Russian Media Blasts 'Opulent' Platinum Jubilee As Queen Elizabeth Caps Off Festivities

As the United Kingdom celebrates Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne on Sunday, both Russia and some of the former African colonies of the Commonwealth coolly received the celebrations, with Russia harping on the increasing fuel prices of the country.

Russian broadcaster Rossiya 1 found itself commenting on the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, mockingly claiming that the celebrations were just an attempt to distract the British public from the Downing Street scandals as well as rising cost of fuel prices across Europe, according to WION.

“The imperial functions of the Anglo-Saxon world long ago passed to the United States, even though Boris Johnson is trying to revive British influence on the European continent by actively interfering in events in Ukraine,” the broadcaster said. “[The aim is to] deflect attention from domestic problems like Downing Street parties during the lockdown and a general decline in living standards.”

The U.K., as well as much of Europe, has faced a staggering increase in fuel prices over the Russia-Ukraine war, with millions of people across Europe forced to face a heightening cost-of-living crisis that may have increased energy bills to $2,616 a year.

Meanwhile, former colonies of the United Kingdom in Africa have largely a muted response to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, with many attempting to reckon with the continued imperialist past that the British government has largely yet to apologize for, the Guardian reported.

“From the start, [the Queen’s] reign would be indelibly stained by the brutality of the empire she presided over and that accompanied its demise,” Kenyan cartoonist Patrick Gathara said. “To this day, she has never publicly admitted, let alone apologised for, the oppression, torture, dehumanisation, and dispossession visited upon people in the colony of Kenya before and after she acceded to the throne.”

“She is becoming irrelevant here,” Zimbabwe social activist Peter Nyapedwa said. “We know about [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] or Putin, but not the Queen.”

The Queen herself has been largely unable to attend most of her Platinum Jubilee due to the mobility problems that she continues to suffer through. She did, however, appear in the Buckingham Palace balcony on Sunday to conclude the Jubilee celebrations, and released a statement thanking those who participated, according to the Daily Beast.