Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Hannah Sole | Politics | July 18, 2018
Queen Elizabeth has been doing this job for a long time. She knows she has to be politically neutral as the head of state. She can’t publicise her opinions or weigh in on political issues. That doesn’t stop us speculating about what she might really be thinking, or how she might be feeling about the people we, as a nation, make her meet and greet. And so, we look for clues.
The Queen’s appearance is carefully controlled and planned. Nothing is accidental. She has rules, and staff to prepare her. She chooses colours and jewels for symbolic reasons, and to ensure she stands out in a crowd. So when there seems to be a message or code in the outfit, it must be intentional, right? Like a secret message for the observant people!
And so, the Queen’s infamous ‘EU Hat’ became a thing:
Great to see HM Queen wearing an #EU hat today. 😉#QueensSpeech pic.twitter.com/Jd8O6dkH9k
— Graham Bett (@GrahamBett) 21 June 2017
Twitter user and blogger @SamuraiKnitter applied the principle of ‘nothing’s accidental’ to the Queen’s brooch choices over the weekend. Was the Queen trolling Donald Trump? Check out the following deep dive into royal brooch choices and see what you think…
#BroochDecoderRing
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
The following data relies heavily on the work of the blogger at "Her Majesty's Jewel Box". If you swing by there (I will be linking), BE ADVISED THE BLOGGER WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS POLITICAL STUFF THAT IS NOT WHY SHE IS THERE so take it easy.
All right. You need ninety-two years of background. The Queen (hereafter QE) has always loved brooches and so everyone gives them to her as gifts. Everyone. A horse-racing org gave her a gift for lifetime achievements a while back - the 'trophy' was a brooch. You get it.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
QE also does hundreds and hundreds of appearances, and maybe 95% or higher, she wears a brooch. And the brooch is ALWAYS significant. Badges of military regiments - she inspects some troops, she wears the badge of them to do it.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
A head of state gives her a brooch? If they visit, she'll wear it or something else she'd been given by them as a gift. (This goes for other kinds of jewelry too.) To her it's almost like royal orders.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
That said, she wore three brooches while she and tRUmp were both in town. The day he arrived, the day of the banquet, and the day she actually met him for tea. (BTW, he let her wait 12min for him to show up for tea. He showed up late to tea WITH THE QUEEN OF FUCKING ENGLAND.)
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
Arrival day was the one that got the most attention. That day, she wore the brooch the Obamas gave her on their last visit to England. https://t.co/lQOtFIRLcX
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
That by itself is amusing enough. She wore a brooch the Obamas gave her. But it gets better. It's not AN American brooch, any would be funny. She chose THIS ONE. This one was purchased out-of-pocket by Michelle and Barack Obama and given to her as a personal gift.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
And since the Obamas are Really Good At This Subtle Thing too, they chose a very modest pin made of very modest materials. The message is "Here is a gift of something you like, with only sentimental value because it's for friendship not state visits."
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
Day 1 Brooch’s Secret Message: “I miss the Obamas.”
Next day, next brooch. This was a day of audiences with people, she does that to maintain the Commonwealth at least one day a week. That day was the King and Queen of Belgium for tea as well. She wore a sapphire brooch. https://t.co/UdpTLSKmfK
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
It's called the Sapphire Jubillee Brooch, and it was given to the Queen of England as a gift for ruling for eleventy billion (okay, 65). From Canada. You know, who Trump's been screaming about and insulting. The commonwealth country and one of the UK's greatest allies. Them.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
It contains over ten carats of sapphires in several shades of blue, and is just stunning. pic.twitter.com/H3M6Kwx99h
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
Day 2 Brooch’s Secret Message: “Team Canada.”
And for the day of the tea, QE wore an innocuous 'nice but not holy shit, considering what's in the vaults' diamond brooch she inherited from her mother. pic.twitter.com/YtAqCJBceq
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
Jewel watchers nearly died, because it is the brooch worn in the famous "Three Queens in Mourning" photo, worn by the Queen Mum: pic.twitter.com/3xS2C56Xcj
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
QE rolled up to tea with the tRUmps wearing the brooch her mother wore to her father's STATE FUNERAL. pic.twitter.com/NjeiP8w1hV
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
Day 3 Brooch’s Secret Message: “Someone told me this might be fun. Sure, Jan. I wanted to wear black, but they advised me to tone it down a bit.”
Adding more data from a friend, about QE's outfit.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
The suit she wore to tea is the exact same one she wore to open Parliament after the post-Brexit reorganization. "I think this is now her Official Outfit of Don't Wanna."
If you think brooches aren’t that big a deal, she then reminds us of the one that Princess Michael of Kent wore the day she was due to meet Meghan Markle…
ALL RIGHT! Sheesh, y'all are impatient.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
Forty years ago, one of QE's cousins married a woman, now known as Princess Michael of Kent. She is notoriously racist. Going to the first Christmas lunch with the family where she would be meeting Megan Markle, she wore this:
Fuck, picture. Pictures are good. pic.twitter.com/SF98mGN4oG
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
She insists it was all a HUGE misunderstanding and she had NO IDEA that a pin called a BLACKAMOOR BROOCH was in bad taste.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
But then a guy who dated her daughter says she has two black sheep on her estate she named Venus and Serena, so you be the judge.
Princess Michael’s brooch clearly wasn’t an accident. The Queen’s brooches wouldn’t be accidental because she is too careful for that. She knows what she is doing. Perhaps they are a little private source of amusement for herself, in a way that can be plausibly denied if necessary. Yeah, that’s the take I’m going for. Who knew brooches could be so savage?
(Header from Getty Images)
