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toscas_kissI saw Prince Charles on the way to work this morning.
Albeit he was whizzing past in the back seat of a Mercedes, preceded by wailing motorcycle cops, but it was indeed him. The route I go to work is on the way to Kensington Palace, which I guess he must have been travelling to for family business. Princess Alice, who had lived there since 1995, died last Friday at the age of 102 (a pretty good innings for anyone) and her funeral is on Friday.
She was definitely one of the hardest-working and more interesting, if publicity-shy, Royals and had had quite an adventurous life; from a childhood where royalty and the aristocracy still lived in luxury and privilege, moving from residence to residence with dozens of personal servants, to embarking on safaris in Africa and India, and most famously, participating in an illegal and dangerous excursion into Afghanistan in the 1930's, disguised as a boy. After her marriage to the Duke of Gloucester, George V's third son, when she was 35, she devoted her time to diplomatic responsibilities and a great many charities.
Quite aside from whether you approve of the system of royalty or not, it's fascinating to think of all the changes she must have seen over that century of life. If you think of it, when Princess Alice was a young girl, hand-wound gramophone players were the latest thing. The telephone was an expensive luxury dependant on having a local exchange. Telegrams were the fastest method of communication. Horse and carriage were still used. Society was highly stratified and inequal. Women couldn't vote, and seldom worked in professional capacities or received tertiary education. And now we have palm-sized electronic MP3 players, mobile phones, the internet, super-speed bullet trains. Society has levelled out and although discriminations still exist and we have a ways to go before we have a truly fair society, huge numbers of the inequalities of the early 1900's have been conquered.
It's amazing just how much society and technology changes - to the good, not just to the more efficient or convenient. Often we're so inundated by the media with the ugliness of the world, it doesn't seem there is much to smile about. But looking at a long history such as Princess Alice's I can't help but feel hopeful about life, and wonder what positive transformations I will see in my own time.
Albeit he was whizzing past in the back seat of a Mercedes, preceded by wailing motorcycle cops, but it was indeed him. The route I go to work is on the way to Kensington Palace, which I guess he must have been travelling to for family business. Princess Alice, who had lived there since 1995, died last Friday at the age of 102 (a pretty good innings for anyone) and her funeral is on Friday.
She was definitely one of the hardest-working and more interesting, if publicity-shy, Royals and had had quite an adventurous life; from a childhood where royalty and the aristocracy still lived in luxury and privilege, moving from residence to residence with dozens of personal servants, to embarking on safaris in Africa and India, and most famously, participating in an illegal and dangerous excursion into Afghanistan in the 1930's, disguised as a boy. After her marriage to the Duke of Gloucester, George V's third son, when she was 35, she devoted her time to diplomatic responsibilities and a great many charities.
Quite aside from whether you approve of the system of royalty or not, it's fascinating to think of all the changes she must have seen over that century of life. If you think of it, when Princess Alice was a young girl, hand-wound gramophone players were the latest thing. The telephone was an expensive luxury dependant on having a local exchange. Telegrams were the fastest method of communication. Horse and carriage were still used. Society was highly stratified and inequal. Women couldn't vote, and seldom worked in professional capacities or received tertiary education. And now we have palm-sized electronic MP3 players, mobile phones, the internet, super-speed bullet trains. Society has levelled out and although discriminations still exist and we have a ways to go before we have a truly fair society, huge numbers of the inequalities of the early 1900's have been conquered.
It's amazing just how much society and technology changes - to the good, not just to the more efficient or convenient. Often we're so inundated by the media with the ugliness of the world, it doesn't seem there is much to smile about. But looking at a long history such as Princess Alice's I can't help but feel hopeful about life, and wonder what positive transformations I will see in my own time.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-03 03:10 am (UTC)Illegally impersonating a boy, a woman after my own heart.
That was a nice distraction...
XD
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-03 08:22 am (UTC):-)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-03 03:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-03 08:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-03 03:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-04 02:22 am (UTC)