“Why is no one in Ireland allowed to see the Queen?” the Princess asked me. Alas, this is completely accurate as security is v. tight and the Irish public have all become royalists overnight. Actually not, in fact, completely accurate, everyone in Ireland who is remotely famous, well-known or in the media did meet the Queen and they have been warbling about it in a slightly star struck way ever since: please see this effusion.
Also, watching the Queen at a stud farm on the news [only third item this evening, upstaged by the extraordinary DSK adventures and the death of former Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald] this evening, the Princess asked who is in charge in England now that the Queen is away. I said that they could call for advice, if they needed it but she persisted, “Does that man who has been waiting forever to be king get a chance to practice?” I think not.
Onwards, next week Obama.
“I’m on of the few British-born persons not to have met the Queen.” So am I, and indeed I suspect that we are more numerous that Kevin Myers believes!
These past few posts have been fascinating, since here in America all we got to see were charming photos of the Queen accepting flowers and laying wreaths–had no idea it was turning the average Dubliner’s life upside-down! I live in Washington, DC, and they close off streets EVERY time the presidential motorcade (and it’s always at least 10 vehicles) passes by. It excites the tourists but annoys the locals.
Best of luck when Obama visits your town.
So how is her accent? She sounded to me on the radio exactly like you’d imagine the queen sounding reading out a phonetic card, but the news seemed to be reacting as if she’d suddenly become fluent in Irish
I thought she did pretty well, and as if she had practiced carefully. She got some things correct which Irish people who don’t speak the language regularly might not have. (1) At first I perceived a couple of omissions, (2)(3) but on thinking about it the second of these would be how some Donegal native speakers would say it.
(1) “Slenderizing” the last consonant of “Uachtaráin” due to vocative case.
(2) I didn’t hear the séimhiú (h) on “chairde”.
(3) R in “chairde” pronounced non-rhotically – but similar to how Máire becomes Moya in Donegal.
Lesley, it’s just possible he has forgotten that the UK has 60 million people. That’s a lot of hand shaking.
Jankat, but all in a good cause, I suppose – Obama far less trouble as considered much less of a security risk…
TM, Eimear much more expert than me – I thought she sounded fine, really, you should hear some of us. Was chatting with a colleague who is a native Irish speaker today and he described the anguish of coaching one of our fellow citizens to produce a couple of words. Imagine Queen was easier for her coach.
A friend is involved in a choir which participated in TG4’s reality-tv-choir-competition a year or two ago. The choir members are multinational – the Italians, Scandinavians etc. had no difficulty learning to enunciate the Irish-language songs correctly but she had the same anguish as your friend with some of the “natives”.
Yes well, you know us, we don’t like putting on funny accents.