Britain's invented traditions include much royal ritual and Highland dress

A guard outside Buckingham Palace. Photo by Jordan Brierley on Unsplash

Nearly 40 years ago, a book titled ‘ The Invention of Tradition ‘ took a good long look at the industry, with special emphasis on Britain.

Edited by two historians, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, the book featured essays by their other notable colleagues. These covered a range of subjects including Scotland’s “Highland tradition”, “the hunt for the Welsh past”, the monarchy’s performance of ritual, how authority was represented in British India and tradition invented in colonial Africa as well as eventually mass-produced in and by Europe during the late 19th century until World War I.

‘Traditions’ which appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin and sometimes invented. — Eric Hobsbawm

The premise is simply fascinating, as Hobsbawm notes in his Introduction to the book: “Nothing appears more ancient, and linked to an immemorial past, than the pageantry which surrounds British monarchy in its public c…