Monarchy: Solution for Serbia

Monarchists advocating restorations of long-defunct monarchies are sometimes accused of not being in touch with reality. But the Balkans.com Business News site, which does not look like it wallows in sentiment or fantasy, offers a refreshing pragmatic and practical argument in favor of constitutional monarchy for Serbia. Long live King Alexander II!

Vandalizing Versailles, Part II

Following in the footsteps of his "nephew" (actually cousin) Prince Charles-Emanuel, who in 2008 unsuccessfully challenged an exhibit there by an American "pop artist," Prince Sixte-Henri of Bourbon-Parma is seeking a court order to stop a Japanese "manga" transformation of Versailles. Of course, if Versailles were still being used for its proper purpose, as residence of the King and center of the Court, such silliness would not even be proposed...

The King's Speech

Dominic Sandbrook reflects on the upcoming movie about King George VI, concluding that glimpses of his human foibles did not prevent his subjects from embracing the mystique of monarchy, and that "[i]t will be a sad day when we are so cynical that we cannot do the same."

One Hundred Years of Darkness

On this date in 1910 the young King Manuel II (whose father and older brother had been murdered by republicans just two and half years earlier) was forced to flee Portugal after warships shelled the royal palace, with a republic proclaimed the following day. This was the first of the wretched twentieth century's evil anti-monarchist revolutions, a sign of the horrors to come. Predictably the current republican Portuguese government seems to think this anniversary is something to celebrate, but we whose taproot in Eden has not been cut (to quote C S Lewis) know better. October 1910 was the beginning of the end for the Old Order, the true European Civilisation which outside of France had seemed relatively stable for nearly a century, foreshadowing the way that all over Europe and the world nation after nation would succumb to the idiocy of abolitionist republicanism, callously and stupidly throwing their royal heritage in the gutter, only to find consistently that kings would be replaced by regimes worse than the worst king could have ever been.

Unfortunately Portuguese monarchists since then have faced all kinds of obstacles, not least of which was the allegedly "right-wing" regime (1932-68) of the traitor Salazar, whose positive reputation among some Catholics not unsympathetic to monarchy baffles me. Like other "right-wing" dictators, Salazar was happy to take advantage of monarchists when it suited him but was never one of us and (unlike Franco in Spain) never delivered. Today the would-be king Dom Duarte, recognised by all but a tiny quarrelsome minority of monarchists, is popular, but that does not seem to translate into momentum for serious efforts at restoration, apparently prohibited by the current constitution. Nevertheless, heroic groups such as PDR (Portugal, Democracia & Rei) and the Royal Association of Lisbon have not given up, and keep the flame alive as seen in this video.

The Portuguese Republic is a bloodstained abomination that has no right to exist; it is an ugly repudiation of all authentic Culture and Tradition; it is a negation of all that is good and holy and true. I condemn it with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind, and call on all true Portuguese Patriots to join together in demanding the restoration of the Duke of Braganza to his rightful Throne. Why would anyone put up with some boring president when they could have such a beautiful Royal Family? Long live HM King Duarte III!

Cheers for the King in Athens

At least some ordinary Greeks apparently agree with my previous post. Australians for Constitutional Monarchy reports that truck drivers demonstrating in Athens, surprised to see King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie, regaled them with cheers, calling for them to return to the throne and throw out the politicians. But can monarchists capitalize on such spontaneous events and overcome the formidable obstacles republics (which are far more intolerant of monarchists than monarchies are of republicans) place in their way?

Balkan Kings

Thanks to Radical Royalist for this report (including the photograph shown here) on a recent gathering of the four rightful sovereigns of the leading Balkan countries and their families. King Simeon II of Bulgaria, Crown Prince Alexander (II) of Serbia [Yugoslavia], King Michael I of Romania, and King Constantine II of Greece were together to celebrate the 25th wedding anniversary of Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine. As far as I'm concerned, the alleged "Fall" of Communism in Eastern Europe is a sham and a fraud as long as these four men are denied their rightful thrones. If only they and not common politicians were ruling the Balkans!

Médaille on Monarchy

Catholic professor John Médaille of the University of Dallas explains in The Remnant why he is a Monarchist. (Interestingly, though writing here in a traditionalist publication, Médaille is not a [liturgical] traditionalist himself and, a mutual friend tells me, has only recently come around to the monarchist point of view, which he used to oppose.) Some of his points are not unlike those I've made myself, particularly regarding the illusion of "choice" in modern democracy. While I would be reluctant to link monarchism too closely to the entirety of the traditional Catholic agenda, the truth of much of what he says can be appreciated by readers of any religious viewpoint. I'm not sure, however, what the juxtaposition of the images of Louis XVI and Barack Obama is supposed to mean.