The news out of the Imperial Household in Japan remains troubling. Since undergoing heart surgery HM the Emperor has had to return to the hospital twice to drain fluid from his chest. Doctors have advised him to take it easy and get as much rest as possible but the Emperor has found it difficult, recently attending the special prayer service on the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami disaster after which the Imperial Household Agency reported that the Emperor was experiencing shortness of breath. Nonetheless, this week he received in audience His Highness the Emir of Kuwait though he did delegate the hosting of the state banquet to HIH Crown Prince Naruhito. The banquet was cut short, nonetheless, because of the ill health of the Emir who, at 82, is some four years older than the Emperor. His Majesty’s father and predecessor, the Showa Emperor, lived to the age of 87 before his death due to complications from cancer and trouble with his pancreas and digestive system. Of course we hope and pray that the Emperor will have many more years on the Chrysanthemum Throne, providing moral and spiritual guidance for the Japanese people.
Although it was last week, I cannot help but to comment on another royal visit to the Far East. TRH Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde of Belgium spent most of the week in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, along with a Belgian delegation, to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. The couple are two of my favorite royals on the scene today but I will admit -this one was painful: watching them lay a commemorative wreath at the tomb of the vicious communist dictator Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi on the first day of their visit. I feel sorry for them having to participate in such a display of “tribute” to a brutal dictator but such is life I suppose. Later at the Presidential Palace the Crown Prince met with President Truong Tan Sangat and Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan. Crown Princess Mathilde visited a health center and met with some Belgian businesswomen. Later both attended a special state banquet in their honor. It pains me to no end to see the smug, farcical band of criminals squatting in the French colonial palaces of Hanoi, holding the Land of the Ascending Dragon in their graft-prone fingers, and likewise pulling the strings of Laos and Cambodia (make no mistake about it, both regimes take their marching orders from Hanoi) and it pains me just as much to see royals of the illustrious House of Coburg compelled by heartless international business interests to bow and scrape to the puffed up heirs of Ho Chi Minh who have never even acknowledged the blood of the millions of people they have spilled, the nations they have ruined and the noble dynasties of ancient lineage they pulled down. Please indulge my particular fury on that count, I cannot help but take this case personally.
Alas, also in an eastern direction, in the Pacific Ocean, as we reported earlier, this week saw the passing of HM King Siaosi Tupou V of the island Kingdom of Tonga who died in hospital in the former Crown Colony of Hong Kong at the age of 63. While other members of the family, including his heir and brother, were at his bedside the Tongan Queen Mother held a special prayer service in Nuku’alofa. The King came to the throne in 2006 amidst a great deal of turmoil between the supporters of the monarchy and those who wished to see it shorn of its powers, and it was because of that trouble that his formal coronation was not held until 2008. Even then it was only after the King had agreed to defer many of his key privileges to the Prime Minister. Later economic troubles and continued agitation by “pro-democracy” groups obliged the King to give up most of his sources of income, and make no mistake about it -that matters a great deal. Look at the British monarchs after King George III or the penultimate King of Italy; when monarchs lose their economic independence from the government, they frequently become sidelined. Hopefully, slim as that hope may be, the new King of Tonga will reduce this trend and continue to provide real leadership for his people and country.
In Europe it is the House of Windsor that has caught the lion’s share of the headlines. On Wednesday HM the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh attended a special prayer service at St Paul’s Cathedral for the members of the Order of the British Empire, of which Prince Philip is the Grand Master. At Westminster Hall the Queen addressed both Houses of Parliament, paying tribute to Prince Philip for his steady support and assistance over the years, “a constant strength and guide” as Her Majesty called him. The Queen spoke of the glories of British history and said, “I have been privileged to witness some of that history and, with the support of my family, rededicate myself to the service of our great country and its people now and in the years to come”. Of course, there was also a small group of republican protestors outside the hall, doing their best to get noticed, including some Labour Party MP’s who should be dragged off to the Tower for even associating with such traitors. Their arguments were predictably pathetic, moaning over how “the people” should “have a say” in the choice of their Head of State. One cannot help but wonder why. They have no say whatever in the leadership of the European Union which has far more actual control over their lives than the Queen does and they all seem perfectly fine with that.
Just imagine, if these people had their way, the U.K. could be just like the Federal Republic of Germany with their disgraced, scandal-ridden President or perhaps the Italian Republic where an elected President with no power appoints a Prime Minister with extensive powers who no one in the country ever voted for at all. Maybe they would be lucky enough to have someone as powerful and democratic as the President of France whose only reaction to a bloody rampage by the terrorist Mohamed Merah was to crack down on what people do on the internet -and lawyers doubt he can even do that. Or, maybe the U.K. would be as fortunate as the United States where every four years people go into hysterics about how the entire fate of the universe hangs on “this” election and people get divided up into warring camps that always seem on the verge of open violence against each other and with every election ending with roughly half of the country positively hating the leader of their country. And remember, that’s the republic with the “best” track record. Still, as a friend of Britain, I should also give a word of friendly warning to the British people, if they ever become so separated from their senses as to embrace republicanism, you should be prepared for an absolutely monumental tidal wave of arrogant, self-satisfied smugness as such the world has never seen from the shores of the United States that though it may have taken a couple hundred years, you have finally admitted that “America was right” all along. Just be prepared for it.
In other news of interest, HH Pope Benedict XVI is arriving in Mexico today to be greeted by President Felipe Calderon in a historic visit that has already attracted millions of pilgrims in anticipation. This is the first visit by the Pontiff to Spanish-Latin America and his outdoor mass in Guanajuato is expected to have over 300,000 people attending. After completing his visit to Mexico the Pontiff will go on to Cuba where the communist authorities have already arrested 13 dissidents who have been occupying a Church in Havana, demanding that the Pope publicly read a list of grievances against the state. Catholic officials were upset by the occupation, though they have acted as mediators in the past between the state and unhappy citizens, regarding their occupation of the Church as “disrespectful”. Even other known Cuban dissidents stated that disrupting a place of worship was the wrong way to try to bring grievances to light. Needless to say, the Communist authorities were only too happy to publicize the condemnation of Church officials of the group. Officially atheist though they may be, they would not pass up the opportunity to portray the enemies of the Communist regime as defying God as well as the government. For this reason some dissidents, though critical of the occupation of the Church, said that the clerics had overreacted in their response and played into the hands of the Communist Party. The Pontiff is expected to arrive in Cuba on Monday.
A picture with the tiara on? Where is that from? When did that happen?
ReplyDeleteAlas, that is a "doctored" image, not a genuine photograph, though I certainly wish it was.
DeleteI agree MM, the sight of the Duke and Duchess of Brabant having to kowtow to a bunch of marxists in Hanoi, is rather nauseating, though as you rightly point out, the Royal couple themselves are not to be blamed for this. It is an unfortunate fact of political life, for constitutional monarchy, that they cannot object to the friends their Ministers choose to make.
ReplyDeletePrayers for the Imperial family, I don't know what Japan would do with her Monarchy.
ReplyDeleteMy Father fought in Vietnam and I can't help but smack my head every-time someone sings the praises of Ho chi mihn, he was a murdering communist like any other. I guess 3 million dead civilians isn't proof enough.
The labour party can go jump in the north sea, or better yet they should hop a ride with the Holy Father and go to Cuba, that is where they belong in their Communist "paradise", the Labour Party is a bunch of Useful Idiots who would have been a 5th colum to the Soviets (and then lined up against the wall like the rest) I have no use for them.
Bravo, Kc. Though with their present leader, Ed Milliband, the labour party could`nt even be described as " usefull " however the idiots moniker, still stands.
DeleteAccording to Reuters, the Pope, in response to a question about Cuba, is quoted to have said "Today it is evident that Marxist ideology in the way it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality. In this way we can no longer respond and build a society. New models must be found with patience and in a constructive way."
ReplyDeleteImagine how the Cuban government will take that...
That is awesome -good for him. About time someone actually said what everyone already knows to be true.
DeleteHow many Oliver Cromwells and Adolf Hitlers, and Oswald Mosleys will take the British anti-monarchists to realize that this is folly. We Are seeing now Alexander Tyler's warning about Democracies coming to pass here in the US.. I, too warn the people of Britain: You've got a good thing in the Windsor royals.. Don't screw it up. I am an American by birth and I can tell you that Republican Democracy is no fun.
ReplyDeleteI understood that Oswald Mosley was in fact monarchist?
DeleteWell...he certainly wasn't a flagrant anti-monarchist like Hitler or Cromwell, nor did he ever hold national office like they did. However, his positions would probably not have been to the long-term benefit of monarchism (socialism, a pan-European state etc). It says alot that, aside from his racism and anti-Semitism, everything Mosley was back in his day the British Labour Party is today -nationalize all major industries, submission to a United States of Europe and cooperation among all European socialists. On every point the modern Labour Party agrees with Mosley, though I doubt they would be comfortable admitting it.
DeleteMy Prayers are with his Majesty the Emperor of japan, and his Family in this tryign Time.
ReplyDeleteMay God be with him.
As for the Republicans in the UK, I have said this numerosu Times, it was never abotu actual History. Republicanism has taken on aspects of Religiosu Zeal, and it is more about the Myth of Freedom and themythology surroundign that, such as evil, arrogant Aristocrats and Despotic Kings beign overthrown by the pepel and a utopia beign developed that matters ot them. They don't see Rality, they see the Mythology and try to implement that.
My responce is simply "God Save The Queen". We don't need much more.
Stay tuned for my next 'mad rant'. I think it will be right up your alley...
DeleteMosley was the product of his Time. This wa still a Time whenthe idea f Progress had been essentially the deivign assumption of the political left. men like H. G. Wells or Karl Marx based their own ideas off the same idea. it's pretty simple really, man begins as a primitive savage, yet evovles over Time to a higher state of perfection, workign toward that inevitable peak of human perfection. They saw Monarchy as primitive and beleived that it, along with "Religion" would simply decay as the Human Speicies advanced. Mosley didn't need to be violently opposed to Monarchy, for by his Time the Monarchs had already been severly limited and he would thibkthat they woudl eventually become irrelevant and dissapear as the new Democratic order developed.
ReplyDeleteBefore someone cotnradictsme, yes he was a Fascist, btu that in no way means he understood himself as the enemy of Democracy. He thought himself quiet Democratic.
But he was, like Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin a Fascist dictator. Each of these men had an undoing of the old order on their to-do list. had Mosley ever achieved power, his policies would have run headlong into the interests of the British Crown.
ReplyDeleteThis is True to an extent but, while Fascism and Monarchism in their pure state are incompatible, I doubt that Mosley's Fascism would have remained Pure. It is like the Labour party's Socialism. While you till have hard core Republicans in the Labour party, most in Labour accept the existence of the Monarchy and don't really try to remove it. You even have a few Labourites who support the crown and are Monarchists. Even though Monarchism is naturally at odds with Socialism, they have managed to make this work. They have simply compromised both Monarchism and Socialism to produce a sort of Hybrid idea to make things work. In fact, Monarchism in its True form is opposed even by the so-called Tories in the Modern British Political system, as everyone wants to make Britain More Democratic. On an aside, though I have noted that the more democratic they make Britain, the less actual freedom exists. That said, I therefore do not think that Had Mosley won power, the Crown would have been automatically abolished. Though abolition was a possibility, it is equally possible that the Monarchy in some way would in some way adapt to the new situation, and the Fascists would have adapted as well, leading to a tempering of Fascism as we saw it temper the Socialists. Granted this did not work this way in Italy but that seems to be the British experience.
ReplyDeleteOf course anything could have happened, and I have no doubt that Mosleyite fascists would dream of the day in which there is no more Crown and the Equality of all is Achieved but, like many in labour they may have simply consigned that to a dream and carried on pragmatic politics.
I doubt Mosley would have won power in a drastic power grab, based on a mass popular movement that swept the nation ala Mussolini or Hitler so didn’t he would have had the momentum to really radically Change Britain that much.
Then again, had he gotten rid of the Monarchy, and his fascist Government sided with the Axis and lost WW2, you can bet that there would have been a very real possibility that the new Allies approved Government would remain a Republic, despite Republicanisms obvious role in creating fascist Britain.