Respect for monarchy, a photo from Glasgow, Scotland

Photographer's Note

To celebrate the British Queen’s Platinum Jubilee for which everybody in the country was granted a 4-day long bank holiday weekend, we ventured north up to Glasgow. This is the most royal photo I have captured in Glasgow. You can see here the equestrian monument to the queen, although it features Queen Victoria not Elizabeth II. The George Square on which the monument stands, probably the most popular square in town, is named for King George III. It was laid out in 1781 and is filled with statues of famous Scots.

In Poland we did have kings and queens but hundreds of years ago so the concept of having an actual monarch today still sounds ridiculous to me. Why one person or a family should have granted by birth the right to have such an impact on the whole country? Why some people are by birth better, higher in hierarchy, deserving more respect than others? Why everybody in this country seems to see nothing wrong about it? I suppose Queen Elizabeth II spoiled Brits with her elegance and wisdom. She is a great ruler, and everybody loves her. But just imagine your king would be a guy who complaints about hardships of being a royal, follows a bad actress to Hollywood, talks badly about his family in the talk show on American TV, etc. That would be hard to swallow. If the subsequent king or queen is not behaving well, is not smart, and not likeable in any way, what then?

Originally, I intended to criticize the whole concept of monarchy here. It is nice to think that people can choose somebody else to represent them for a change. They can check the candidate’s past and his or her plans for the future. It feels so much more rational. But then again looking at the politicians in so many countries these days, I have doubts whether the people in countries who have the freedom to choose, make a good use of this freedom. I won’t mention any politicians here, but I am sure you can come up with many names which would make you wonder whether democracy is the way to go. Sometimes it feels as if the humanity was taking steps back. Maybe monarchy is not so crazy after all?...

If birds could vote… I am not sure what they are trying to tell us here: Are they so often stopping at queen’s head because they like and support her or rather with their droppings, they demonstrate a complete lack of respect for the monarchy.

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ikeharel, aliabazari, Fis2, COSTANTINO, adramad heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

Critiques | Translate

lousat (139992) 2022-06-19 1:54

Ciao Mariusz,the photo is an excellent starting point to talk about the monarchy, in fact Elizabeth has covered the role in the best way, elegant and respectful and never vulgar, and this type of government is certainly better than dictatorships or certain republics disguised as such. Here there is no respect for the queen on the part of the birds, who have created a rare necklace made of excrement, nice photos and top quality as always. Have a nice Sunday and thanks,Luciano

ikeharel (114629) 2022-06-19 2:09

Hello Mariusz,
The most prominent monument downtown Glasgow, saw it first in 10/1978 - it was so neglected, saw it again in 10/2016 and it looked better - now a meticulous cleaning job done upon, looks attractive.
Have a nice sunday,
Ike

pajaran (117077) 2022-06-19 2:41

Pozdrav.

Lep pogled, interesantan i dobar tekst ...
Lep spomenik, dobro pokazan sa lepim bojama i kontrastom.
Dobar rad, lepa fotografija.
Interesantan trenutak sa pticom na glavi skulpture.
Lepa lampa i fasade zgrada u pozadini.

Zelim vam lepo popodne za odmor, sve najbolje.
Paja

Silvio1953 (222959) 2022-06-19 4:06

Ciao Mariusz, great view of imposing statue with full on the head, fine details, splendid sharpness, wonderful colors and beautiful light, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

Fis2 (171961) 2022-06-19 6:58

Czesc Mariusz!
Ale Ci sie trafila mewa na koronie!
Interesujacy pomnik.
Ladna prezentacja.
Milego popoludnia.
Krzysztof

aliabazari (23283) 2022-06-19 7:02

Hello Mariusz
A good view of this beautiful statue. Despite the birds that always sit on the statues of celebrities and dump their excrement on them, this humor reminds. Are they disrespecting them?

Tue (93458) 2022-06-19 8:35

Hello Mariusz,
A great photo of another famous British queen. The statue and the pedestal are in perfect condition and look great in the bright sunlight. The houses and the blue sky are a great backdrop and that gull is an excellent detail also.
Lars

willperrett (14215) 2022-06-19 9:00

Hello Mariusz

The bird's got the right idea: obviously a Republican!

Will

jmdias (116511) 2022-06-19 15:20

mariusz

you got a special blue sky in the square. my hotel was very near of it.
curiously one of the best governments Brazil had in its history was an emperor, after him the republic produced lots of weak presidents. there is ever a project to produce parliamentarism in brazil with a primer minister and a decorative president as in portugal, but for while we have a presidencialism imitating USA and at each government the congress is stronger and with less responsibility.
in UK I guess monarchy will be gone when they find the first bad king-queen after elizabeth.
take care

jorge

ifege (49465) 2022-06-19 21:34

Hi Mariusz
Monarchs just suck money from the people (sorry to be disrespectful to "our" queen). Our new government has just appointed a minister for the republic so within a few years we should have our own head of state instead of someone on the other side of the world. And I do have Scottish and Breton ancestry.
A good photo of the statues with the touch of humour on top.
cheers
Ian

COSTANTINO (117814) 2022-06-19 22:16

Hello my dearest friend and have a nice day
and a happy new week
Elizabeth has covered the role
in the best way and this is the
reason that English people love her
too much....but the detail here is the
...birs sitting on her head!!!!!!
wow!!!!go away my little friend....
regards
Costantino

jemaflor (148260) 2022-06-19 23:46

Hi Mariusz,
well photographed this statue, good angle and quality for the rendering, sharpness and colors, sunlight is perfectly captured, interesting, tfs.

adramad (73452) 2022-06-22 11:12

Hello Mariusz.
A good reflection and doubts about whether the monarchy is better or not. In Spain you already know that we also have a monarchy, all the ancient history of the country has had kings, in the last century expulsion of the last king, republic and after a very traumatic civil war, it became a military dictatorship of 36 years, at the death of the dictator the country continued without closing wounds, over whom he fought on one side or another, parties emerged and also the figure of a new king, who played a great role in unifying the different political tendencies, he was also an important figure in contributing to a new Constitution; the king does not rule but the democratically elected president, but he remains a representative and respected figure.
Well I've dropped a roll, sorry.
These monuments of characters on horseback are always very photogenic, here also the lamppost completes the whole very well.
Magnificent image, with good lighting, color and sharpness.
Good work. I like it
Enjoy a happy day.
Very best regards.
Luis.