Olympics trumps Heritage

Britain's Labour government refused the Queen's request for money to maintain Buckingham Palace, due to the soaring costs of the Olympics.

Nepal: the world's newest republic

With a humiliating press conference, King Gyanendra marked his tragic departure from the palace of his ancestors.

Prince William, KG

The Queen inducted her grandson into the ancient Order of the Garter.

Green Prince

Michael Gerson reflects on the Prince of Wales's "Green Sensibility."

Trooping the Colour

The Queen celebrated her official birthday with the Trooping the Colour parade in central London. Her son and heir's statement ("I hope it will go on for as long as possible because I think the world would be a sadder, drearier and greyer place without it") perfectly sums up how I feel about monarchy in general.

UN vs. Monarchy

Anyone doubting that the United Nations is a truly despicable and worthless organization need look no further than this article describing how the Orwellian UN "Human Rights Council," a body that includes representatives of the governments of those well-known havens of human rights Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, recommends that Britain hold a referendum on adopting a written constitution, "preferably republican." I hope all British patriots will unite in telling the UN panel exactly what it can do with its idiotic recommendation.

To be fair, it should be noted that the "preferably republican written constitution" recommendation came only from Sri Lanka, and that the report includes a disclaimer stating that "all conclusions and/or recommendations contained in this report reflect the position of the submitting State(s) and/or the State under review thereon. They should not be construed as endorsed by the Working Group as a whole." Still, what gives this "Working Group" the right to recommend any changes to the United Kingdom in the first place?

This is not the first time the United Nations has attempted to interfere with one of Europe's few remaining monarchies; last year another UN committee criticized the Principality of Liechtenstein for daring to maintain male-only succession.

Catholics, the Queen, and Scouting

An eight-year-old Scottish Roman Catholic boy, backed (and perhaps also prodded?) by his mother, objects to the requirement that Scouts pledge allegiance to the Queen. I guess no one ever told this woman and her son that Catholics are supposed to obey the laws and accept the authority of the institutions of their country (a principle applicable to patriotic organizations like Scouting when one is a child), as long as such obedience is not contrary to the faith. There is nothing un-Catholic or sinful about loyalty to the Queen; in fact, if one is British, it is un-Catholic and sinful to refuse that loyalty. St. Thomas More and St. Edmund Campion, living at a time when the English monarchy really did persecute Catholics, went to their graves with more loyalty to the Crown than all too many present-day Catholics in Britain and the Commonwealth have shown their considerably milder sovereign.

Mrs. McVeigh finds the Act of Settlement, which excludes Catholics from the royal succession (but has no effect on ordinary Catholics who would not be in line anyway), incompatible with "modern multicultural values." Perhaps it is. But if so, then surely so is Roman Catholicism, from its decidedly non-pluralist claim to be the One True Church to its "discriminatory" restriction of the priesthood to men. It's unfortunate that since Vatican II so many Catholics apparently confuse their faith with modern egalitarian ideology which if carried to its logical conclusions would dissolve into meaninglessness all faiths--including Catholicism.

British Catholic blogger Damian Thompson agrees (via A Conservative Blog for Peace).

Order of St. Barnabas

I am deeply touched and honoured (British spelling seems appropriate in this case) that the officials of the Dominion of British West Florida, perhaps America's most serious and genuinely particularist monarchist organization, have chosen to induct me into their Order of St. Barnabas.

Leaving the Palace II

Former (how I resent that word!) King Gyanendra has spent his last night in Nepal's royal palace, which is to be turned into a museum. However, he is determined to remain in Nepal and do what he can for his country.

Prince Jefri faces jail

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

Leaving the Palace

He may not have wanted to relinquish the crown jewels, but King Gyanendra is vacating the royal palace within the deadline set by the Maoists.

Uncooperative King

King Gyanendra has so far refused to hand over his crown to the gang of thugs now ruling Nepal. Why these murderers, terrorists, and traitors should have any claim to the crown jewels is beyond me. I hope he continues to hang on to what is rightfully his.

Edward I

Allan Massie reviews A Great and Terrible King by Marc Morris.

Keep pretending

The Economist, which in the past has made clear its contempt for the world's surviving monarchies, provides an irreverent "retirement guide" for pretenders to vacant thrones.

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.

William to the Caribbean

Prince William will battle drug lords in the Caribbean as he begins his naval career.

New republic threatens Gurkha tradition

While the abolition of any monarchy is bad enough in itself, it should also be noted that no monarchy ever falls without other traditions also being endangered. The Telegraph reports that the heroic Gurkha regiment is the Maoists' next target.

Pomp, Pageantry and the Throne

As a sort of follow-up to yesterday's post, this interesting New York Times article from November makes it clear how irksome even a primarily ceremonial monarchy is to leftists and republicans. Monarchy's enemies all understand instinctively that the Crown matters even if it never overrules the elected government; its supporters forget this at their peril.