A Failure of Britishness

The Guardian has utilised the Freedom of Information Act to expose yet another grisly scandal from our past. It appears that, in 1957, a historian friend of the Conservative MP for Arundel and Shoreham discovered that the following year would be 1958, the four hundredth anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth I. His thoughts "set on fire" by the historian's excitement, the MP wrote unctuously to the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, suggesting that, "even though I am very conscious of seeming to carry wisdom to Athens", the country and the Commonwealth might profit from being subjected to an "Elizabethan festival, in the reign of Elizabeth 2nd". Duly reminded of the identity of the reigning monarch, Macmillan told the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to look into the idea; but the verdict was negative: "Some Scottish opinion would resent any national festival connected with the accession of a sovereign who did not reign in Scotland." There was also the small matter of Mary Queen of Scots, whose execution meant that "the Catholic church has little reason to celebrate the reign of Elizabeth I". It is possible also that, even during the nineteen-fifties, one or two Indians, Australians, Canadians and other persons of excusable foreignness might have wondered what relevance the anniversary held for them; but Scotland was closer and hence, no doubt, considered a greater threat. The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster concluded that "this is not an occasion suitable for a big splash at government expense", and the file on the matter was kept closed for fifty years until the Guardian brought this dangerous knowledge heroically to light.