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What does the UK look like from the outside?

On Saturday, at the coronation parade in London, the Metropolitan Police built a three-storey high screen to conceal the republican demonstrators. The protesters were still there, but King Charles and most of the news cameras could no longer see them. 

Currently I live in Portugal. From here the view of the UK is a flurry of bunting, ghost-written celebrity memoirs and Windsor family PR shots. Here’s the newsstand I pass on my way to work. It’s blotched with coronation coverage:

A newsstand with some headlines and images related to the coronation in the UK
Close-up of the newsstand

The Portuguese press does have a little coverage of British opposition to the Royal carry-on, but it’s tucked away on the inside pages. The clear impression is of a nation united in support for its unelected head of state and his costly family. 

A lot of the UK population don’t want a monarch. Two recent polls put the figure at a fifth or a quarter. This isn’t visible from Portugal, and neither are the arrests of Graham Smith and the other people who were peacefully protesting along the route of royal parade.

Living in the UK, I knew that the BBC and the newspapers kept the Windsor family visible, making them seem relevant to national life. Now I see that how the arts do their bit (take this drab and demeaning poem by an otherwise fantastic poet). And the sports industry too (the Premier League ‘strongly suggested’ that clubs play the national anthem on Saturday). 

I realise now that the Portuguese press are just as keen to show pictures of the Windsors as the UK press. Other stories don’t get told. Like the one about millions UK citizens who feel that a hereditary billionaire tax-avoider is unsuitable as head of state. So an image of the UK persists for people in Portugal - that of a wealthy country content to nestle in its timeless traditions of inequality. 

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  1. AnonymousMay 12, 2023 at 11:29 AM

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  2. AnonymousJune 8, 2023 at 10:07 AM

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