An Archduke's New Video

Earlier this month, Ferdinand Habsburg (aka HI&RH Archduke Ferdinand, de jure Crown Prince of Austria & Hungary) released his second "vlog" (first here) on his training as an aspiring future Emperor...uh, I mean, racing driver.



It's hard for monarchists not to feel a twinge of disappointment when this charming 16-year-old (who undoubtedly would make a splendid Crown Prince if he were allowed to be) says that "One day I'd like to be famous for being a successful F1 driver, and not for being the great-grandson of the Emperor." But then if one of the advantages of monarchy is a head of state who did not seek the position, one can hardly expect non-reigning royalty to "campaign," and with the role of Crown Prince not currently available, HI&RH must carve out his own future. (One just hopes he'll stay safe.) Alas, it is the lot of 21st-century monarchists to often find ourselves "plus royaliste que le roi."

Prince George and the World

HRH Prince George: the world's youngest diplomat, and ready to drive the final nail in the coffin of Australian republicanism next month.

Scum Then. Scum Now.

It's true that the internet brings out the worst in people, as any good royalist unable to ignore the hateful comments inevitably appearing at the bottom of almost any online article on the British royal family can attest. However, "British" republicans haven't really changed since 1871, when a radical newspaper published the following on the death of the day-old son of the Prince (future Edward VII) & Princess of Wales:

"We have much satisfaction in announcing that the newly born child of the Prince and Princess of Wales died shortly after its birth, thus relieving the working men of England from having to support hereafter another addition to the long roll of State beggars they at present maintain." (Jane Ridley, The Heir Apparent, 172.)

Restoration in Libya?

Could Libya be the first country to return to sanity and restore its monarchy in the 21st century? Pray for a domino effect! (And someone needs to tell that high school student that monarchy does not mean that "one person governs a whole country alone.") It was Kadhafi who overthrew the monarchy in 1969, so if you hate Kadhafi, you should be for the monarchy. Long live the Senussi dynasty and the Kingdom of Libya!

Hierarchy vs. Equality

This excellent analysis of How Hierarchy is Kinder to the Poor than Equality ought to make sense to anyone who has watched Downton Abbey.

With "Tories" like these...

"If it was the War of Independence I’d be a Minuteman, not a Redcoat.” (James Delingpole)

Why is it considered acceptable for "British" "conservatives" to openly back their country's enemies in a historical war? Can you imagine an American conservative--or even liberal--politician or commentator publicly declaring that he would have sided with the enemies of the United States in a previous conflict? (Just think of the uproar whenever anyone indicates the slightest sympathy for the Confederacy.)

I'm sick to death of Whig libertarian wannabe American "right-wingers" in the United Kingdom. Where are the real Tories?

Return of Australian Knighthoods

I'm still not quite used to there being a prominent democratically elected leader I actually like. Hooray for Tony Abbott! Excellent news from Australia, even if the first new Dame has been a disappointment due to her recent republican remarks.

The text of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's announcement on the restoration of Knights and Dames (via Australians for Constitutional Monarchy):

On my recommendation, Her Majesty the Queen has amended the Letters Patent constituting the Order of Australia.

Knights and Dames in the Order ...of Australia will be approved by Her Majesty on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

There may be up to four Knights or Dames created in any year.

This special recognition may be extended to Australians of “extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit” in their service to Australia or to humanity at large.

Henceforth, the serving Governor-General will be the principal Knight or Dame in the Order of Australia.

The first new Dame will be the outgoing Governor-General. 

The first new Knight will be the incoming Governor-General.

It is fitting that the Queen’s representative be so honoured.

Invariably, Governors-General have been extraordinary and pre-eminent servants of the Australian people.

My intention is that this new award will go to those who have accepted public office rather than sought it; and who can never, by virtue of the office they have held, entirely return to private life.

The Chairman of the Order of Australia Council will be consulted on any such recommendation.

This change will not affect existing Companions, Officers or Members of the Order of Australia.

I congratulate Her Excellency the Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO and the Governor-General Designate, General Peter Cosgrove AC MC, on this acknowledgement of their service to our country.

25 March 2014
 

Labour goes after the remaining hereditaries

Despicable leveling traitors. Egalitarianism ruins everything. A real reform would be to restore all the hereditary peers and expel the fake "life" ones.

From the Friends of the Hereditary Peerage:
 

A reform of the House of Lords more fitting to the history and traditions of this country would be to expel all but a handful of life peers deemed of “exceptional value” (to use Labour's term) and, if a smaller House is deemed necessary, provide for the peer-based election of a fixed number of hereditary peers.

The House of Lords is NOT the House of Commons, it is NOT supposed to be representative and it is most certainly NOT supposed to be democratic. It is a *revising* House that is, by its very nature, the balancing antithesis of democracy - a voice of reasons against MPs who are all too ready to jump on bandwagons and moral panics as a quick-fix for the electorate and the media.

The hereditary peerage is the best means of facilitating this. It provides the 'lottery' element many who favour a 'jury' system propose, but in a way that almost guarantees a high standard of education, wealth immune from corruption, leisure to really scrutinise in the long-view and a patriotic duty to Queen and country. It does this while also bringing hundreds of years of history alive and celebrating something absolutely unique on this Earth.

Don't let the philistines wreck it.

The Liberation of Madrid, 75 Years Later

If you're glad that Spain today is a constitutional monarchy rather than a failed ex-Communist republic like most of Eastern Europe, thank God that Francisco Franco won the Siege of Madrid, and therefore the Spanish Civil War, 75 years ago today. No, he wasn't nice. But niceness does not destroy illegitimate leftist republics, and the alternative was a Stalinist Spain bent on obliterating the Catholic Church. There is so much misinformation and propaganda about the Spanish Civil War, with many people, perhaps even including some conservatives and monarchists, imagining it to have been a struggle between "democracy" and "fascism" when actually the Republican coalition included many who were not at all democratic and the Nationalist coalition included many who were not at all fascist. Unlike all other 20th-century European "right-wing" dictators, Franco eventually restored his country's legitimate royal dynasty (though he certainly took his time), and he should get credit for that, as well as for saving Spain and her Church from Communism.
 
Viva el Rey Juan Carlos!

Crimea

I dislike Vladimir Putin because he is not a monarchist, not because he is not a democrat. We need to get rid of the ridiculous neoconservative notion that every country on earth should necessarily be a democracy; autocracy seems to be what's natural for Russia. But why shouldn't Crimea be Russian? It was won under Catherine the Great from the Turks and from then on was an integral part of Russia, only transferred to Ukraine by Khrushchev in 1954. It is where Tsar Alexander III died in 1894 and where Nicholas II & Alexandra built their beloved Livadia Palace in 1911. But if Putin were a true traditional Russian patriot he would restore Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia to the throne of her ancestors. Боже, Царя храни!

As for Western Ukraine, that's Habsburg territory. Long live the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria!

Music and Monarchy: Brahms and Princess Anna

I always enjoy it when I have opportunities to relate my occupation as a cellist to my interest in royalty. Last night in Dallas four colleagues and I performed the Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), as we will do again on Sunday. In order to introduce the piece properly to the audience I did a little research on the dedication to "Ihrer Königlichen Hoheit der Frau Prinzessin Anna von Hessen" that appears at the top of the music. While Wikipedia's article on the quintet identified the dedicatee as Princess Anna of Hesse and by Rhine (1843-1865), it became clear from other sources (including Wikipedia itself) that the actual dedicatee was Princess Anna of Hesse-Cassel (née Prussia) (1836-1918), "a highly intelligent woman who presided over a court salon of outstanding artists and musicians, including Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Anton Rubinstein, and Julius Stockhausen. She herself was a classically trained pianist of great talent and ability who studied under Theodor Kullak." Brahms and Clara Schumann performed his prior two-piano version of the piece for Princess Anna in 1864, and he was so grateful for her appreciation that he dedicated the final piano quintet to her the following year.

Princess Anna was the mother of Landgrave Friedrich Karl (1868-1940) who was briefly "King of Finland" in 1918. One of her grandsons, Prince Christoph (1901-1943), married Princess Sophie of Greece (1914-2001), sister of none other than Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh. Anna's husband Landgrave Friedrich Wilhelm (1820-1884), who unfortunately for her never got over the death of his first wife Alexandra of Russia (1825-1844), was the brother of Queen Louise of Denmark (1817-1898). Anna's niece Louise (1860-1917) married Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur (1850-1942); their descendants currently occupy the thrones of Denmark and Sweden. Anna's own ancestry was quite distinguished being both a granddaughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia (1770-1840) and a great-granddaughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia (1754-1801).

 

Encouraging signs in Bavaria and Romania?

I was pleased to hear from a friend who attended an opera in Munich that, ninety-five years after the fall of the Bavarian monarchy, the royal box is still reserved for the royal family and when the Wittelsbachs entered everyone stood up. There is still hope! Long live the Kingdom of Bavaria!

 

Meanwhile, monarchists appear to be taking some more concrete steps in Romania, where they are calling for demonstrations advocating the restoration of King Michael across the country on Saturday 5 April. While I will not be able to join them in person, I will certainly be with them in spirit.

Why I'm a Monarchist

Here is a thoughtful reflection by my friend Michael W. Davis (an American currently living in Australia), coincidentally posted on the same day another friend of mine sent me a photo of her young daughter dressed as a princess. As Michael points out, since children are natural monarchists, the question should not be "why did you become a monarchist?" but rather, "why did you stop being one?"

King Paul of the Hellenes (1901-1964)

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Paul, King of the Hellenes and the accession of his son Constantine II. King Paul was the only modern Greek monarch whose reign began with the natural death of his predecessor and ended with his own natural death. During his reign (1947-64) Greece quickly recovered from the devastating Civil War and enjoyed its most prosperous and stable period in modern times. I had the honour to perform for his younger daughter HRH Princess Irene in 1999; his elder daughter is HM Queen Sofia of Spain. If things had gone differently in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Constantine II would be celebrating his Golden Jubilee this year. RIP King Paul.

Yesterday King Paul's descendants and other European royalty gathered in Athens to mark the anniversary, a highlight of which was a screening of the new documentary about him, No Ordinary King:



When King Paul was dying in March 1964, his wife Queen Frederika (1917-1981) played him a recording of Bach's St Matthew Passion. "This is the greatest music that has ever been written," he said.

Blessed Karl Mass

I have been asked to help promote the Third Annual Blessed Emperor Karl Mass, Luncheon & Conference in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania on April 6. All details are available at the local Knights of Columbus blog. While I will be obligated to remain in Dallas, I encourage all readers able to be in the Pittsburgh area that Sunday, Catholic or non-Catholic, to make plans to attend.