Let me tell you why Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II wearing yellow when granting an audience to our Prime Minister and his wife was not a coincidence or a faux pas. As much as UMNO would prefer to think otherwise.
Fact 1. The Queen, contrary to popular belief, is very much well-informed. She is constantly kept abreast of the latest developments and news pertaining to her realm and her government by her team of palace advisers, secretaries and civil servants. They, in turn, gather their information from various sources, including ministries, government departments, Scotland Yard, 10 Downing Street, and members of the press corp in the UK. (Scotland Yard, knowing that the Queen would be granting an audience to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, would have certainly informed the Palace of the many demonstrations in London by Bersih 2.0 supporters.)
When a visiting dignitary is scheduled to meet the Queen, she is always fully briefed on the background of her visitor, the current situation of her visitor's home country, and the DO's and DON'T's to observe. Particularly, she would be informed of developments in her own realm regarding the visitor. Scenes in London like the one in the photo below would not have escaped Her Majesty's team of advisers, who in turn would have briefed the Queen. So, to assume that she was not aware of Bersih 2.0 is untenable.
Fact 2. Royal wardrobe and fashion is strictly regulated, and the Queen and members of the Royal Family are always careful not to make any fashion faux pas or distress their guests. Her advisers would have advised her to stay away from wearing yellow, and explained the significance of the colour in present circumstances. As Sarawak Report suggests, “she MUST have been informed of the sensitivity of the colour yellow”.
Fact 3. Besides attending public events, state dinners, receiving dignitaries and horse races, the Queen actually does paper work! Yes, Her Majesty, like many of us, has her daily duty of working at one of her many desks reading and signing state papers and official documents (often classified as secret). British fastidiousness with information and intelligence gathering is well-known. Her cache of papers would most definitely have included confidential dossiers on Najib Razak and Malaysia. And Bersih 2.0.
Copyright Press Association Images
Fact 4. Besides official papers, she also reads the newspapers. Knowing that she would be meeting the Prime Minister of Malaysia, an article in The Guardian, a respected British newspaper, with the headline "Malaysia's Najib must abandon the Mubarak model", would surely have caught her eye.
Fact 5. The Queen meets her Prime Minister once a week, every week. It would have been incumbent upon David Cameron to apprise the Queen of Najib Razak and Malaysia, in view that he would be visiting the UK on an official trip. News of the Bersih 2.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur, being reported globally the same week the Queen had her weekly meeting with David Cameron, would most definitely have been a topic of conversation. It is also a practice for the British Prime Minister to advise the Monarch on how to appropriately respond to political situations of the day, since she is constitutionally apolitical.
Did Cameron therefore gently suggest that the Queen wear yellow as a message to our Prime Minister and also to the people of Malaysia? Where Cameron could not publicly chastise Najib, the Queen could, with regal aplomb, send a strong message?
Fact 6. The Queen is a politically astute woman who has seen twelve British prime ministers serve under her reign, the list starting with Winston Churchill, no less! Her vast experience in international relations and diplomacy is unchallenged and she would thoroughly understand the subtleties and symbolism attached to what one says and what one wears. To assume that Her Majesty has no political acumen is completely ludicrous.
Fact 7. Everything the Queen does is planned in advance and takes into consideration all factors. Everything has a reason, even right down to the colour of the flowers in her audience chamber! Nothing is coincidental, random or arbitrary where the Queen of the United Kingdom is concerned.
These seven facts alone allow us to reasonably conclude that the Queen was very much aware of Bersih 2.0 and the significance of the colour yellow, besides it being the royal colour for Malaysian royalty.
The question now is, knowing full well the sensitivity of the colour yellow, what was the reason behind Her Majesty deciding to wear yellow when meeting our Prime Minister and his lovely wife? The answer, dear reader, is yours to conclude.
The author read law and politics in the UK from 1989 to 1992, where he was greatly fascinated (and still is) with the British Royal Family, the Queen in particular.
55 comments:
Nicely written.
Thank you Emeric.
Vernon, nice analysis, could translate to other language, BM, tamil etc.. Thanks..
Chean, unfortunately my command of other languages, to be able to translate this entry convincingly, is not up to speed. But I don't mind if others did. As long as the message gets disseminated, and of course, this blog is credited as author.
Sangat ilmiah. Very well explanation. :)
Very coherent piece, however I'd like to point out that the Queen's audience room has always had a bit of a yellow theme to it, therefore yellow flowers could have been part of the decor anyway.
Otherwise, I'd say this article sounds like it's got some very solid arguments. To say the Queen isn't aware of her Commonwealth charges seems rather outlandish. Bravo, good sir!
Good assessment. The Queen will be a poor host if she wasnt prepared for the meet. She will obviously do some reading, catching up on political situations, the Do's and the Dont's. That is expected. Even I prepare my English friends who join me during the summer for a trip back home to Sarawak. Even I read up on current situations so I can brief them before we even land in KLIA. Her decision to wear yellow??? Well, She the bloody Queen mate. She can wear whatever she wants! LOL
Great write up!
I believe that the Queen would have an EQ high enough to note how significant the colour Yellow is during Najib's visit...to suggest otherwise is insulting.
I only strongly disagree with the part ..."Prime Minister and his lovely wife..." =p
CremeBrulee, I've added some pics of the Queen in the very same audience chamber receiving other dignitaries. The flowers were all pink, on both occasions, probably to match with the carpet?
Enjoyed reading this. Her dress was as yellow as yellow can get. There's a joke going round that PM's wife remarked, "What a lovely dress" to which the Queen replied, "yes, I hear the colour is all the RAGE in Malaysia now." I haven't stopped laughing.
To say that it was a coincidence is to me an insult to the Queen.
She was rubbing it to The Prime Minister and her husband's face.
Good observation. In fact, now that you say it, I notice that the colour of the room decor changes to match the color of the flowers, more than the colour of her dress.
Nonetheless, Najib is quite dumb really. He is cunning, no doubt about it, but quite dumb as a person. So he probably did get it. But this writeup surely makes him see it.
Any blog site that needs to vet comments is not worth its salt.
That means there is a high probability that you only publish comments that favor you ( how different are you from UMNO and BN's censorship ). And you do believe that your readers are mature and intelligent enough to filter out comments made in untruths.
Whatta shame.
good one verne, a very good one!!!
Ha.ha.ha. is it a coincidence or....
ha.ha.ha. could it be a sheer coincidence..or...
Thank you your Majesty.
Wang Tak, comment moderation is now OFF. Knock yourself out!
But it means commercial spammers will be selling viagra all over my blog now :-(
Thank you on behalf of the Malaysian
Long Live The Queen
well written. thank you. i have the same thoughts tho some people has been telling me otherwise..
copied to me blog, and credited to you. good observation
nicely written. XD
she is the Queen and can wear whatever dress she wanted.
i would have thought that it was a stretch to assume that the queen of england would care about us malaysians. but as you have rightly pointed out arguments for it to be purely coincidental would no longer hold water.
still unless we were to ask her majesty herself...
Nice one!!
Raizzen, I fell off my chair over your bull's eye comment! Kakakaka...!
Acat, let's put it this way. Say the Agong were to grant an audience to the Prime Minister of Thailand next week. Do you think Wisma Putra, PM's Department and Bukit Aman will brief the Istana and the Agong's advisers on the current situation in Thailand?
Or do you think they just let the Agong meet the PM of Thailand without any prior briefing on the current situation in Thailand and allow the Agong to buta buta jumpa the PM of Thailand?
And we're talking about the Queen of England, no less. Do you think the British government is so incompetent as to not keep the Queen informed?
Wang tak : the color deco of the room hasn't been changed. It is the lighting from the camera that changed the shade of the wall and carpet. So it has more posibility that the color of the flower changes (just for the occasion of meeting najib and his lovely wife) to match her Highness's dress at the meanwhile the color of the flowers are also to complement the room deco. Rather than re-painting the whole room for each visit..
Nice Post :)
Good Read
LIKE,LIKE,LIKE! I really like evidence-based argument.
Thanks for the research and explanation, Vernon.
Excellent post! Will be putting this link on my facebook, if you dont mind.. I know a few people who will find this an interesting read.. =)Well done!
nice write-up. but just sad that all of this will be countered by something as inane as "British bangsa penjajah memang cemburu dengan kejayaan Malaysia" or "Orang kafir always looking for ways to destroy us!".
besides, looks like some people in the current government thinks that the whole world is against us. why would they treat the Queen any different, right?
Nice theory. But don't jump the gun. It could be simply cause the official colour of our royalty is yellow
Super cool theory!
Deadilinger : If YDP Agong/Royal the one who came, then your theory acceptable. haha
Yes, deadillinger. You comfort yourself with that thought, that the Queen wore yellow simply to remind Najib that she is royalty.
It is hilarious when people take the Queen for an idiot.
Even more hilarious when sudah terang lagi nak bersuluh and ignore the elephant in the room :-)
maybe she made her point and Najib didn't get it.
I posted this to my Facebook wall. Lots of people will see it there.
Only a dumb couple wouldn't get the message.
That's a class act by the Queen.
It is 'common sense' that in any meeting involving dignitaries, the host is always well prepared about the visitors in every possible way. For our political idiots to say that the Queen is unaware of Bersih 2.0 is to actually say how stupid and naive our politicians are. Well, in actual fact, our politicians are really stupid. Najib, if you've been slapped in the face (in front of the whole world some more), better to shut your mouth than to try and be defensive.
Absolutely fabulous writeup mate.
As a photobuff, I can say that 'tween the 3 pictures, the palace audience chambers have ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGES save for the flowers, the visitors and good 'ol Mum herself.
The only thing that makes the photos look different is amount of lighting from the photographer's flash and the white balance of the photos. Given to a retoucher, we can actually match the shade, brightness and tinge of all 3 to prove that.
Now on FB and the infamous Najib has to resign page ;)
i dont c any co incidence here,truly the Quuen is fully aware of the issue that Najib had,but Najib attitude shows no credibility at all,still with his non-sense law about banning anything yellow
Keep up the good job
from Malaysian in Australia
good observation & nice analysis !!
I love those roses!! haha... and also the queen!
Great write up. Only after reading the comments posted that I realise not everyone automatically knew they Queen was rubbing their faces in it. People actually thought that she wouldn't have been thoroughly prepared??? BN should be happy their 50 plus years of brainwashing still works on some segments of the population. Ok, giving benefit of the doubt to the rest, they are at best a naive lot. How cute and cuddly. But ultimately, time to wake up. She's one of the most notable public figures of our time. You don't become one of those by committing social faux pas when you're visited by foreign "dignitaries" (using this term very lightly for our dear PM, nothing dignified about him lately, is there?). Once again, excellent piece Vern. Looks like it was much needed =)
thanks bro... and i would like to share it with my frens in fb...keep it up..TQ
blimey! you actually wrote this? if you did kudos to you! if you just copied one of Britain's leading news paper then ur just another twat. Well done regardless =)
Quite interesting fact!
Brian, yes, I actually have a brain. Most lawyers do. Further more, plagiarism isn't my thing. I actually know a lot about the Royal Family, and you would have gathered this if you had read the fine print at the end of my entry.
She is a smart fox, only thing missing was a Bersih pin...hint hint. Sell those in Malaysia like hotcakes for sure. Black font with a yellow background and plated in gold .
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