God Save the King — Who? Elvis?

“If you’re celebrating a birthday today,” the disco jockey on the radio was saying, “you’re sharing it with the king.”

It’s Elvis’s birthday? My immediate reaction. But this was a classical radio station. They celebrate Mozart’s bi-cen-something or other, not Elvis’s birthday.

“He is 74 years old today,” she said.

Oh, that king.

I’m still not quite used to a king.

The other day, at the Remembrance Day ceremonies in Brentwood Bay we all sang God Save The King, still catching ourselves. We’ve all sung God Save The Queen most of, if not all, our lives.

I’ve only just got good at “all of us command” rather than “all our sons command” in O Canada and now it all changes again. They’ll be
kicking God out of the anthems next.

The Queen is still on our stamps and on our money and in our hearts, but so far Charles, apart from having a piqueish fit about that stinking pen, has been doing his job carefully, simply and effectively. He even dodged with aplomb some eggs thrown at him and Camilla.

On his birthday, he demoted Andrew and Harry and announced Edward and Anne would stand in for him when he was unavailable. Andrew is said to be devastated that he will not be front and centre now that his mummy’s not around to protect him. Harry meanwhile will get his revenge with the publication of Spare (as in the Heir and the Spare) in January.

Also, The Crown kicks off another season on Netflix with Diana’s divorce and Charles wanting to be Camilla’s tampon and the rest. The tabloid media in Britain has got itself into a lather that much of the show has been made up — but honestly, you couldn’t make half this stuff up.

My wife doesn’t like singing God Save the King or Queen in Canada because to her it feels overly colonially irrelevant. O Canada should be sufficient. I don’t mind too much. But I figure we’ll be singing about God and the King less and less in the years to come. And maybe, one day, not at all.

I’m just impressed that the new monarch is easing into his new job at the age of 74. I hope he’s scheduled an afternoon nap into his busy day.

And for the record Elvis’s birthday is January 8. Next year he would have turned 88.

But he’s still the king. The other king.

Ian Haysom is consulting editor with CHEK Media

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