Silver is universally considered the appropriate precious metal to commemorate a 25th wedding anniversary, gold a 50th, diamonds a 60th. Comparatively few are the couples who survive to celebrate 70 years of married bliss – though, as we are all living longer, perhaps they are becoming more common. The appropriate precious metal to honor such occasions is platinum.
It was 1897 when Queen Victoria marked 60 years on the British throne with her Diamond Jubilee, a splendid national event.
“No one ever, I believe, has met with such an ovation as was given to me, passing through those six miles of streets,” she wrote. “The crowds were quite indescribable and their enthusiasm truly marvelous and deeply touching.”
At the time, no British monarch had ever reigned longer. Victoria lived for another four years, but on September 9, 2015, Queen Elizabeth II beat Victoria’s record, and then went on to create one of her own. February 6 marked the 70th anniversary of the day the queen acceded to the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, and 2022 has been designated Platinum Jubilee Year not only in the UK but in the Commonwealth over which Elizabeth is head.
What is the Commonwealth? When Elizabeth came to the throne in 1952, the Commonwealth consisted of eight nations, all of which had once been part of the British Empire. Today it is a voluntary association of 54 independent sovereign states with a combined population of 2.4 billion people, almost a third of the world’s population. Queen Elizabeth is head of the organization, and Commonwealth leaders have decided that in due course, her son and heir, Prince Charles, will succeed her in that role. What unites this diverse group of nations, beyond the ties of history, language and institutions, are strong trade links and the association’s 16 core values set out in the Commonwealth Charter.
These “Commonwealth values” commit the organization to promoting world peace, democracy, individual liberty, environmental sustainability, equality in terms of race and gender, free trade, and the fight against poverty, ignorance, and disease.
It was in 1884 that Lord Roseberry, later British prime minister, first dubbed the British Empire “a Commonwealth of nations”, and the term “British Commonwealth” remained uncontroversial until 1947, when India achieved independence.
Although that new state became a republic, the Indian government was very keen to remain in the Commonwealth – and the Commonwealth, unwilling to lose the jewel in its crown, found no difficulty in changing the rules of the club. Henceforth “British” was to be dropped from the organization’s title, and membership was not based on allegiance to the British crown. Members were to be “free and equal members of the Commonwealth of Nations, freely co-operating in the pursuit of peace, liberty and progress.”
Since then, fully independent countries from all parts of the globe have flocked to join. At first they were required to have some historic connection to the old British Empire, until two nations with absolutely no such ties applied to join. Once again the Commonwealth demonstrated flexibility, further amending the rules to allow first Mozambique, and a few years later Rwanda, to become members. Applications and expressions of interest to join the Commonwealth continue to arrive from a wide diversity of states.
Over the 74 years of Israel’s existence, no effort has been made, nor has a viable opportunity arisen, to develop any sort of collaboration with the association. All the same, Israel’s bitter-sweet historic connection with Britain has always seemed to point toward a special relationship.
In 1953, the year of Elizabeth’s coronation, some visionary British ex-pats in Israel established an organization that flourishes to this very day: the Israel, Britain and the Commonwealth Association (IBCA). The body’s second chairman was president Isaac Herzog’s father, Chaim. IBCA has never lobbied for Israel to join the Commonwealth – the concept has seemed politically unrealistic – but the idea has certainly been mooted in the past.
“As a former British colony, Israel is being considered for Commonwealth membership,” the Jewish Journal reported in December 2006. “Commonwealth officials said this week they had set up a special committee to consider membership applications by several Middle Eastern and African nations... and that those interested in applying include Israel and the Palestinian Authority, both of which exist on land ruled by a British Mandate from 1918 to 1948. An Israeli official did not deny the report, but said, ‘This issue is not on our agenda right now.’”
Perhaps full Israeli membership never will be, but the idea of forging some sort of link between Israel and the Commonwealth family of nations is not an impossible one. It could offer benefits all around, like the trading advantages enjoyed by businesses in Commonwealth countries: it is approximately 19% cheaper to export from one member to another within the group than it would be outside.
The advantages for Israel of some sort of formal link, perhaps a type of associate membership, would lie in the political and trade benefits that it would enjoy, but the gains would be far from one-sided. Israel is in a position to offer great wealth to the Commonwealth as a whole, including its developing members, through its advanced technologies in cyber security and hi-tech innovations to agriculture and water conservation.
With the Middle East as a whole now reaping the benefits of normalized relations between Israel and a number of Arab states – a situation deemed utopian, even impossible, only a few years ago – some sort of Israel-Commonwealth relationship does not seem beyond the bounds of possibility. It would certainly give the worldwide Jubilee celebrations an unexpected dimension.
The Platinum Jubilee is to be marked globally by the lighting of beacons, starting with Buckingham Palace. This will be followed by 1,500 beacons being lit across the UK and the world, including in each of the Commonwealth’s 54 capital cities.
Within the UK, street parties are being planned across the nation, as well as public ceremonies such as Trooping the Color, which marks the Queen’s official birthday. To allow for a true “knees-up” (English slang for a right royal celebration), a four-day public holiday is planned for the whole of Britain. The major Platinum Jubilee celebrations will begin on Thursday, June 2, and continue until June 5.
Queen Elizabeth II is perhaps the most traveled person on the planet. She has been everywhere, and she is known, recognized and respected around the world. It seems right and proper that the world has decided to acknowledge, and to celebrate with her, this special year in the life of the 95-year-old monarch. ■
The writer was awarded an MBE for services to broadcasting and to drama in the Queen’s Birthday Honors in 2006. He now lives in Israel.