It's a Boy!

A new prince for the House of Windsor was born at 4:24 PM (local time) weighing in at 8lbs 6oz. The Duchess of Cambridge is doing fine but will be kept overnight for observation and, as expected, Prince William was by her side throughout it all. Our warmest congratulations to the new proud parents. Long live the Prince!

MM Video: Royal Wedding of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge

They're Married

Quite an eventful night it has been (and I'm very tired at the moment). What can I say, nobody does it quite like the Brits when it comes to royal pomp and ceremony (come to think of it, no one really makes an effort besides the Brits these days). I thought it was spectacular, my only complaint was with the media coverage which (I'm hoping this was just an American thing) contained waaaay too much talk about Diana. Everyone looked at ease, in good humor but dignified. Prince William was very smart in his Irish Guards uniform (can't beat a British soldier in a red coat) and the bride, this is just my taste, I think takes the prize as far as her style and appearance etc. I think she really pulled off the traditional-modern fusion perfectly, just the picture of loveliness. Their new titles were also announced, henceforth they are Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Certainly a day to remember, and I certainly will, but right now I'm running on empty. God bless them both, I hope they have a very long and happy life together and Long Live the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

No Servants for Wills

This story might get buried but I could not resist commenting on it because, as is not uncommon, my reaction seems to be very much the opposite of the majority. It recently made the news even in America that Prince William and his bride-to-be Kate Middleton will not be having servants in their little cottage of wedded bliss. Of course everyone they talked to on the street (and there’s nothing like the split-second opinions of the un-informed) thought it was a great idea that really sent the right message in these hard economic times. I, of course, thought it was a terrible idea. First, let me say at the outset that Prince William can do as he pleases and I am adamantly in favor of that. However, when I first heard the story I was skeptical and speculated that this may not be exactly “true” and was simply done as a public relations tactic. Perhaps at one little residence they would have no servants but overall no such prestigious royal couple could be without them -otherwise they would have no time to do anything other than keep house.

I also don’t like the idea of making any royal couple ‘more common’ if you get my meaning. I don’t want these gestures of humility to become fashionable. The Prince of Wales already had me somewhat worried on this front and Prince William is making me start to as well with the smaller, scaled-down wedding and the ‘no servants’ announcement. I don’t want royals to get caught up in a ‘race to the bottom’ to see who can appear the least royal. Aside from my problem with this attitude itself, I also oppose it because it is nearly impossible to reverse. An excellent example that I frequently go back to is when Pope Paul VI surrendered his papal tiara at the end of the Second Vatican Council as a way to symbolize the renunciation of earthly glory and a new spirit of humility for the papacy. That may sound all well and good but it has meant that, though possible, no pope since has had a coronation or worn a tiara. And who could blame them? After making such a display of renouncing it in the name of humility any pope that tried to restore it would be seen as vain or even arrogant. In the same way, any time a royal gives up a lavish wedding, coronation or some traditional show of reverence for the Crown it makes it all the harder for some future royal to do it the old fashioned way because they will not be seen as wanting a return to normalcy but rather would be seen as saying, “I want more” or “mine has to be better than that” -either way they don’t look good.

Finally, on the servant issue, it makes no sense to me specifically because of the economic hard times in the UK. After all, despite the obvious success of the class warfare mentality, servants at the royal palaces are not poor, put upon slaves or something. They are employees who receive a decent salary for their services as they would anywhere else. Why should the public react positively to the idea that the royals will not be providing as much employment as they otherwise might when so many people in Britain today do not have jobs? People seem to forget (or are often purposely encouraged to ignore) the fact that royals and aristocrats with their grand homes and large estates must employ a great many people to maintain these properties. If the people made sense they would cheer the royals hiring even more servants, giving more people jobs and putting more money back into the economy. That, of course, will not happen and I fear it is because that what is really behind this “no servants” announcement is a public relations effort trying to win over a public that is increasingly falling prey to the class warfare mentality, full of contempt for status, success and for anyone more fortunate than themselves. It is a mentality that does not bode well for the monarchy nor for any great civilization at all.

Who Would Hate a Happy Couple?

I find it rather outrageous that anyone could react with anger, disdain or hostility over the announcement of an engagement of any two people. An impending marriage should be viewed as a happy occasion and met with best wishes from all. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case these days even with the British and Commonwealth Royal Family. Again, I find it distasteful that anyone, from any country, would take such an occasion to be negative but I was even more disturbed to find such attitudes exhibited, not only by British and Commonwealth subjects, but even those who are actually in the employ of the Crown! Two cases stand out as particularly outrageous because of their origins.

A bishop of the Church of England, Pete Broadbent of Willesden, compared the young couple to “shallow celebrities”, bemoaned the potential cost of a royal wedding to the British public and sneered that the House of Windsor was full of “broken marriages and philanderers”. He said that when a date for the wedding was announced he would take a republican holiday to France. To rub further salt into the wound he predicted the marriage would fail after seven years. What a “Christian” attitude for a bishop to take! This makes my blood boil and I am not comforted in the least by the comment from Lambeth Palace that the bishop is “entitled to his views”. My response to that would be, “the Hell he is!” This man (I use the term lightly) is a bishop of the Church of England, the established church of his country. I wonder if he has forgotten that it was a philandering royal with a string of “broken marriages” to his credit that is responsible for there being a Church of England in the first place.

This reveals how far the Church of England has fallen from the pedestal of its foundation. From its inception the Anglican church was based on Christianity and non-resistance to the royal power. Today we see that not only has Christianity been fairly well eradicated from the Church of England but alarming progress has been made in eradicating monarchism from it as well. For a church founded by a king, based on non-resistance to royal power and which still maintains Her Majesty the Queen as Supreme Governor of the Church of England I can think of no better evidence of the fact that the Anglican communion will very soon be reduced to dust and the Church of England disestablished and left to die a lonely death. Quite apart from the religious issues this treasonous tirade by an Anglican bishop serves as quite stunning evidence of how completely the Church of England has abandoned its own roots, turned against its core principles and effectively cut its own throat. When this disgrace of a bishop goes to France for his republican holiday he would do well to recall the horrific bloodlust that came with republicanism and the French Revolution, a Reign of Terror that the British kingdoms were spared from.

The bishop has since apologized for his remarks (made on Facebook) both for their content and the public forum in which they were made but it is noticeable that he did not apologize for the content -something public figures have become quite good at in recent days; uttering meaningless apologies for offending without actually admitting they were wrong about anything. He wished the couple success in their marriage and said he would be praying for them. Oh, spare me your public piety Pharisee! The fact that an Anglican bishop would even think of saying such a thing is outrageous and says a lot about his church and his own character as does the dismissal of the issue by Lambeth Palace which evidently has also lost track of why they hold a place of privilege to begin with and which side of their bread is buttered.

So much for the clergy, what about the political class? A member of the Mad Monarchist Brain Trust drew my attention to the treasonous remarks of Greater Manchester senior councillor Mike Connolly who referred to Prince William and his bride-to-be as “multi-millionaire parasites” in comments posted on his Facebook account. Following a public outcry he issued an apology for his words but nonetheless retracted none of the sentiment behind it, expressing his hopes that the Royal Family would pay for the upcoming wedding rather than the British public. His only given reasoning for this was that the “local people and hardworking families” he knew had to pay for their own weddings and so the royals should do the same. Of course, by that same logic royals should be able to travel as they wish, speak out on any issue with any opinion they wish, lobby the government and exercise all of the other rights and privileges enjoyed by “local people” but denied to members of the Royal Family. Somehow I doubt Mr Connolly would hold this same opinion if a member of the Royal Family came to help organize opposition to his reelection and campaign for his challenger.

More striking to me than this, though, is that this man who refers to the royals as “multi-millionaire parasites” is himself, as a politician, a parasite on the body of the British taxpaying public. This basic truth seems lost on the entire republican population. They also are willingly ignorant of the fact that the private income surrendered by the Queen in return for a public allowance is far greater than the amount the Queen receives from the British taxpayer. This, of course, is an old argument and not one monarchists are likely to gain much ground with so long as the prevailing media in Britain and around the world continues its stubborn refusal to state the facts about royal finances and the Crown Estates. However, all of that seems to me to be a less frightening fact of life than the basic lack of national pride, the free allowance of such ardent opposition to the fundamental basis of British life and government which these individuals reflect. The fact that anyone serving in public office in Great Britain would voice such vile opposition to the very foundation of their country and their government says a great deal about the state to which the western world today has fallen.

Prince William Down Under

HRH Prince William of Wales is currently on an unofficial visit to the great Commonwealth of Australia, of which, God willing, he will one day be King. For full coverage of the visit of the Prince and heir to the Australian throne check out the Radical Royalist.

Happy Birthday Prince William

Today is the 27th birthday of the heir to the British & Commonwealth thrones HRH Prince William of Wales. Odds are in his favor in London that he will also soon be engaged. Whatever the case, The Mad Monarchist wishes Britain's future King William V a happy birthday!