Last week one afternoon my partner Lyndall became a British Citizen at what was an intriguiging, amusing and occasionally touching ceremony at Birmingham Council House.
The whole thing was an odd mix of old and new, and in splendid piece of opportunistic comic effect, the Council cast an ex-Tony Blair impersonator in the main role of Registrar (I’m not kidding).
Lyndall found herself in the odd position for someone who actively campaigned for Australia to become a republic – of swearing allegiance to the Queen (something I’ve thankfully not been required to do since being a cub scout!).
As you can see, she wore pearls for the occasion and was excited to meet the Queen (in pictorial format).
And the Lord Mayor turned out to be a very personable chap in white gloves and a feathery hat!
The speech included some nice mentions of diversity and so on and everyone got a nice certificate. Relatively painless, if a slightly odd experience.
Rich
Xx