Marking the Coronation

‘Are you going to watch the Coronation?’ I said to Heather.

‘I wasn’t planning to,’ said she. ‘Are you?’

I can’t believe she had to ask this question of her Royalist mother.

‘Are you interested in watching the Coronation,’ said I to Andy.

‘When is it?’ said Himself.

‘The 6th,’ I said, rolling my eyes just a little bit.

‘What day of the week is that?’ continued he, in what seemed to be growing into an unnecessarily long conversation when a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would have sufficed.

‘Saturday,’ I said.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ said he. 

That’ll be just me, then, comfortably perched on the sofa, eyes glued to all the pomp and pageantry, picnic basket at the ready packed with enticing nibbles. I might even bring the tea-making facilities into the living room so I don’t have to go into the kitchen every time I fancy a cuppa. Would it be too much to install the camping toilet in the corner of the living room, I wonder…?

With just over a week to go until the Coronations of King Charles and Queen Camilla, I am getting down to serious preparations and list making for my celebration day á la une. I don’t know if I’ll still be around (as it were) to see William and Catherine crowned when their time comes, so it might be my only shot at making Coronation  memories in this life. I think the English do this kind of event really well. All the costumes, traditions, colours, flowers, music - I love it all! I follow Charles and Camilla on Instagram and not only are they hard-working, they are an absolute hoot! 

As part of the ‘making memories’ thing, I wanted to buy a small souvenir. There are some lovely commemorative pieces to be had, some of them eye-wateringly expensive, some as cheap as chips. Some things are beautiful, some are quirky, some are, I’m sad to say, terrible bits of tat. I toyed with the usual ideas - Coronation mug, biscuit tin, teddy bear wearing a crown, tea towel. But they are all ‘stuff’ and I don’t really want to buy excess ‘stuff’ because it’ll just be an extra bit of ‘stuff’ that someone will have to deal with when I am dead. ‘What shall we do with the novelty Coronation toilet roll holder?’ You know, that kind of conversation. 

And then, when I was weeding the courtyard flower bed the other day, I thought, ‘You numpty! I bet there is a special Coronation rose!’ So I immediately had a Google and yes, there is! Planting a rose in the garden isn’t adding to unnecessary ‘stuff.’ And the King and Queen would very much approve, what with them being gardeners and all. 

I duly ordered my King Charles III Coronation Rose and it arrived today. Here it is:

Now, I know at the moment it looks like a stick in a pot. Because, basically, it is. But it will grow and grow beautifully, because roses do very well at Damson Cottage. For example, the half-dead specimen of the climbing rose, ‘Starlight Express’ I rescued from the half-dead section at a garden centre almost seven years ago is roof level now. Positively rampant, it is. And this current stick in a pot will soon make flowers, and these are the flowers it will make:

Pretty, eh? It is also scented. I don’t understand roses that have no scent. When you see a rose, it’s an automatic reaction to sniff it. And it is one of life’s great disappointments when a rose has no scent. Fact. 

I’ll transplant King Charles III into a pot for its first year and pop it in the courtyard, just to see how it goes. My little lonesome celebration has started…