People have been asking me what it’s been like to be here in Orkney over the past week. It’s hard to say, the Royals aren’t really something that people here talk about. During the Jubilee in June I know there were a couple of community family picnics and a pipe band one evening, but not much else.
I think the farther north you get, the less people pay attention to the Royal Family. The King was here on Hoy last month, and that made it into the local paper, but that was about it. And, just as much of Scotland feels disconnected from England, Westminster et al, Orkney seems to feel equally distant from Scotland.
TV and social media have been full of everything, the newspaper’s front page was a series of photos of the Queen and her many visits to the islands, and yesterday was an official holiday across the UK. In Orkney most shops were closed, at least for the morning if not all day, and the kids didn’t go to school. One person on social media described being out in town like it was Christmas Day: no traffic and nothing to do but go home and watch the Queen on TV.
The only obvious difference I have noticed is the flags. In Orkney I would say that (a) there aren’t many places with flags flying and (b) they’re almost all the red, yellow, & blue Orcadian flag. I’m guessing that normally about 70% of the flags one sees are Orcadian, 25% are the Scottish Saltire, and 5% are the Union Jack. This week, everyone seems to have dusted off their Union Jacks, which are everywhere, all at half-mast, of course.