Keep it in the family
Old King Cock has awarded top gongs to his wife, son, and daughter-in-law. But this is not for simply doing the day job. Oh no. According to the BBC's royal(ty) correspondent,* this move will be seen as an acknowledgement of those keeping up official duties when royal numbers are diminished
. Hmmm I'm not sure how that's different to their day jobs, such as they are, but ne'ermind.
In the corporate world, taking on extra duties during periods of absence is known as ad interim. Once you've demonstrated sufficient competence with the additional temporary
workload, it becomes the new status quo. Unlike royalty, however, it's never rewarded by anything other than the satisfaction of a job well-done…and saving the company money. One of my colleagues at MegaCorpCH was an ad interim dogsbody for two years, without the added responsibilities becoming official enough to warrant a promotion or salary increase.
Anyway, back to King Cock's family bauble bash. And, surprisingly enough, not all are impressed.
Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, called the honours a "slap in the face for all the hardworking people who get awarded MBEs, OBEs and CBEs". "The royals do very little in return for huge reward - but that's never enough. Instead, we see our head of state handing out trinkets and medals to his own family in an act of breathtaking nepotism."
Sean Coughlan, royal(ty) correspondent, BBC News
It's unclear, to me at least, why an anti-monarchy group should get so excited over the disbursement of awards associated with a monarchical state in the first place, other than as a subject of derision or humour. And it might be in his antipathy that Mr Smith overlooked the anagram of MBE, the BEM, which is also awarded to retail therapists (shop assistants) and refuse disposal specialists (binmen). To be fair to His Majesty and the recipients of his munificence, I don't know what value becoming a Companion of Honour or Goodly Master of the Order of the Whatnot would be to most hardworking citizens of the sceptred isle.
There's always the satisfaction of a job well-done. Who could ask for more? Other than a promotion and pay rise.
* I have previously questioned whether Mr Coughlan is a royal correspondent as BBC News claims, in which case he probably has the inside scoop, or merely a common-or-garden royalty correspondent.