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On this, the day of Empress Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, the imperial capital was resplendently reborn. The Greco-Roman facades lining the mile long Victory Mall, scrubbed clean of the decades of soot and grime of industrial London, stood proudly waving hundreds of Union Jacks. Britons near and far crammed into every conceivable space along the parade route. Young children sat atop the shoulders of parents or fought for space at the base of the giant bronze statues depicting Edward, Boudicea, Nelson, Wallace and other heroes of the Empire. Military bands alternated between dignified renditions of ‘God Save The Queen’ and a rambunctious ‘Rule Britannia’. Handsome red coated riflemen, the young men that continued to battle and win for the Empire, marched in disciplined formation with gleaming bayonets. The starched white dress uniforms of the Royal Navy officers followed. In the distance, naval guns roared in periodic salute from the Thames where the parade had commenced. The Empress Victoria, virtually unsighted since the death of her beloved Albert, the Prince Consort, was re-emerging to adoring subjects wild with anticipation.
The spectacle seemed endless to nineteen-year-old Jun. Her former home in Hangchow was a bigger, more crowded place than London, and she had always thought of herself as somewhat cosmopolitan to have been born in one of the largest Chinese cities. Yet even in her gold embroidered red silk dress, shiny styled black hair, and being somewhat tarted up with make up, she felt a simple Chinese peasant. It was hardly avoidable. London, the focus of magnificent wealth, awed all as the trophy city of Empire. Victory Mall alone with its seemingly endless gilded monuments, fountains, and colonnades seemed to hold more wealth than all China. This grandeur terminated at gargantuan Trafalgar Square where Jun now stood with ten other “Maidens of Britannia”. Each of them – representing the world’s ten remaining great nations – Jun carried the spear and shield of Britannia emblazoned with the flag of her ancestral country. Some shields, like hers, incorporated a Union Jack as part of her country’s flag. It was the mark of a subject nation of the British Empire and a personal symbol of despair.
The wave of mad cheering told her of the nearing of Victoria’s royal carriage and entourage. She squinted through the afternoon sun to spot the reclusive Empress who had come to dominate over half of the world and in the process destroy all she loved. Jun would have to wait a while longer to look into her enemy’s eyes. To face the living embodiment of an Empire that took father, brother, and husband in meaningless wars of aggression; to see what kind of ‘benevolent’ monarch could justify it all in the name of extending civilization; to hate the wicked despot who could leave her and her baby destitute and starving in the streets of Hangchow.
Beside Jun, the skittish Azteca girl-Britannia jumped as trumpeters added to the cacophony heralding the approach of Her Majesty. American Britannia, a bubble-headed blonde cheered shamelessly; Iroquois Britannia had tears in her eyes, but Jun could not tell if they were those of sorrow or joy; the strikingly beautiful Indian Britannia was the class act standing tall; Mongolian Britannia was strangely represented by a rather un-Mongolian looking white girl; Persian Britannia was simply awestruck by the spectacle.
From left to right, the girl-Britannia’s received the matronly Empress Victoria who was surprisingly small in stature and dressed in black. Korean Britannia, nervous at being first to greet Victoria almost fell backwards as she kneeled. Russian Britannia, despite being a big girl towering over the diminutive Victoria seemed intimidated and was glad to look down in homage. Zulu Britannia greeted Victoria and laid her shield on the ground in symbolic submission to the British Empire as the girls before her.
Jun clutched her spear tight. The tip was mere gilded wood, but Jun was confident of it fatally wounding the aging Empress when Jun thrust it through her with vengeful rage. Jun would greet, kneel, and present her shield, but instead of keeping the spear of Britannia vertical as the hated Empress moved on Jun would throw all her weight behind it and impale the devil woman with her own haughty self-aggrandizing regalia.
Then, Victoria was upon her. Jun silently said a final prayer and looked up, fists balled, body tensed to spring forth. Jun met the Empress’ gaze for several indecisive moments. Empress Victoria, the monarch of monarchs and amidst a sea of adoring subjects drowned in sorrow. Her smile spoke only of remembrance of better times with a love lost. Victoria could not conceal the mourning in her eyes, the loneliness of her heart, nor the weariness brought on by inescapable duty. Unexpectedly, this woman – though sitting on throne of the world – suffered too. Jun greeted Her Majesty with, “God Save The Queen” and laid down her shield.
My Historical Note: The real life Queen Victoria spent years in mourning after the death of her beloved Albert. She wore black constantly, had arranged her own funeral, and picked her resting place beside Albert long before her own death. She disappeared from public life so completely that the very monarchy was threatened with destruction. Though she eventually emerged as a lasting symbol of the British Empire at the height of its glory, Albert’s death changed her drastically and irrevocably as a monarch and person.
The spectacle seemed endless to nineteen-year-old Jun. Her former home in Hangchow was a bigger, more crowded place than London, and she had always thought of herself as somewhat cosmopolitan to have been born in one of the largest Chinese cities. Yet even in her gold embroidered red silk dress, shiny styled black hair, and being somewhat tarted up with make up, she felt a simple Chinese peasant. It was hardly avoidable. London, the focus of magnificent wealth, awed all as the trophy city of Empire. Victory Mall alone with its seemingly endless gilded monuments, fountains, and colonnades seemed to hold more wealth than all China. This grandeur terminated at gargantuan Trafalgar Square where Jun now stood with ten other “Maidens of Britannia”. Each of them – representing the world’s ten remaining great nations – Jun carried the spear and shield of Britannia emblazoned with the flag of her ancestral country. Some shields, like hers, incorporated a Union Jack as part of her country’s flag. It was the mark of a subject nation of the British Empire and a personal symbol of despair.
The wave of mad cheering told her of the nearing of Victoria’s royal carriage and entourage. She squinted through the afternoon sun to spot the reclusive Empress who had come to dominate over half of the world and in the process destroy all she loved. Jun would have to wait a while longer to look into her enemy’s eyes. To face the living embodiment of an Empire that took father, brother, and husband in meaningless wars of aggression; to see what kind of ‘benevolent’ monarch could justify it all in the name of extending civilization; to hate the wicked despot who could leave her and her baby destitute and starving in the streets of Hangchow.
Beside Jun, the skittish Azteca girl-Britannia jumped as trumpeters added to the cacophony heralding the approach of Her Majesty. American Britannia, a bubble-headed blonde cheered shamelessly; Iroquois Britannia had tears in her eyes, but Jun could not tell if they were those of sorrow or joy; the strikingly beautiful Indian Britannia was the class act standing tall; Mongolian Britannia was strangely represented by a rather un-Mongolian looking white girl; Persian Britannia was simply awestruck by the spectacle.
From left to right, the girl-Britannia’s received the matronly Empress Victoria who was surprisingly small in stature and dressed in black. Korean Britannia, nervous at being first to greet Victoria almost fell backwards as she kneeled. Russian Britannia, despite being a big girl towering over the diminutive Victoria seemed intimidated and was glad to look down in homage. Zulu Britannia greeted Victoria and laid her shield on the ground in symbolic submission to the British Empire as the girls before her.
Jun clutched her spear tight. The tip was mere gilded wood, but Jun was confident of it fatally wounding the aging Empress when Jun thrust it through her with vengeful rage. Jun would greet, kneel, and present her shield, but instead of keeping the spear of Britannia vertical as the hated Empress moved on Jun would throw all her weight behind it and impale the devil woman with her own haughty self-aggrandizing regalia.
Then, Victoria was upon her. Jun silently said a final prayer and looked up, fists balled, body tensed to spring forth. Jun met the Empress’ gaze for several indecisive moments. Empress Victoria, the monarch of monarchs and amidst a sea of adoring subjects drowned in sorrow. Her smile spoke only of remembrance of better times with a love lost. Victoria could not conceal the mourning in her eyes, the loneliness of her heart, nor the weariness brought on by inescapable duty. Unexpectedly, this woman – though sitting on throne of the world – suffered too. Jun greeted Her Majesty with, “God Save The Queen” and laid down her shield.
My Historical Note: The real life Queen Victoria spent years in mourning after the death of her beloved Albert. She wore black constantly, had arranged her own funeral, and picked her resting place beside Albert long before her own death. She disappeared from public life so completely that the very monarchy was threatened with destruction. Though she eventually emerged as a lasting symbol of the British Empire at the height of its glory, Albert’s death changed her drastically and irrevocably as a monarch and person.
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