(Empire Day is the origin of Victoria Day in Canada, originally celebrated on 24 May, now kept on the penultimate Monday in May. It is the 'Official Birthday' of Her Majesty the Queen of Canada and the Royal Salute is fired at the Legislature buildings across the land.
(Chesterton must have bridled today, as a committed anti-Imperialist, an opinion of his I do not share. God save the Queen and Restore the Empire!)
MAY 24th
EMPIRE DAY
I for one should be sincerely glad if we could have a national celebration, remembering our real achievements and reminding ourselves of our real work in the world. Only for any such national celebration I should suggest two conditions: first, that our national celebration should be invented by our nation and not by another nation. And secondly, that it should be forced by the people on the newspaper proprietors, and not by the newspaper proprietors on the people.
‘Illustrated London News.’
Chesterton, G. K.. The G. K. Chesterton Collection [50 Books] (Kindle Locations 44223-44229). Catholic Way Publishing. Kindle Edition.
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