anger or irritation
• MC: stands for “master of ceremonies”, which is the person who introduces special guests or speakers at a ceremony or event

EXTRA READING

Party time to mark Queen’s historic reign

Young Aussies quite keen on Queen

QUICK QUIZ

1. How many years has the Queen been the monarch?
2. What does Mark Knight say is the main reason Australia has remained a constitutional monarchy?
3. What saying does Mark quote when describing how even well organised events don’t always go to plan?
4. Why did Prince Louis kick up a fuss?
5. How did Mark draw the British public’s feelings for the Queen?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Write a Story
“Something only a child could get away with …” Write a story that starts with this statement.

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

2. Extension
Draw your own cartoon. Your cartoon should be about what you think happened when the Queen and Prince Louis went back into the palace.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Communication Design

VCOP ACTIVITY
Describe it
Look at the cartoon and make a list of five nouns that you see. Then describe those five nouns with five adjectives.

Add a preposition to those five nouns and adjectives.

Now choose your favourite bundle and put all the words together to make one descriptive sentence.