Amidst the pageantry paying homage to a battle that greatly helped shaped today’s world, political correctness raises its ugly head as Britain opened a long celebration of the bicentennial of its storied naval victory over the forces of Napolean on October 21, 1805.
Seventeen ships from five nations stage a mock sea battle off southern England on Tuesday to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, during which Admiral Horatio Nelson routed Napoleon Bonaparte’s French and Spanish forces and ensured that Britain ruled the waves for more than a hundred years. The ceremony – watched by Queen Elizabeth II and thousands of spectators – was to involve 10 tons of gunpowder, state-of-the-art pyrotechnics and a replica 18th-century frigate portraying the HMS Victory, the flagship that Nelson commanded and died aboard when a musket ball struck his spine during the famous battle.
France and Britain have long forged an alliance since then, and ships from both countries will take part in Tuesday’s ceremony, as will ships from Spain. But the British-French rivalry remains strong, as is evident by their latest public feud over the European Union budget, and the anniversary organisers worked hard to avoid touching it off. They decided not to carry out a precise re-enactment of the Battle of Trafalgar with a victor and a loser, instead opting for a sea battle pitting an unidentified red navy against an unnamed blue one.
That irritated Anna Tribe, 75, the great, great, great granddaughter of Admiral Nelson and his famous lover, Emma Hamilton. Tribe dismissed the idea as ‘pretty stupid.’
“I am sure the French and Spanish are adult enough to appreciate we did win that battle,” she said [edit — this view is certainly open for debate].
“I am anti-political correctness. Very much against it. It makes fools of us.”
As much as I despise such PC silliness, I recognize I can do little about this instance and, therefore, refuse to let it mar the majesty of the moment for this military history buff. Be it an accurate re-enactment or a silly red-on-blue exercise, I’ll still pimp out an article that has a couple of amazing photographs from the festivities. For the military buffs, I’ll also point you to this interesting comparison of two ships involved in the legendary battle.