Friday 29th April was the peak of my patriotism to date. I didn’t think it would go beyond the high it experienced while I was living in the States when England won the ashes, the whole country was celebrating the bicentenary of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar and CNN’s lead story one weekend was Routemaster buses leaving the streets of London.
Not only were 2 billion people around the world sharing the Royal Wedding experience through their TV sets, but anti monarchist parties took place across the UK. My closest friend attended one in Brighton, and some 2,000 people attended a party in London’s Red Lion Square. How many states and communities around the globe can point to such a degree of tolerance where the majority of people share in the personal delight of the Windsor family wedding, while simultaneously having celebrations of an eventual downfall of the British Monarchy. We even tolerated small Muslim protests around the UK who chose to burn the Union Flag and effigies of the happy couple.
The brand values of Britain we should be most proud of and promote to every corner of the globe were all on show. Not just the pageantry first choreographed for Queen Victoria, the use of old British brand icons like a 1960’s Aston Martin for the escape from the main wedding party, or the limos ferrying guests built by Rolls Royce when the company wasn’t owned by a German manufacturer whose brand is associated with building Hitler’s dream of automotive manufacturing. Britain’s brand is of a people coming together to celebrate as one, regardless of whether they agree with the premise of the celebration.
The UK is a nation that wears its diversity for everyone to see, that mocks our differences but understands inherently; it is these differences that make us special.
And let’s not underestimate the power of our brand. Quite deliberately I have followed the build up to the Royal Wedding through the foreign media. My family were among the 25% of Britons that followed the event live using a medium other than the BBC, through CNN in fact. We were all struck by how this little overcrowded island just off the north coast of Europe, with its own currency and transient climate, has held the headlines of newspapers, magazines and news channels across the world. Al Jazeera, France 24, CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox, Russia Today all had special programmes on the satellite feed I had access too. Nearly all of them invested US $200k in a special studio over looking Buckingham Palace, flying in high profile anchors.
We have a brand that it is almost unique to us, not just based on the tradition of monarchy and social order; but of diversity and harmony. A brand the world values and indeed needs. A brand that we can still command interest in.
That’s why I was proud to be British on the day of the Royal Wedding in London on 29th April 2011, and would fight to retain the monarchy.
And let’s not underestimate the power of our brand. Quite deliberately I have followed the build up to the Royal Wedding through the foreign media. My family were among the 25% of Britons that followed the event live using a medium other than the BBC, through CNN in fact. We were all struck by how this little overcrowded island just off the north coast of Europe, with its own currency and transient climate, has held the headlines of newspapers, magazines and news channels across the world. Al Jazeera, France 24, CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox, Russia Today all had special programmes on the satellite feed I had access too. Nearly all of them invested US $200k in a special studio over looking Buckingham Palace, flying in high profile anchors.
We have a brand that it is almost unique to us, not just based on the tradition of monarchy and social order; but of diversity and harmony. A brand the world values and indeed needs. A brand that we can still command interest in.
That’s why I was proud to be British on the day of the Royal Wedding in London on 29th April 2011, and would fight to retain the monarchy.
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