Brunei Sultan bans Christmas

The Sultan of Brunei used to be reasonable, as did southeast Asian Islam in general. I don't know what's gotten into him. I fear Malaysia may be headed in the same direction. Basically the only current Muslim monarchies I still like (and I like them a lot) are Jordan, Morocco, and Oman. I wash my hands of the others (which doesn't mean that revolutions wouldn't make things even worse). It's the relatively secular ones that were overthrown in the second half of the 20th century (Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran), none of whose kings would have done such an asinine thing, that I really miss.

Royalty of the World at Windsor

Front row (L-R): HIM the Emperor of Japan, HM the Queen of the Netherlands, HM the Queen of Denmark, HM the King of the Hellenes, HM the King of Romania, HM the Queen of the United Kingdom, HM the King of Bulgarians, HM the Sultan of Brunei, HM the King of Sweden, HM the King of Swaziland, HSH the Prince of Liechtenstein.

Middle row (L-R): HSH the Prince of Monaco, HRH the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, HM the King of Lesotho, HM the King of the Belgians, HM the King of Norway, HH the Emir of Qatar, HM the King of Jordan, HM the King of Bahrain, HM the Yong di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

Back row (L-R): HH Prince Nasser Mohamed of Kuwait, HH the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, HRH the Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, HM the King of Tonga, HRH the Crown Prince of Thailand, HRH Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco, HRH Prince Mohammed bin Nayaf of Saudi Arabia.


Apparently that April 22 Telegraph article was much ado about nothing, as the former King of the Hellenes attended the Queen's Diamond Jubilee lunch after all, with no earth-shattering consequences, whatever Greek republicans say, resulting in a wonderful unique photograph (perhaps the most comprehensive ever taken) of most of the world's reigning monarchs.  Other members of the British royal family including the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge joined the Queen in welcoming this illustrious international assembly of royalty to Windsor Castle.  The absence of Queen Sofia and any representative of the royal families of Cambodia, Bhutan, and Oman is to be regretted, though monarchists can rejoice to see not only King Constantine but also the former kings of Romania and Bulgaria and the crown prince of Yugoslavia included.  Discussion however has been dominated by the presence of the controversial Kings of Bahrain and Swaziland, though I doubt most British people really mind nearly as much as noisy troublemakers apparently think they should.  Once again I say the Queen can invite who she likes; it's not as if democratic republican governments never host controversial republican heads of state!

Wealthy Asian Monarchs Outrank QEII

Forbes released its list of the world's richest royals, with Queen Elizabeth II (whose personal wealth has often been greatly exaggerated) ranked 12th.

Prince Jefri faces jail

The Sultan of Brunei's estranged and controversial brother Prince Jefri may be jailed in London, reports the Telegraph.

How to watch royal TV specials...

...turn the sound off. As is fairly typical with this sort of thing, E!'s "Forbes: Twenty Hottest Royals" had some nice footage, but the commentary was mostly worthless. I was particularly edified to learn that "in the old days, royals had to marry royals, but Princess Diana changed all that." Really? Amazing how Diana managed to convince that stuffy old King George V to encourage his children to marry British aristocrats instead of foreign royals, nearly forty years before she was born! Also rather...creative was the breathlessly authoritative declaration that Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark (so styled because her patrilineal great-great-grandfather King George I of Greece was originally Prince William of Denmark) is "only half a royal" (whatever that means) because Denmark still "recognizes the monarchy" and Greece does not. Or something.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed being introduced to some of the younger representatives of the royal families of Dubai, Swaziland, Thailand, Brunei, and Japan, none of whom I had previously heard of. I suppose one should give the mainstream American media a little credit whenever they deign to acknowledge that there are still reigning royal families other than those of Britain and Monaco.

Forbes: Hottest Royals

Forbes identifies the world's twenty "Hottest Young Royals." Apparently a related E! TV special will air at 9 PM EDT on June 6. I'm sorry that no representatives of the generation of European Catholic royalty born in the 1980s (Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Habsburgs, etc.) were included; apparently they weren't considered to have enough "international Web and media presence."