Queen Elizabeth II is catching flak on Twitter and in the press for being "out of touch"[1] after delivering her annual Christmas address at Buckingham Palace with a lavish gold piano behind her.
"Even with the most deeply held differences, treating the other person with respect and as a fellow human being is always a good first step towards greater understanding," the Queen said during the speech.
"Even the power of faith, which frequently inspires great generosity and self-sacrifice, can fall victim to tribalism. But through the many changes I have seen over the years: faith, family and friendship have been not only a constant for me, but a source of personal comfort and reassurance."
The 91-year-old monarch's words seem pretty benign: She doesn't actually scold viewers or tell anyone to, say, put on a sweater[2], as President Jimmy Carter once did with disastrous results. But the juxtaposition of her speech and the piano, a symbol of her substantial wealth, seems to have been enough to unsettle citizens who are already on edge about Brexit[3].
"Privileged wealthy hereditary monarch bunged £76m a year, sitting in front of a golden piano in the palace she's billing taxpayers £369m to tart up, kills satire by lecturing the nation to pull together," wrote Kevin Maguire, associate editor at the Daily Mirror, in a tweet that has since been liked 12,000 times.
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"Ah the Queen's message. I love getting yelled at by an old publicly-funded billionaire with a gold piano that we should all be happier and less angry," wrote a resident of New Zealand.
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Others poked fun at the outrage. "Oh no,...