NBC's Mitchell: Queen Had to 'Put Up With' the 'Indignity' of Celebrating U.S. Bicentennial
As part of NBC's wall-to-wall Today show coverage of Britain's Queen
Eliz
abeth II celebrating her Diamond Jubilee on Tuesday, chief foreign
affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell listed ways in which the United
States has supposedly slighted the monarch over the years: "...she's
put up with a lot from her former subjects. The indignity of going to
where the revolution started, to celebrate the bicentennial of our
independence from the monarchy."
How
rude of us to do such a thing. Mitchell proceeded to detail further
American "indignities" the Queen had to suffer through: "And then there
was the Rose Garden podium that all but reduced Her Majesty to a talking
hat....And the Orioles game where she suffered temperatures pushing 100
degrees while feigning interest in that most American of pastimes,
baseball."
Mitchell brought in BBC's Katy Kay to lecture the former colonies:
"It's always stroke me as slightly ironic that you basically kicked us
out just over a couple centuries ago in order to get rid of dynastic
monarchy, but you probably have just as much affection for the Queen as
the people of Great Britain do."
Here is a full transcript of the June 5 report:
8:21AM ET
MATT LAUER: The Queen is not only loved here in London, Americans also
watch her, and the royal family, with awe and fascination. NBC's Andrea
Mitchell is in Washington with that part of the story. Andrea, good
morning to you.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Good morning, Matt. Well, we Americans have admired
this queen since she was just a princess volunteering as an auto
mechanic in World War II. It's a relationship that has survived even as
presidents and prime ministers come and go. We divorced ourselves from
the monarchy in that little tempest in a Boston Tea Party more than two
centuries ago. But we Yanks still can't seem to get enough of this
queen.
QUEEN ELIZABETH II: We are here to celebrate the tried, tested, and yes, special relationship between our two countries.
MITCHELL: She won our hearts from her coronation and on through her
troubles with her children. And in this case, it's a love affair that
has lasted through 12 American presidents. Over the years she's put up
with a lot from her former subjects. The indignity of going to where the
revolution started, to celebrate the bicentennial of our independence
from the monarchy.
ELIZABETH II: We learned to respect the right of others to govern themselves in their own ways.
MITCHELL: And while the Queen seemed to enjoy riding with President
Reagan at Windsor, her reciprocal trip to ride at his California ranch
was a total washout.
ELIZABETH II: I knew before we came that we had exported many of our
traditions to the United States. But I had not realized before that
weather was one of them.
MITCHELL: And then there was the Rose Garden podium that all but reduced Her Majesty to a talking hat.
ELIZABETH II: Thank you for your warm welcome to Washington.
MITCHELL: And the Orioles game where she suffered temperatures pushing
100 degrees while feigning interest in that most American of pastimes,
baseball. At times the Queen almost seemed like one of us. Perhaps
that's why George W. Bush felt comfortable enough to be, well, himself
in 2007.
GEORGE W. BUSH: You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 – in 1976.
MITCHELL: And then there was this touchy feely moment when Michelle Obama first met the Queen.
KATY KAY: I don't know. But I suspect that it's not the kind of thing that would bother her in the slightest.
MITCHELL: So what is it about this special relationship that Americans have with Britain's monarch?
KAY: It's always stroke me as slightly ironic that you basically kicked
us out just over a couple centuries ago in order to get rid of dynastic
monarchy, but you probably have just as much affection for the Queen as
the people of Great Britain do.
MITCHELL: And as President Obama once told the Queen, her reign is the
humbling reminder of the fleeting nature of presidencies and prime
ministers. Matt.
LAUER: Alright, Andrea, thank you very much.
-- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.
