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The In(famous) 2006 4th Of June "Banana Boat Procession"

The Eton College 4th of June Celebrations are a hundreds of years old tribute to the College's relationship to their beloved eighteenth century faithful monarch and patron, King George III. When he died in 1728, it was decided to celebrate the memory of his life each year after by a day of festivities attended by several thousand guests and pupils which came to include the now famous Eton College 4th of June Procession Of Boats, a parade of College boat rowers down a short portion of the Thames River that runs just to the side of the College proper in front of cheering spectators.

In modern times, the 4th of June Celebration is no longer held on the 4th of June, but in the last week of the month of May on the last Wednesday. Moreover, it had become a very prestigious invitation only and exclusive event, entrance to which is not ever granted the general public and in fact,the Procession Of Boats, the apex and end of the day long event, has been a ticketed event for even those allowed to attend.

In recent past years, attendance to the Procession Of Boats has even been an internal point of controversy within the college itself. The parents of Eton pupils who are otherwise granted free entrance to the day's rare events are also given a set of tickets for themselves and a few extra to gain entrance to the Thames River viewing area for the mid-afternoon Procession Of Boats. Apparently, these extra tickets were being used as corporate business contact perks in order to influence an Eton pupil's parent's important business clients. This came to the attention of current Headmaster Tony Little and was "dealt with" in order to discourage such use as well below the honor and dignity afforded the event.

In any case, to be invited as a rower in this event is considered one of the highest honors any Eton pupil can acquire and is available to the best rowers of all age groups, save one, and that is to row on the Monarch. The Monarch is a ten seated boat as oppossed to all others which are eight seated. Only ten esteemed members of Pop are allowed to row the Monarch on the 4th Of June each year.

These two links to the Flickr picture site:  Three Handsome Eton Boys In Full 4th Of June Rowing Regalia  and Rowers Stand Up To Salute The Adults show a pair pictures which show the pomp and colorful event. To my knowledge, there is no publically available video to show the event, likely because of strict rules and copyrighted laws which the college imposes on all pupils and attendees to discourage such displays.

However, in 2006, a group of Eton pupils decided to show some spunk and humor and did their own self styled parody of the solemn Procession Of Boats by storming the event in a large yellow banana rafting boat. Video was obtained and finally put on YouTube about a year later, likely by a former pupil or friend of, and because it did not show an actual Eton sponsored official boat, has not yet been removed from YouTube Viewing now three years later. It is the only such video that I know that exists of this venue to any extent.

A last Eton College Factoid:  Pupils are disallowed from talking to the media or granting interviews at any time during their five year tenure without specific permission from Eton school officials or suffer expulsion!

The infamous YouTube Video: