Royal News Roundup
The big news came from a little country this week. TRH Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa went on a 3-day state visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, but, of course, the big news was the announced engagement of HRH Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume to Belgian Countess Stephanie de Lannoy. The Luxembourg royals never make a fuss and compared to other houses they usually receive less media attention so, it should not be such a surprise that no one knew this was coming. The Hereditary Grand Duke only let it be known last November that he was keeping steady company and then, when the engagement was announced, we find that he and the countess had been an item for about the last two years. So, there is another royal wedding to look forward to, sometime next year we expect and the heir-to-the-throne and his beautiful bride-to-be have been busy making the rounds as the young lady meets those destined to play a large role in her future such as the president of the Chamber of Deputies, the State Council, the Archbishop of Luxembourg, the Papal Nuncio, the Mayor of Luxembourg and the ambassadors of neighboring countries.
Moving down to Spain, there is, perhaps, some sign that the people may be recovering their senses somewhat. The newspapers were awash in polls about the King, the monarchy, their popularity and their future (and I cannot tell you how I despise monarchy being subject to popularity polls but, such is the world we live in). The good news is that just over 70% of respondents said they forgive the King for his little attempt at a vacation with nearly 23% saying they do not (republicans no doubt). In a case of how fickle and inconsistent “the people” usually are, 52% said they believed it was good that the King apologized but almost 53% also said it did him no good. 62% now say the King should never accept gifts of any kind from anyone -period. If the King issued a royal decree that none of his people could accept gifts from others, I wonder what the response would be? Why does everyone still say that someone acting autocratic is behaving “like a King” when kings and queens today have less power and less personal freedom than anyone? Anyway, back to the subject at hand, 73% said that the reign of HM King Juan Carlos I has been good or very good. That’s positive news. Another paper found that only 50% believe the monarchy is fundamental to Spain. That’s not good. And, of course, I saw nowhere in which they asked about or even mentioned that the poor old fellow broke his hip.
But, beleaguered monarchs can at least sympathize with each other. At the 63rd World Scout Foundation meeting in Madrid, attended by TM King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, the visiting King was asked what he thought about his suffering Spanish counterpart. The King of Sweden is also a hunter and has also been in a good deal of trouble recently over his associations and extracurricular activities so it is perhaps not surprising that he took a more moderate and compassionate attitude. “We all make mistakes and sometimes, the word forgiveness is very difficult to pronounce,” King Carl said, “Can you imagine if your kids, or if the Scouts have not ever made a nonsense! But when it comes to parents and family there is always the word forgiveness.” I would hope the Spanish public take the Swedish monarch’s words to heart. In other Scandinavian news, HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway (who is thankfully very popular at home) was in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan this week at a ceremony presided over by Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein which declared the country officially land-mine free. The Kingdom of Norway has provided a great deal of assistance to Jordan in this area and Crown Prince Haakon spoke about the importance of mine clean-up in all countries around the world.
Meanwhile, for the loyal Greeks, the hits just keep coming. It was recently announced that the monarchist party “National Hope” will be banned from participating in the upcoming elections next month. Parties advocating monarchy are not allowed in Greek elections. There are plenty of republicans in the monarchies of the world (unfortunately) and many even get elected to office, but in republics it seems a monarchist, unlike the devil, will not be heard. There are of course numerous Marxist revolutionary parties that are allowed to participate but anyone recommending the return of the King is beyond the pale. Once again we see how free and democratic republics are. The people are free to vote for whoever they wish, so long as the government approves of them. HM King Constantine II also received a snub from the British government as he will not be invited to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebrations for fear of offending the Greek government, which is apparently quite sensitive. Everyone is keeping pretty tight-lipped about it but it seems to confirm that the government, rather than HM the Queen, is in control of the party plans since, in the past, such as at the wedding of the Prince of Wales and the late Diana, the Queen not only invited the Greek King but treated him with the seniority of a sovereign head-of-state. The King is a relative of Prince Philip, godfather of Prince William and longtime friend of the family. I cannot believe that it is the Palace making these decisions, otherwise the King would be invited and no one would give a toss what the republican beggar government in Athens likes or dislikes.
The worst aspect of it is that in the upcoming elections, we will see extremist parties gain ground and that means for the first time since 1945, a party that might accurately be described as "neo-Nazi" could be in Parliament. We need a return to tradition and cooperative society, not more "radical" solutions.
ReplyDelete"Neo-Nazi" is one of those slurs that gets thrown around to discredit those who oppose existing systems of the left-liberal persusasion.
DeleteI assume you are referring to the "Hrisi Avgi" ("Golden Dawn")? To be honest, I'd rather see a party that embodies Greek tradition, a support for the Orthodox Church, and a radical break from the existing government, which has plunged Greece into chaos.
We won't get back to traditional ways without a "radical" shift away from current ones.
Though I understand the concern, don't get me wrong. I just don't think working through the Greek system as it exists will get monarchists anywhere.
May God bring back the sanity of the monarchy to the incestuous and nepotistic Hellenic Republic, which lacks all legitimacy. HM Queen Elizabeth II is correct in treating His Majesty the King of the Hellenes as a ruling Sovereign, because the republic is about as legitimate as the Russian Bolshevik or Kerensky regimes.
ReplyDeleteBut Mr. Votoupal, I have been assured as has the world that the Radical left is the wave of he future, and only more adherence to modern secular liberal democratic Values can free us. never bother that these values got us into the mess to begin with, they are our only hope! To let the King back would undermine all this!
ReplyDeleteHow dare the British Government snub King Constantine like that, treating him like persona non gratia. This would be the same government who is happy to do business with every tinpot dictator in Asia, glad handing the military leader of Burma, for instance. Not only is David Cameron a failure as Primeminister he is also a hypocrite.
ReplyDeleteCameron is Labour Lite. He doesn't represent Conservative Values OR True British Values, but "European" Values ad modern "Rational" Dialouge. He wants o be seen as "With the picture" so, he does the same as Blair would have, except on a few things.
ReplyDeleteCameron is not a real Conservative, he's a European Politician trying to seem enlightened next to his wayward peers by taking on their own idiocy.
ReplyDeleteMany life-long conservative voters ( i withdrew from party politics years ago ) are now taking a serious look at the UK Independence party, as an alternative to the Cameroon tories. Many of their instincts are admirable, though i struggle to take their leader Nigel Farrage seriously. But with the Tories in freefall and local elections taking place next Thursday, it will be interesting to see if UKIP can finally break into the mainstream of British politics.
DeleteThe UKIP is decent but it is not Truely Conservative either. This is because a truly Conservative party can't really come about in today's Britain, or even today's America. In America you get Neo-Cons and in the UK there must be some compromise to Liberalism. the UKIP still sings the merry song of Democracy. However, all that said its still a better option than Labour or Labour lite, AKA the Conservatives.
DeleteI pray the European Monarchs don't get the shaft from their own people over all this. If it wasn't for their King's and Queens many of those countries would be Balkan like basket cases right now.
ReplyDeleteSecond why wouldn't the Greeks want the Monarchy back? The King would spend the money much better than the Socialist Government who wasted every penny and have put Greece in the state it is today.
Because its part of the modern Religion that Democratic Socialism is the only compassionate, humane, and genuine way for a society to run, and the Greeks have it in their heads that they would all die horribly after a life of hardship and poverty if they didn't have Government handouts. Peoples minds have been turned agaisnt Monarhcy and for Democracy base don nice sounding but Nebulopus and meanignless words like "Freedom" and "Equality" which soemhow vanish under a non-demcoracy and which woudl eb bad to loose.
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