April 21 hari ultah populer

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Banyak yang tau kah bahwa tanggal 21 April bukan saja hari jadi/ ultah / anniversaire/ ibu Kartini saja .... tapi juga Ratu Elizabeth II. Oaaaahhh ...

Titelnya beruntun, Queen of England, of Australia, of Canada, of New Zealand, of Jersey island, of Malta (until circa ...), of Jamaicas and the American British Isles (until circa ...), of Malaysia (until circa 1960s), of Burma (circa ...), of Ceylon (until the 50/60s) of Brunei Darussalam (until 1984), of Hongkong (til 1997) dan (ex+)territories UK lainnya yang tidak dapat disebutkan satu-persatu. Ratu yang satu ini memang sangat berpengaruh. Yah kira-kira seperlima (sajalah) luas daratan di muka bumi ini dibawah kakinya.

Lucunya, Queen's birthday di AUS dirayakan masih dua bulan lagi, 25 Juni. Sedangkan di NZ, 12 Juni.

Mengapa bukan hari ini, tanggal 21 April saja?

Saya ngga punya jawabannya.

Tapi alangkah menyenangkannya, seandainya ultah saya, kamu, dan kita semua dirayakan multiple times spread over several months' time? Mesti rajin beli confetti dan teman-teman beli pita kado?

Housemates saya pernah bilang mereka dulu harus nyanyiin God Save the Queen, diajarkan di sekolah dan seremoni, hingga dekade 60-an, diganti oleh lagu yang dianggap lebih nasionalis «Advance Australia Fair» .... sedang anak sekolahan di RI sibuk merias untuk lomba baju daerah plus nyanyi Ibu kita Kartini putri sejati ... putri Indonesia ... harum namanya.... lalalala

ROLE AS MONARCH

In winter 1953 Her Majesty set out to accomplish, as Queen, the
Commonwealth tour she had begun before the death of her father. With The Duke of Edinburgh she visited Bermuda, Jamaica, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar. This was the first of innumerable tours of the Commonwealth they have undertaken at the invitation of the host governments.

During the past five-and-a-half decades The Queen and Prince Philip have also made frequent visits to other countries outside the Commonwealth at the invitation of foreign Heads of State.

Since her Coronation, The Queen has also visited nearly every county in Britain, seeing new developments and achievements in industry, agriculture, education, the arts, medicine and sport and many other aspects of national life.

As Sovereign, Her Majesty is head of
the Navy, Army and Air Force of Britain. On becoming Queen she succeeded her father as Colonel-in-Chief of all the Guards Regiments and the Corps of Royal Engineers and as Captain-General of the Royal Regiment of Artillery and the Honourable Artillery Company. At her Coronation she assumed similar positions with a number of other units in Britain and elsewhere in the Commonwealth.

Every year, Her Majesty entertains some 48,000 people from all sections of
the community (including visitors from overseas) at Royal Garden Parties and other occasions. At least three garden parties take place at Buckingham Palace and a fourth at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh. Additional 'special' parties are occasionally arranged, for example to mark a significant anniversary for a charity. In 1997, there was a special Royal Garden Party attended by those sharing The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh's golden wedding anniversary. In the summer of 2002 there was a special Golden Jubilee Garden Party for individuals
born on Accession Day, 6 February 1952.