“Thank you Ma’am, for everything,” were the words that were posted on the Paddington Bear official Twitter account last Thursday. However, “no, thank you” was effectively what the Royal Parks were saying to the leaving of Paddington Bear soft toys and marmalade sandwiches as tributes to the late Queen, since it seems that this was what many people were leaving, along with flowers. Somehow, Paddington, the fictional immigrant bear from Peru has found himself at the heart of mourning over the Queen – and it speaks volumes about the humour of the British, as well as, perhaps, Elizabeth.
Hang on, what was Paddington’s relationship to the Queen?
As most of us know, Paddington was found in a railway station and fostered by Mr and Mrs Brown somewhere around 1958, and long before he appeared in the blockbuster movie series inspired by the original Michael Bond books. His relationship to the Queen began when, in Bond’s story, Paddington at the Palace, he went to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony with a friend at Buckingham Palace. The connection seemed to grow from there.
And the jubilee?
The connection, most famously, revolves around the short film created for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, in which a CGI version of the bear visits Buckingham Palace for tea and, after causing chaos, pulls out a surprise from under his hat.
You’re not saying that Paddington wasn’t real are you?
Well, I’m not the first to expose this startling truth. A BBC presenter let that whole bear out of the bag earlier this week, when he felt the need to mention that Paddington was not actually there in the film and the Queen had been actually acting into empty space.
Then how did they do it?
“She acted out what she would say to Paddington,” he said, “and then the CGI experts went in and animated a Paddington image for her.” But judging by the reactions on Twitter, it seemed as if the fantasy had gone too far.
Does this say something about our relationship with the Queen and Royal family?
Perhaps. After all, hasn’t the modern monarchy evolved partly through story-telling, from the myth-making involved in its reinvention for the televisual age, to the retelling of its saga in The Crown? Both she and Paddington were media icons.
And what can we learn from it?
To always keep a marmalade sandwich in one’s bag or under one’s hat, just in case. And to recognise a powerful piece of myth-makingwhen we see it.
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