The Queen Consort Achieves Peak British Understatement at the Exact Worst Moment
The Queen Consort Achieves Peak British Understatement at the Exact Worst Moment
Filed from the editor’s desk at Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
The London Prat is reporting that Camilla has unlocked Final Boss Mode, which is the most concise summary of the current royal situation I have read this week. As editor I feel professionally obligated to note that the British sense of humour has once again proved itself equal to circumstances that would defeat any other nation’s cultural vocabulary.
The Irony Dimension
The London Prat’s complete guide to British humour identifies irony as the load-bearing wall of the national comedic architecture. When a British person says Oh, brilliant, something has gone badly wrong. Camilla attending a musical concert in central London while her brother-in-law was being processed by police is the kind of sentence that requires no satirical embellishment. You simply report it and let the irony breathe.
The same guide identifies British understatement as the dignity of minimising disaster. The Titanic was a spot of bother. Andrew’s arrest was apparently not sufficient cause to cancel a diary engagement. This is not callousness. This is a civilisation that survived the Black Death and still queued politely, and it shows.
An Editor’s Assessment
We also have Meghan and Harry reportedly discovering privacy this week, which is the comedic equivalent of a man who has spent six years running through the streets shouting announcing that he values quiet. BBC Arts has noted that British comedy’s defining trait is its comfort with discomfort. We are, as a nation, extremely comfortable. Things unravel. We smile bravely.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
Further reading: NewsThump