Irish Examiner View: Let fans of royal pageantry enjoy their day

A service to mark the arrival of the Stone of Destiny to Westminster Abbey in London. The stone, an ancient symbol of Scotland's monarchy, will play a central role in the coronation of Britain's King Charles on Saturday. Picture: PA

By the end of today we will have a clear idea whether the naysayers, the ecowarriors, the ‘not-my-king’ brigade, the ardent republicans, the reparations hunters, the slow marchers, and all of those carrying some kind of animus have been able to disrupt and disturb Britain’s coronation ceremony or whether the predicted rain will have played its part in dampening people’s spirits.

For now, it is worth reflecting, and wondering, whether this is the last event of its kind we will see in our lifetimes. 

Charles and Camilla are in their 70s and are sprightly for their ages. William and Kate are barely into their strides. They, and Charles’ sister Anne, are the core of the new royal ‘firm’.

The poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a sober reflection on the passing of power to mark the diamond jubilee of Victoria.

‘Recessional’ was published in 1897 with its famous reference that “all our pomp of yesterday is one with Nineveh and Tyre”.

 We may not see its like again. We hope that those who enjoy pageantry and tradition of a certain kind make the most of it today. The postmortem can wait until afterwards.