Prime Minister tells new Poet Laureate he can ignore the Queen and is under no obligation to write about Royal events – but critics are left ‘sad and disappointed’ at the threat to tradition
- Simon Armitage is the newest incumbent to the 351-year-old post
- He was offered the post by Theresa May in a telephone call on Thursday
- But she has told him he does not have to write about Royal occasions
- Traditionalists believe the Poet Laureate has a duty to write about Royal events
For centuries the Poet Laureate has been chosen by the Crown for the duty of writing poems for great national occasions.
But the newest incumbent to the 351-year-old post says he has been told by the Prime Minister that he is under no obligation to write about Royal events.
The revelation by the newly appointed Simon Armitage has left critics ‘sad’ and ‘disappointed’ at the threat to tradition.
The new Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has been told by Theresa May he has no obligation to write about Royal events
It raises the possibility that his pen will be still even for great State funerals throughout his ten-year tenure.
Mr Armitage was offered the post by Theresa May in a telephone call on Thursday afternoon.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, he said: ‘I have taken my cue from what the Prime Minister told me and from what the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport told me – which is that there is absolutely no obligation to write about Royal occasions whatsoever. That is categorically what I have been told.’
However, traditionalists are firmly of the view that the Poet Laureate should produce poems to celebrate specific Royal occasions.
Armitage’s predecessor Carol Ann Duffy was often criticised for marking only a few landmark Royal events after her appointment in 2009.
The previous Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, was criticised for writing about few Royal occasions
Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, said: ‘Of course poet laureates can write about national events but it’s been a tradition that they write about Royal events as well. If they don’t write about Royal occasions, what are they meant to be doing?’
Royal biographer Penny Junor said: ‘I think it is a bit sad. For the sake of posterity it’s nice to have these poems written for special occasions.’
Armitage, 55, who is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds, said he had ‘no idea’ whether he would have written a poem about the birth last week of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son Archie if he had been appointed earlier.
But he added: ‘I don’t think I am answerable for my politics to people. But let me put it this way: in the last ten years I have been awarded a CBE, the Queen’s Gold Medal for poetry and I am now the Poet Laureate. I am hardly a rancid Republican.’
Distinguished biographer and historian Philip Ziegler defended the freedom for the holder of the post to choose, saying: ‘I would think the Poet Laureate shouldn’t be under any obligation to write poems on any subject. Traditionally, they were expected to, but that duty has changed.
‘I would be horrified if he had to provide 200 lines on any Royal event. It’s something that’s changed as society has changed. I think it’s a good thing, we should be concerned that the Poet Laureate writes good poetry, rather than poetry on a dictated theme.’
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