RUNNYMEDE, ENGLAND – When Queen Elizabeth II stepped on to the meadows of Runnymede on Monday, a great feeling of pride and affection swept the thousands who had gathered on the June-green grass to mark the anniversary of one of the most famous documents in the world.
When her predecessor King John – depicted in popular culture as the overtaxing tyrant in the Robin Hood legend – met a group of incensed barons on the meadows to seal Magna Carta, exactly 800 years ago, the mood was presumably far less jovial.
Nonetheless, the king, however reluctant, placed his seal on an agreement that established the idea that no one was above the law – including royalty. The Magna Carta, which is Latin for “Great Charter,” has inspired thinking about constitutions and democratic rights for countries around the world.
The expansive meadows of Runnymede, about 20 miles west of London, are situated by the side of the River Thames and are frequently flooded.
On a cool Monday morning, about 3,000 gathered in this peaceful riverside setting ahead of speeches by the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Archbishop of Canterbury. At noon, the beautifully dressed guests basked in the sunshine as they ate lunch on the grass.
The charter, Cameron said, altered “forever the balance of power between the governed and the government.” (Cameron also mentioned the “Great Charter,” meaning he has presumably brushed up on his history since famously coming up blank when grilled by David Letterman on the English translation of Magna Carta.)
The Magna Carta ultimately curbed the powers of royalty, restricting the ability of the monarch to treat subjects in an arbitrary manner.
An American delegation, led by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, described the Magna Carta as the first draft of codes that now “stand at the heart of our system of justice.”
“It’s an occasion not to be missed. It was the start of all of it and something to be proud of,” said Norman Blackburn, 81, from Pontefract, England who was standing in the meadow watching a big-screen television showing the London Philharmonic playing Beethoven’s “Wellington’s Victory” on the main stage.
The legal document is still relevant today because “fundamentally it shows that nobody is above the law, and it establishes rule of law as paramount,” said Justin Fisher, director of the Magna Carta Institute at Brunel University. He added: “It’s worth celebrating the democratic rights we enjoy. Plus, 800 years doesn’t come around very often and we like a good party.”
Queen Elizabeth II is the patron of the Magna Carta Trust, and while she did not address the crowd, she wrote in the event program: “The story of the British Monarchy is intertwined with that of Runnymede and Magna Carta.”
The commemoration is the most high profile of a long list of Magna Carta-related celebrations in 2015.
In its “Law, Liberty, Legacy” exhibition, the British Library in central London is displaying two of the four original remaining copies of Magna Carta – written on a sheepskin parchment and crammed with text – alongside legal documents it influenced, including famously the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Bill of Rights, copies of which are on loan from the United States.
There were hundreds of celebrations this past weekend. A replica of the Great Charter was carried down the River Thames as part of a relay boat race, ending in Runnymede with the unveiling of a statue of Queen Elizabeth II. A scavenger hunt at Westminster on Sunday began with participants meeting “Maggie Carter,” who was wearing medieval dress costume.
Over the last few days, Britons have been encouraged to drink oceans of tea and pints of beer. The British Parliament encouraged everyone on Sunday to sit down at 3 p.m. for a cuppa to reflect on their liberties. On Monday, or Beer Day Britain, those who fancy a pint were invited to raise one in honor of Magna Carta and the clause that mentions ale. (“Let there be throughout our kingdom a single measure for wine and a single measure for ale.”)
