I think I can safely speak on behalf of the entire English-speaking world when I say how delighted, positively giddy, we all are that dear old Liz has managed to keep body and soul together for 60 rather interesting years as Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith etc. etc.
As this Diamond Jubilee year wobbles on to its boffo June 2-5 climax of horse races, concerts, parties and parades, the Queen is actually getting almost as much ink as her grandson’s hot new wife. On a daily basis we’re learning new things about our old queen (some of which we would probably prefer not to know).
The latest (May) issue of the British edition of Vogue magazine has brought this bustle of Jubilee royal watching to a frothy fever pitch by cataloguing the colour of every single outfit the Queen wore for her public appearances over the past year — somewhere in the vicinity of 200, by my count — a daunting task.
And what do we learn from this obsessive exercise in fashionism?
We now know that the Queen’s favourite colour is … (drumroll, please) … BLUE.
Here’s the chart of the Rainbow Queen produced by Vogue.
And from all of this we learn that the Queen wore a variation of blue on 29% of her public outings, followed by floral (13%) — which really isn’t a colour, more a state of mind — then green and cream (11% each), and purple and pink (10%).
Then there’s red, orange and yellow (4% each), black (2%) and, at the bottom of the colour pile, checked and beige (1% each).
Now far be it from me to quibble but I do have a couple of minor issues with Vogue’s palette designations.
I might have been tempted to give a “beige” designation to a couple of the Queen’s dresses which Vogue declared to be “cream” or “orange.” Which would certainly boost the lowly 1% rating “beige” got.
And some of those teal outfits that gave blue such a high rating could just as easily be called green, in my opinion.
And what do you call this colour — mud? I don’t even see it on the Vogue chart.
And the florals — each one has a strong predominant colour, so maybe “floral” should just have been dropped and the 16 (by my count) dresses in that category divvied up across the reignbow.
And what about this outfit the Queen wore while leading Prince Philip to a pint of Guinness? Vogue put it in their “blue” category. Really? Apart from the buttons and hat, it looks as much white as blue to me — maybe more.
But, like I said before, quibbles, mere quibbles, compared to the important news that we now know the Queen’s favourite colour is blue.
Personally I prefer the Queen in red.
But Lady Gaga may have put her off that colour a bit.
Speaking of important royal news, the Sex Pistols announced on their website today that they will be re-releasing their version of “God Save The Queen” to mark the Diamond Jubilee.
The anti-monarchial song (“God save the Queen/ She ain’t no human being/ There is no future/ In England’s dreaming”) was first released in 1977 on the Queen’s Silver (25th anniversary) Jubilee.
On March 10, 1977, the Sex Pistols did a mock signing of their new contract with A&M Records in front of Buckingham Palace. A week of out-of-control debauchery on the part of the Sex Pistols led A&M to cancel the contract on March 16. The Pistols didn’t mind: They got to keep the £75,000 advance from the record company. The band signed with Virgin Records in May and “God Save The Queen” was finally released on May 27 — just in time for the Silver Jubilee celebrations.
I wonder if Johnny Rotten/John Lydon will wear floral for the May 28 re-release party? Or is this more “mouldy pile of leaves”?
By the way, here’s my favourite Johnny Rotten quote about the mass hysteria/hatred that erupted in Britain over “God Save The Queen” in 1977: “I don’t understand it. All we’re trying to do is destroy everything.”