Last night, a particularly hillarious new "Simpsons" episode took the clan to London, with ensuing hillarity involving special guest voices Tony Blair, J.K. Rowling and Sir Ian McKellen culminating in Homer's crashing into Queen Elizabeth's carriage, imprisoned in the Tower of London by the angry monarch, and savaged hillariously in the infamous British tabloids.
The timing couldn't be any more fitting, since those same tabloids are currently highlighting the Queen's displeasure at another well-meaning, likable-seeming American with a penchant for oafish behavior, sounding like a moron, and displaying a horrid sense of manners and etiquette. Unfortunately, this American happens to also be our President.
I honestly laughed and chalked it up to myopic insensitivity when I read last week that Bush's 650-member entourage included five personal chefs-- this despite the fact that I hear they employ some pretty damn good ones to serve his royal hosts-- and that the Queen was mad. But now, it has come out that in the process of preparing three special helipads for Bush and the military choppers accompanying him, the Secret Service destroyed a good portion of the Queen's gardens, including some stuff that had survived since the reign of Queen Victoria. And evidently, the Queen isn't the only one pissed off here:
"The Queen has every right to feel insulted at the way she has been treated by Bush," said a Palace insider.
"The repairs will cost tens of thousands of pounds but the damage to historic and rare plants will be immense. They are still taking an inventory.
"The lawns are used for royal garden parties and are beautifully kept. But 30,000 visitors did not do as much damage as the Americans did in three days.
"Their security people and support staff tramped all over the place and left an absolute mess. It is particularly sad because the Queen Mother loved to wander in the garden just as the Queen and Prince Charles do now.
I know the whole British royal thing is quaint and a bit funny ("wandering" in the garden shows just how useless they have become), but this is historic damage we are talking about, and the late Queen Mum was probably the last nationally-revered member of the royal family. This is worse than any fictional cartoon's bumbling, and frankly, I'm embarrassed for our nation.