Favorite Royal Images: Princess Grace

It was 29 years ago today that the tragic accident occurred that, within hours, would take the life of one of the most beloved royal figures of our time, the iconic Princess Grace of Monaco...

Monarch Profile: Emperor Francis Joseph I of Austria-Hungary

The last monarch of the old school, as he called himself, Kaiser Franz Josef I von Österreich-Ungarn, was practically an institution himself by the end of his long life and eventful reign which encompassed the greatest challenges faced by the Austrian Empire and, later, the Dual-Monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was, over all, one of the good ones. Like any mortal he had his flaws and made his mistakes, however, even his errors were honorably made. He always had the best intentions and the peace and preservation of his empire at heart. As Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Francis Joseph was driven, first and always, by duty, duty, duty. He had an appreciation for history and looked back on the Hapsburg legacy, to the likes of Emperor Charles V, Empress Maria Theresa or his grandfather Emperor Francis I (whom he greatly admired) and was determined that he would not do them dishonor. He came to the throne in a time of crisis and left it in a time of crisis but through it all displayed his matchless work ethic, providing an anchor of stability, a bulwark of conservative tradition and doing his best, as he told President Teddy Roosevelt, to protect his people from their governments.

Francis Joseph was born in Vienna on August 18, 1830 to Archduke Francis Charles (Franz Karl) of Austria and Princess Sophie of Bavaria. Even very early on Francis Joseph was noticeably disciplined and serious, yet kind. As a boy he was very attached to his younger brother, Ferdinand Maximilian, and when he was quarantined with sickness wrote his little brother letters and drew him pictures every day. Given the state that Emperor Ferdinand I was in, and the nature of his father, Princess Sophie raised Francis with the expectation that he would, sooner rather than later, be Emperor of Austria. He was schooled in statecraft by Prince Klemens von Metternich and at the age of 13 was made a colonel in the Austrian army, starting his military education and what would be a lifetime of austere habits. For the rest of his life he almost always wore the uniform of a junior army officer and slept on a simple army cot. When the Revolutions of 1848 broke out he saw his baptism of fire fighting the Italians with Marshal Radetzky. Imperial leadership was needed in such a crisis and so, with his father willing to be passed over, on December 2, 1848 Emperor Ferdinand I abdicated in favor of his nephew and Francis Joseph I became Emperor of Austria, inheriting an empire in crisis.

The new Emperor got to work right away, putting down the rebellions against the Hapsburg Crown. Marshal Radetzky was successful in suppressing the Italians but a serious revolt had broken out in Hungary that loyal elements seemed powerless to stop. Francis Joseph sought the aid of HIM Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, the “Gendarme of Europe” who obligingly sent 200,000 Russian troops to Hungary to stamp out all revolutionary dissent. With all opposition having been put down, the Emperor set about instituting reforms in an effort to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. Alexander Bach was appointed Interior Minister to lead this effort and the results, endorsed by Francis Joseph, made the Austrian Empire one of the most efficient and just governments in the world. The law courts were reformed and made independent of the executive so that each could balance the other, trial by jury was established, the tax code was reformed to be more fair and internal passports to travel from one country to another within the empire were abolished. The educational system was reformed, government offices were opened to anyone of talent regardless of their ancestry and the requirement that peasants work a set period of time solely for the benefit of their landlords was abolished.

Austria began to industrialize, somewhat later than other powers but without the oppression and horrid conditions that existed in other countries. Emperor Francis Joseph was adamant that the strong would never tyrannize the weak in his empire and he took special steps to ensure justice for all. In addition to the special protection given to the peasants and workers, he also made special provision for the Jewish minority, respecting their religion and granting them exemptions from anything that would violate their customs. Because of this, he was very popular with the Jews who seized on one of his often overlooked titles and hailed him as the “King of Jerusalem” (though the title was also claimed by the Bourbons and Savoys as well). The Emperor also insisted on a formal court protocol with a great deal of pomp and ceremony. Some have tried to use this to portray Francis Joseph as stuffy and aloof but it was done specifically to emphasize the importance of the monarchy, the sacred nature of the “office” which he regarded as a trust given him by God and which was the one crucial element that held his disparate peoples together.

The one area that was neglected was the military. The Austrians had never been a militaristic people and, although the Emperor was interested in military matters and loved his army, he was not a military man. Money was spent on civil priorities while the military lagged behind in modern improvements, new weapons and tactics. They looked perfectly grand and colorful on the parade ground but, as time would tell, the lack of attention paid to the armed forces would tell in time of war. In 1853 he was caught in the middle of the Crimean War between Russia on one side and Great Britain, France, Ottoman Turkey and Piedmont-Sardinia on the other. Each expected Austria to support their side but Francis Joseph regarded neither as justified and deplored the whole conflict. He tried, without success, to arrange peace and while the Russians responded to his efforts to limit the fighting the French and British would not. In the end Russia was defeated and felt betrayed by Austria, who was indebted to them for their assistance in 1848. It was not a happy time for the Emperor who was also distracted by his recent marriage to the Bavarian Princess Elisabeth who was feuding with his formidable mother and, shall we say, having difficulty adapting to life as an empress.

However, he had little time to dwell on issues in the east as Italy was once more approaching the boiling point. Nationalist sentiment was growing in the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and the elites there looked to support from the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. When Count Camillo Cavour mobilized the Piedmontese army, Francis Joseph reacted at once. When he brought up the issue with the retired Prince Metternich the old statesman said, “For God’s sake Majesty, no ultimatum! No ultimatum!” to which the Emperor replied, “It went out last night”. Calling for a total disarmament of Piedmont-Sardinia there was no chance of it being accepted and the Second French Empire could intervene on the side of the Italians with Austria occupying the role of the big bully. Austrian troops invaded but moved so slowly that France had time to block them and the resulting fighting was bloody and inconclusive. Nonetheless, Austria had been blocked and a disheartened Francis Joseph ordered a retreat. Lombardy was lost, but not Venice though it would go later as the unified Kingdom of Italy was created. On the world stage the prestige of the French Emperor Napoleon III grew as he was seen as having defeated the venerable Austrian Empire.

At home, the Empress had suffered her first major nervous breakdown and new troubles began to arise from the Kingdom of Prussia which, under the leadership of Bismarck, was aiming to surpass Austria as the first power among the German states. Prussia began moving in on Austrian-allied territories and, though Francis Joseph wanted no conflict, his long-held suspicions toward the Italians was again used to provoke him into war. A little movement by Piedmont-Sardinia was sufficient to prompt Francis Joseph to call out his army and Bismarck at once declared that Austria was threatening Prussia and declared war. It is important to remember that, prior to this, liberal agitation had pressured Francis Joseph into setting up a parliament which had budget oversight. This was not regarded as too critical but it allowed them to further cut back on military spending. So it was that the Austrian army was in a poor state of preparedness to take on the very modernized and efficient army of Prussia which had reveled in their military prowess since the days of Frederick the Great. The result was a swift and stunning defeat for Austria in the Seven Weeks War which saw the Prussians firmly replace the Austrians as the dominant German-speaking power and bringing Bismarck one step closer to his goal of a united Germany ruled from Berlin. This was also taken as a demonstration of Austrian weakness by many nationalists in Hungary who began increasing their demands for autonomy, independence or even total separation. The result was the famous Compromise of 1867 by which the Hapsburg realm became a “Dual Monarchy” consisting of the equal and independent Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. Each would have their own governments, legal systems, militaries and so on but remained joined in a personal union with the Hapsburg Crown. Only the military and foreign affairs remained under central control, though even then Austria and Hungary each had their own ministries for each.

That same year also saw the tragic end of the Emperor’s younger brother Maximilian who, in 1864 had gone against his elder brother’s advice to the Americas to be crowned Emperor of Mexico. The French Emperor Napoleon III was backing the venture, which did not endear the enterprise to Francis Joseph, and the two Hapsburg brothers had had something of a falling out over the issue, so adamantly was Francis Joseph opposed to it. Ultimately, it all came down to the civil war raging in the United States. When the southern secession movement was crushed the U.S. was able to threaten Napoleon into withdrawing his troops and then ensure the victory of the Mexican revolutionaries who captured Emperor Maximilian and had him executed by a firing squad. In 1889 more tragedy came with the death of the Emperor’s only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, at Mayerling. The two had not really gotten along well, Rudolf being too liberal and influenced by the wrong crowd as his father saw it. Officially the death is considered a suicide though there remains considerable evidence that this may not have been the case.

The Empress was deeply hurt by the death of her son but in 1898 she herself was assassinated by an anarchist in Switzerland. Emperor Francis Joseph was never quite the same, even though the two often had problems and he had become rather used to enduring heartaches. Still, he was a man devoted to duty and nothing ever hindered his daily routine. He carried on with his work, keeping Austria-Hungary stable and at peace for decades. When his nephew and heir Francis Ferdinand insisted on an unequal marriage the Emperor seemed inordinately disturbed by the idea and the two never really got along because of it. In 1903 Francis Joseph ruffled some feathers in Rome when he invoked his veto power in the papal conclave called after the death of Pope Leo XIII. The expected choice was HE Mariano Cardinal Rampolla but the Emperor blocked his election, though the reason why has never been known. Most assume it was for fear that Rampolla would be too favorable toward the French. In any event, the veto worked and Pope Pius X was elected instead -and promptly did away with the imperial veto which was a left-over from the days of the old Holy Roman Empire (the Kings of France and Spain had also claimed the right but it had not been used since 1830/31 when King Ferdinand VII of Spain blocked the election of Cardinal Guistiniani).

In the lead-up to the First World War, Francis Joseph always advised caution and patience. He knew from first-hand experience that wars never seemed to end well for Austria-Hungary. Many professed outrage at the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia but the province had long been occupied by Austria-Hungary and the Bosnians, Christians and Muslims alike, fared well under Hapsburg rule. However, nationalism was a constant threat from a number of surrounding countries and Serbia was no exception. Given that his wife and brother had been murdered, when his nephew Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated in Bosnia in 1914 it is not surprising that Emperor Francis Joseph wanted harsh measures taken. Like a song everyone had heard before, a strident ultimatum was sent to Serbia, certain to be refused, and the fuse was lit for a war that would be disastrous for Austria-Hungary. However, Francis Joseph was no warmonger and it ultimately took a lie (his Foreign Minister claiming that Serbian troops had already attacked Austria-Hungary) for the Emperor to consent to the declaration of war.

Even then, the Emperor ordered only a partial mobilization against Serbia alone but Russia, under pressure from the French, intervened, causing full mobilization, with Germany supporting Austria-Hungary the result was a world war. Emperor Francis Joseph had been very cautious about the whole affair though he did at times reason that a military confrontation with Serbia would have to come sooner or later to put an end to the constant agitation aimed toward the Slavic population of the Dual-Monarchy. Once the war came, the Emperor, old and weary, had little to do with how it was pursued. Finally, after almost 68 years on the throne, Emperor Francis Joseph I died in Vienna at Schönbrunn Palace at the age of 86. His rule had been a succession of tragedies and disasters for the Hapsburg empire but through it all the Emperor had been a source of strength, unity and calm. He was an upright man, matchlessly devoted in his duty and a monarch who recognized the sacred nature of his position. He could be stubborn at times and did make some mistakes but they were always honest mistakes and every action he undertook was done with the best of intentions to hold his empire together and to live up to the legacy of his most celebrated forebears. He was, perhaps, fortunate in that he did not live to see the dissolution of the empire he had spent his entire life defending, dissolved in a most outrageous and underhanded way.

Remembering 9-11

It doesn't seem possible that ten years have gone by already, but, checking back, I see I said the same thing last year and the year before. I remember very well waking up to the news that some jet had had an accident and flown into one of the WTC towers. Then, I watched along with millions of others as the second jet liner hit the other tower, proving to all that America was under attack. I had to drive up to the city that day for a dentist appointment (Monarch Dentistry -no joke) and although I was a little shaken up I thought there was no safer place to be considering the number of air force bases in the neighborhood. I remember in the immediate aftermath how jumpy everyone was, our sense of security had been shattered. Was this only the first wave? New York had been hit, the Pentagon, the Capital was targeted, what would be next? The following day someone called in a bomb threat on the Lincoln-Juarez bridge and the border with Mexico was shut down. It was the first time I had ever seen armed National Guardsmen on the U.S. side of the border and checkpoints. That was also the day when the 'Stars & Stripes' began to appear everywhere. Everyone had a flag. Businesses which had previously flown the U.S., Mexico and Texas flags now flew three U.S. flags. Where they had flown the six flags of Texas they flew six U.S. flags instead. It was as if the whole country were crowned with red-white-blue. It was a tragedy like none I had ever lived through before, making things like Oklahoma City and the Challenger pale in comparison. However, it also brought out feelings of solidarity, teamwork and patriotism and -no matter how often it is misused- I have always considered patriotism a good thing. The attacks also awoke America to a problem that had been brewing for some time but which most of the world had been content to ignore. The final outcome of that situation, remains to be seen.

MM Video: Felix and Agnes zu Salm-Salm

MM Video: Chinese Imperial Family

Royal News Roundup

Starting in the Far East, last Friday HM the Emperor of Japan formally appointed Yoshihiko Noda as the new Prime Minister in a ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Japan has gone through a rather rapid succession of prime ministers in recent years and I was surprised to see an American (on CCTV no less) commenting that while other countries would be in a panic over such a rate of government turnover, Japan remained calm in part because of the presence of the Emperor who provides a feeling of stability and reassurance to the public. Tuesday was also a happy occasion for the Japanese Imperial Family as it was the birthday of HIH Prince Hisahito, the future Emperor, who turned five years old. The Mad Monarchist wishes His Imperial Highness a very happy birthday with many more to come. According to the IHA he has very normal interests for a five-year-old boy being fascinated by bugs and fire engines. We hope he will make a fine emperor in his turn, which hopefully will not be for quite some time yet.

Some sad news on the African front. On Sunday HRH Princess Lalla Aicha of Morocco passed away, the aunt of HM King Mohammad VI, sister of the late King Hassan II. Her funeral was held Monday. In 1965 she became the first female ambassador from an Arab country when she was appointed ambassador to the Court of St James by her brother the King, a post she held until 1969. In Morocco she was known for her championing of the rights of women, particularly for the right to vote as well as for greater personal freedoms. She was buried at the Moulay El Hassan Mausoleum at the Royal Palace in Rabat. Of course our condolences go out to the Moroccan Royal Family on this tragic occasion.

Europe also saw some sad royal news this week with the passing of HIRH Archduke Felix of Austria-Hungary who died on Tuesday at the age of 95. The Archduke was the brother of the late Head of the House of Hapsburg, HIRH Archduke Otto and he was the last surviving child of Their Imperial Royal Majesties Blessed Emperor Charles I and Empress Zita of Austria-Hungary. The Archduke never really knew the imperial era being born in 1916 in Vienna and was only three years old when the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was abolished after their defeat in World War I. Although tragic, this was not a complete surprise as, due to his age, the Archduke had been growing increasingly frail for sometime and was unable to attend the funeral of his elder brother in July. Again, our condolences go out to the House of Hapsburg and all the loyal people of Austria, Hungary and the other Hapsburg dominions.

It has been a busy week for the Danish Royal Family. On Monday (Flag Day in Denmark) HM the Queen, Prince Henrik, Crown Prince Frederick, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie attended the dedication of a monument to the Danish military personnel who have given their lives on missions abroad. HM the Queen paid tribute to the Danish servicemen and women who have given their lives in areas of conflict around the world. Most would not consider Denmark a military power worthy of note, but once upon a time they were a force to be reckoned with and even to this day the Danish military, though small, is a very professional, well trained and competent fighting force. We salute them. The next day the Queen, Prince consort and Crown Prince left for a formal state visit to the Russian Federation, arriving in Moscow and being greeted at the Kremlin by President Medvedev. There were the usual receptions, banquets, visits and meeting but, what I found most touching was the visit of the Danish royals to the tomb of HIM Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg.

Finally, in a special occasion, the princess who (thanks to changes in the succession law) is set to one day become the first Queen of the Belgians gave her first public speech. Accompanied by her parents Princess Elisabeth of Belgium opened a new children’s hospital named in her honor in the Flemish city of Ghent. Before unveiling the plaque to mark the opening of the hospital the Princess, flanked by her parents Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde addressed the assembled crowd saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very happy that I can give my name to this new children’s hospital today. Together with you, I hope that many children will find help here. I know they can count on your daily commitment. The Princess Elisabeth Children’s Hospital now gets a special place in my heart.” A fine little address, very mature for someone so young. Good for her. I was not in favor of the change in succession law but, it having been done, I only hope Princess Elisabeth has a Kingdom of Belgium to inherit when her time comes.

Video: King Freddie of Uganda, 1942

Obama's Job Speech

Alright, so I watched the big campaign speech yesterday. I know the President called it a “jobs speech” but the man was shouting and he only ever shouts at campaign speeches so no one is being fooled by this. Here again was more of the Obama version of an old Hollywood film set: an impressive front with nothing behind the façade. Of course, as has become the standard rule for Democrats and most Republicans, when confronted with a problem the thing to do is throw money at it and hope it goes away -at least for a little while. And to be fair, this usually works with lobbyists who are about the only people politicians listen to on a regular basis. Obama wants spending on infrastructure, tax credits for job creation and a renewed effort to bring manufacturing back to America. That all sounds great doesn’t it? But, of course, there are big problems, which is probably why his speech gave us no details because the White House knows as well as anyone how crawling with devils those pesky things are. Obama constantly reminds me of what someone once said about another Democrat President, Woodrow Wilson, that he thinks he has actually dealt with a problem simply by uttering some pretty phrase about it.

To start with infrastructure, he has a point, it is falling apart in the good old United States of North America, however, throwing money at it might not be the answer to even the infrastructure problem, to say nothing of unemployment. In the first place, no one addresses how the infrastructure (our roads and bridges) came to be in such disrepair. After all, we pay taxes every year to maintain them; right? They should not be in disrepair if the government was looking after one of its most basic duties and not spending the money on other pet projects. So, if they are not spending the money they take in for what they supposed to be spending it on, why should this time be any different? Besides which, though it brings back warm Democrat memories of the FDR administration (you know, the first President to recognize the Soviet Union, the man who introduced socialism into the American economy, provoked Japan to get the US into World War II and whose primary aim after bringing down the Axis was to destroy the British Empire -that guy) the fact is that infrastructure jobs are temporary and not a long-term solution to unemployment. It didn’t work for FDR (he could thank Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo for ending his unemployment problem) and I doubt it will work now. Besides which, without changing the existing problem of the failure of the government to maintain our roads and bridges they will soon be just as dilapidated as they are now in the future.

Next we come to tax credits for job creation, with special credits for hiring the chronically unemployed (that smells a bit) and for hiring military veterans. Obviously, if someone has been unemployed for a very long time, there is usually a reason for it and trying to bribe people into hiring those proven incapable of holding a job is just silly and will never work. Hiring anybody is too risky these days. As for the veterans, I don’t know of any business that would not love to hire veterans, if not out of the goodness of the heart, then simply so they could say in their advertisements that they are a “patriotic” business that hires more ex-servicemen than anyone else. The problem with hiring people is that (thanks to the government and Obama in particular) there are way too many strings attached. An employer takes a risk on hiring somebody and he/she is suddenly on the hook for a whole lot of potential expenses (even near ruinous expenses) if everything doesn’t work out just right. Why do they think so many people hire illegal aliens? Because there are no strings attached. They do a job and they get paid -that’s it and that’s all. What would help more than tax credits would be a simplification of the tax code but, no one is ever going to go for that.

This also ties in with Obama’s call to bring manufacturing back to America. That would be nice, but the very causes he champions drove manufacturing out of the country in the first place. One of the President’s special guests up in the gallery was Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO. It was his types, the overreach of the unions, which drove up the cost of labor to such an extent that it is actually cheaper to ship materials over to China, do the manufacturing there and then ship them all the way back across the Pacific. That is a considerable discrepancy I would say. It is also why there is always a market for illegal alien labor. Also sitting up in the gallery alongside the First Lady was “Jobs Commissar” Jeffrey Immelt, head of General Electric, who himself recently shipped a bunch of manufacturing jobs over to China. So, frankly, Obama saying he wants to bring manufacturing back to America is rather like Robespierre saying France needs more royals.

Of course, with a fourteen trillion dollar debt, the big question is how the President plans to pay for all this. The President says it can all be paid for by closing tax loopholes and raising taxes on the “rich”. I cannot see that happening because if there was any will to do it the loopholes wouldn’t exist in the first place or else would have been closed long ago. There could be a reform of the tax code but neither party wants that because the Democrats and the Republicans both have their super-rich circles of support who they protect from, as Obama says, “paying their fair share”. His buddy Immelt is not paying “his fair share” and that’s okay with Obama. That problem exists on both sides which is why the tax code has never been touched no matter which party has been in power. Right now the Republicans are shouting for it, but of course when they held both Houses of Congress and the White House they did nothing about it. I will predict that if they get back into power after the next election the Democrats will say the same thing when they can no longer do anything about it. However, at the end of the day, it still seems to me that this was a campaign speech and nothing more. This was a show, full of rhetoric on the part of Obama so that when things don’t improve he can blame Congress for being uncooperative. In other words, Democrats or Republicans, it’s politics as usual.

Royals at Eternal Rest

Consort Profile: Queen Ann Boleyn

Of all the famous “Six Wives of Henry VIII” probably none among them is as famous or has been the focus of as much attention as his second wife Ann Boleyn. To some she is a scheming home wrecker, to others a virtuous victim. History has been a rough ride for Ann Boleyn but, for the most part, has probably served her well. In her own time she was deeply unpopular and could be seen as made to measure for the part of villainess in the story of the marital problems of the second Tudor King of England. Yet, it was her offspring who became probably the most celebrated Queen in English history and who set the country on the political and religious course maintained almost ever since, the effects still around today and so, because of that, Ann Boleyn has not been consigned to the proverbial dust bin of history. Even today she has as many defenders as detractors and she remains, to some extent, a controversial figure, still talked about, written about and even made the subject of numerous dramas, television shows and feature films. Few can still spark such heated debate as Ann Boleyn.

Even the date of birth of Ann Boleyn is argued over, most putting it sometime in or between 1501-1507. She was common born but had titled, well connected parents and at an early age was sent abroad to be educated. Her schooling in the Burgundian Netherlands was typical but it was in France where she first began to turn heads. Originally to serve Mary Tudor, once she was out of the picture she remained, along with her sister Mary Boleyn, to serve Queen Claude of Valois. Claude ran a tight ship and with her Ann learned discipline while her sister did not. She became one of the many mistresses of King Francis I and later King Henry VIII as well, embraced quickly and abandoned quickly. Ann would not make the same mistakes. By most accounts she was not drop-dead gorgeous, yet, her bearing and behavior caused her to have the same effect on almost all the men around her. She had alluring eyes, was graceful, charming, witty, an expert at fashion, an excellent dancer and rather flirtatious. She learned all about ‘court politics’ and, even at an early age, showed great ambition and determination. Ann was a woman who knew what she wanted and how to overcome obstacles to reach her goals.

There was hardly anyone at the French court who was not impressed with her. She made herself a joy to be around in almost any company. She liked to sing, gamble, hunt, exchange jokes and was a great conversationalist. Later many would claim that she also became an expert at what we shall politely refer to as ‘bedroom antics’ while in France, however, it is hard to determine the truth of those claims as most appear after opinion had turned against her whereas, at the time, she was reported to be quite virtuous. Some find that hard to believe but, even if she was not pure as the wind-driven snow she must have been very discreet about her affairs and that could be almost as great a recommendation for the circles she moved in. In 1522, when relations between England and France were growing worse, she returned to her homeland and, thanks to her family, was promptly given a place at court as one of the ladies-in-waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon. It did not take long before she caught the eye of King Henry VIII, always a man easily distracted by women and growing increasingly frustrated with his older wife and her inability to provide him with a male heir.

The King came on strong but Ann resisted. She was not prepared to be just another mistress and Ann told the King, in so many words, ‘if you like it, put a ring on it’. Whether this was Ann being virtuous or playing a clever game has been endlessly debated and the answer will only ever be known to Ann herself. If it was a strategy it was a fine one as Ann gained the status of “forbidden fruit” in the eyes of Henry VIII. The longer she resisted the more the King had to have her and the more willing he became to move heaven and earth, even change the religion of an entire country and isolate his country in order to have her. This was when religion entered the story of Ann Boleyn in a big way. Ann has been accused of being a Lutheran, which she was not though she would defend them when necessary. However, she was what was known then as a “reformer” or essentially what we would today call a Protestant. She did influence the King in this regard but it would, perhaps, be giving her too much credit to say that she single-handedly turned him away from the Catholic Church simply by whispering sweet Protestant nothings in his ear. By this time Ann, though not a mistress, was recognized as the King’s “other woman” and thus the start of a growth in unpopularity on her part.

Henry VIII would try to get his own way within the Catholic Church but his patience was near exhaustion. Ann knew she had the King wrapped around her little finger and, perhaps unwisely, began making enemies in some pretty high places. Cardinal Wolsey was certainly at the top of that list. He warned the King against trying to divorce Queen Katherine. She was the aunt of the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, she had been married to Henry for quite a long time already, had a child with him and the King had received a papal dispensation in order to marry her in the first place. Cardinal Wolsey was certainly no pious churchman but he was realistic and informed statesman and knew that, for all of these reasons, the Pope would never agree to Henry divorcing his wife. This made him as much an enemy to Ann Boleyn as the Queen herself and, though it seemed impossible, when Henry had to choose between his chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, and Ann Boleyn it was Ann who won the day. When Wolsey failed to obtain the answer from the Church Henry wanted his political career was over and there was no doubt that Ann was to be the replacement for Queen Katherine as consort of England.

This made Ann many enemies, at one point she was nearly attacked by an angry mob, as people across the country, especially women, saw her as a home-wrecker and Queen Katherine as the faithful, long-suffering wife about to be ‘traded-in’ for a younger model. However, there was no turning back. Ann even gave in to the King a little early and the future Queen Elizabeth I was already conceived when Henry VIII broke with Rome, declared himself “Supreme Head of the Church on earth”, annulled his marriage to Queen Katherine and married Ann Boleyn. For Ann, the newly declared Queen of England, it was the zenith of her life. She loved Henry, they were married, she was Queen and while she certainly had enemies, none could touch her. Everything seemed to be going her way but, alas, problems were not slow in rising up. More than anything else, Henry wanted a son and a son was not forthcoming and Ann, for all of her intelligence, strength and charm, could do nothing to influence the mechanics of nature.

The King also began to be put off by many of the qualities which had first drawn him to Ann. He no longer found her assertiveness attractive. She was educated, intelligent and didn’t mind showing it and he didn’t like that. She was bold and opinionated and he didn’t like that and she was not bashful about speaking her mind and he didn’t like that either. As tensions grew Ann also became more unpleasant herself. People complained about her lavish spending, her cruelty toward her step-daughter Mary and many blamed her for dissolution of the monasteries, the religious innovations that divided the country and the execution of popular and respected Catholics such as Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher. All of this only seemed to make Ann more defiant and her public image was certainly not helped when she wore a bright yellow dress to a party after learning of the death of Queen Katherine. This all had an impact on the King as well and he began to likewise blame Ann for all of his misfortunes, whether it was the rebellions that broke out or the growing political isolation of England by the great Catholic powers of France, Spain and the Empire. Of course, Ann was not responsible for all of this, but she made for a convenient scapegoat, often by others, such as the King, who were themselves just as much or more responsible for the state of affairs than she was.

Eventually, Jane Seymour caught the roving eye of the King and in regards to Ann, as sympathetic as some might be to her plight, one cannot help but remember the saying that, ‘if he will cheat with you, he will cheat on you’. With no sons forthcoming and discontent growing in the country (which Henry was content to lay totally at the doorstep of Ann) the King determined to get rid of her. About a month after he started moving in on Jane, the King launched an investigation against Ann for treason in April, 1536. In the years since, even those not inclined to look with favor on Ann have agreed that the charges against her, adultery and even incest, were totally false and certainly excessive. Nonetheless, the King was determined to ‘change his woman’ and had already proven, with Ann’s cooperation, that he could do it and would stop at nothing to get his way. On May 17 she was executed, though Henry at least had enough sympathy to send for an expert swordsman from France to conduct the beheading so it would be as quick and painless as possible. Still, he made no provision for her burial at all and in less than two weeks was already married to Jane Seymour.

Since that time, Ann has been featured in numerous media, even up to the present day in several movies and television series. Opinion about her remains divided. Protestant opinion is, rightly, positive and Catholic opinion, just as rightly, is negative. However, it is probably the negative image that prevails more often than not even amongst disinterested historians. This is probably partly due to the fact that, after her death and particularly after the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, the Protestants went a little overboard in portraying her as a pristine saint. That, she certainly was not. She had many admirable qualities but employed them in less than admirable pursuits. However, her execution was certainly unjust and it is unfair that she alone was made to suffer for decisions made by others. Even if she urged them toward those decisions, she was certainly not solely culpable. For myself, I recognize the injustice of that even though, like others, I cannot feel very sorry for her given how she came to that unenviable position. She had played a dangerous game, and in the end, was hoisted with her own petard.

Defending Queen Marie Jose

It is, sadly, nothing new for people to attack royals no longer on this earth to defend themselves but this one has to be one of the most disgusting and outrageous such attacks I have ever seen and, evidently, it is not completely new. That is the accusation that Queen Marie Jose of Italy had an affair with none other than "Il Duce" himself, Benito Mussolini. I admit, this shocks me to the core that anyone could be stupid enough to believe such an obvious lie. It would be unthinkable enough for the "May Queen" to have indulged in such behavior with anyone, as she was a very upright and principled person (praised by St Padre Pio for her good soul), but the idea that she could have ever had anything to do with Mussolini of all people frankly staggers the imagination. Of the entire Royal Family none more despised Mussolini than Marie Jose. Not only did she not find him in any way appealing, she was disgusted by him and actively worked, secretly of course, to thwart him. That is a well established fact, confirmed by her contacts with the Allies, via the Holy See, by which she tried to encourage the abandonment of the Rome-Berlin Axis and peace with the Allies. She had no respect or regard at all for Mussolini or his government.

It should also be added that the feeling was mutual. Mussolini was likewise never fond of the Royal Family and he particularly disliked Marie Jose (he even said he found her 'repulsive') and her husband, the future King Umberto II. Read anything about the war from pro-Fascist sources and you will see that they all regarded the Royal Family as troublesome at best or a threat at worst. They were constantly complaining that the palace was thwarting their efforts toward this or that end or that the royals and the aristocracy were too pro-British. Marie-Jose was often singled out and, in fact, she had got on the bad side of the dictator from the very start when she refused to have her name changed to the Italian version. OVRA (the Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell'Antifascismo -the fascist secret police) kept a close watch on her and finally became sufficiently alarmed that Mussolini sent her out of Rome. Are these the actions of two people carryong on an affair? It is the most ridiculously absurd accusation one could imagine. Not only did the two come from different worlds in direct opposition to each other but of those from the 'world' of Queen Marie Jose, none were as adamantly opposed to Mussolini as she was, and this was known in Rome, London and Washington DC.

And what is the source? One mention from one of Mussolini's sons -that's it. Rumors and gossip, as always -rumors and gossip, the sort that can never be pinned down because they give no specifics and so can never be disproven to those who choose to believe them. The whole thing is so outrageous and ridiculous that I was hesitant to mention it, however, in this day and age lies spread like wild fire. I had a quick look over at that bastion of misinformation "Wikipedia" and, sure enough, it is already there, without a single source to back up even the accusation -to say nothing of any actual proof of what the Queen is being accused of. It is positively disgusting. And, evidently, this is not a new story, though I had never heard of it before. A salute to Monarchici in Rete for bringing this to my attention as this is just the sort of malicious lie that monarchists should work hard to refute.

Favorite Royal Images: A Romanian Princess

HRH Princess Marie of Romania, future Queen consort of Yugoslavia

A Personal Request

This morning I got a call from my old Dad asking, in a very matter of fact way, to come meet him over at our place just southeast of here. No more than that. Once I got there I found he had tangled with an old bull and, not surprisingly, the bull won. Tossed him in the air like a rag doll and broke his hip. I rushed him to the nearest half-way professional hospital (50 miles away) and spent most of the day there until my mother arrived. He's now in the big city waiting for surgery which should be sometime tonight, in a great deal of pain as you can imagine. When he was thrown up in the air his cell phone landed about 15 feet away from him and with his hip blown out he had to crawl over to get it, amongst about 40 cattle he had been feeding, then back again to get under the neck of the trailer in case the bull wanted to make another pass. I would appreciate any prayers or good thoughts sent his way for a safe and speedy recovery. Thanks.

MM Video: Kaiserin Friedrich

MM Video: Umberto II

Royal News Roundup

This week we have a theme most are familiar with but which many still take for granted or shrug off: royals doing good. For a change, let’s start in the heart of the British Commonwealth. The BBC ran a documentary on HRH Prince Harry and his trek to the North Pole with four fellow veterans of the war in Afghanistan, all of them men who had been wounded and two of whom had lost limbs in the fighting there. The show was called “Harry’s Arctic Heroes” and the expedition was held to support wounded British veterans of the Afghan conflict, a cause obviously close to Prince Harry’s heart. Prince Harry was also front and center at the awards for Wellchild, a charity of which he is patron, in which children are recognized for helping others or enduring hardship with a smile. It happened that the ceremony fell on the anniversary of the death of Prince Harry’s mother Diana. Prince Harry handed out the prizes and met with the winners which included a 6-year old girl who has cared for her older sister, age 8, who suffered a brain hemorrhage which left her mute and paralyzed. Another was a little boy who lost his hands and feet to meningitis and a 5-year old who managed to find a way to communicate despite being silenced by cerebral palsy.

On the Scandinavian front, HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has been spreading smiles amidst the suffering in East Africa and providing a great deal of real assistance along the way. Dropping plans at home she traveled to Kenya to visit a refugee camp set up for victims of the famine in Somalia to bring world attention to their plight. TRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Princess Ameerah of Saudi Arabia also visited Somalia and promised that help would be forthcoming from their country. But, back to the Crown Princess of Denmark, continuing on her way, she met many locals in the (former) Empire of Ethiopia and through her charity, “The Mary Foundation” donated 200,000 Danish Kroner to help the people there. Meanwhile, on Thursday, HRH Crown Prince Frederick seemed pleased as punch to be opening a new Wastewater (SSI) Sludge Incinerator Plant in Copenhagen. Perhaps not the most glamorous royal occasion but the Prince did not take in lightly, pointing out the benefits of the planet which, as he said, is energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

In Norway the Royal Family was out in force to welcome the President and First Lady of the Republic of South Africa on Wednesday who made a formal state visit to the Nordic kingdom. In Sweden, Prince Carl-Phillip attended the premier of a new film highlighting a group of Holocaust survivors who were rescued by the Red Cross and brought to Sweden. On Tuesday evening the Swedish King, Queen, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel were on hand for the presentation of the Polar Music Prize. Showing their usual range, Patti Smith and the classical group Kronos Quartet were honored and took home about a million kroner worth of prize money before performing for the audience. King Carl XVI Gustaf presented the prizes himself which are called by some the ‘Nobel Prize of Music’.

In the Low Countries, on Tuesday HRH Crown Princess Maxima of the Netherlands opened “Orange House” for women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. Princess Laurentien has been going around the world to promote the Netherlands and a cause very dear to her; literacy. This week she has been attending the International Book Fair in Peking, the largest in the world, where the Netherlands was singled out for special recognition. In neighboring Belgium, Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde took their children to their first day of school for this year on Thursday. All were included this time around from Princess Elisabeth who is entering the 5th grade to little Princess Eleonore who is starting her first year of kindergarten.

And in southern Europe, HM King Juan Carlos I of Spain is set to have surgery on his left foot next week for some minor repairs to his Achilles tendon. His Majesty previously had knee surgery in June, which caused a little minor alarm over the health of the Spanish king. Whether this will happen again remains to be seen. The procedure is described as minor but will entail a period of recovery and therapy during which time the King will not be able to get around very well. Queen Sofia firmly dismissed any talk, passed around after surgery last year to remove a lung tumor, about abdication but lately the King has been cutting down on his official duties, leaving more for the Prince of the Asturias to do on his behalf. And also in the Mediterranean area, and keeping with the theme of royals helping ohers, the Monaco-Matin newspaper ran a story on the new Princess Charlene of Monaco, highlighting her work for The Giving Trust Organization in South Africa, the Special Olympics and mentioning a new foundation all her own that will be going public soon.

And we’ve had some birthdays this week. On Tuesday HM Queen Anne-Marie of Greece celebrated her 65th birthday in London with the King and her family and, if I may add, she still looks great at 65. And on Wednesday HM Queen Rania of Jordan, who of course looks great too, turned 41 years old. Hard to believe isn’t it? And harder still to tell just by looking. Also, in Denmark, Prince Nikolai, eldest son of Prince Joachim by his first wife, the Countess of Frederiksborg, celebrated his 12th birthday on Sunday with most of the Danish Royal Family. The Mad Monarchist wishes them all a happy birthday and many more to come. And in a similar vein, this weekend there will also be a number of celebrations in the (former) Kingdom of Hawaii to mark the birthday of their last Queen, Liliuokalani, who was born on September 2, 1838.

Monarchist Profile: Konstantin Pobedonostsev

In Eastern Europe, prior to the arrival of the Bolsheviks, monarchism was so accepted, so bound up with the Orthodox faith and simply seen as so self-evident in its status as the best basis for government, that relatively fewer, compared to the west, saw it necessary to defend or explain in a comprehensive way. However, one man who did just that was the great Russian monarchist Konstantin Pobedonostsev. He was born on May 21, 1827 into an educated family and when still barely a teenager his literary professor father sent him to a school in St Petersburg to prepare him for the civil service. He quickly proved himself to have a brilliant legal mind and he earned rapid promotion. This gave him an intricate working knowledge of both the Imperial Russian legal system and the rather complex Russian bureaucracy. He soon became so renowned for his firm grasp of the law and the workings of government that he was being asked to lecture at Moscow State University.

A renowned lecturer while still working for the civil service, in 1860 he was formally made a law professor at the university. However, he was unable to hold that position for too long as his reputation had become so great that Tsar Alexander II appointed him tutor to his son and heir on the subjects of law and statecraft. Even after the death of the heir-to-the-throne, Pobedonostsev was retained by the Tsar to instruct his second son, the future Tsar Alexander III, in these same subjects. Pobedonostsev moved to St Petersburg because of this work and became a very familiar face among the Russian Imperial Family and had a very close relationship with his pupil and future Tsar who held his teacher in high esteem and great respect. His guidance was undoubtedly an influence on Tsar Alexander III and his strong, paternal leadership of Russia during his reign. Pobedonostsev continued to rise in important positions, in 1868 he was appointed to the Russian Senate (mostly a judicial body) and in 1874 was given a place on the Council of the Empire which served to advise the Tsar on important legal or legislative matters and included representatives from across Russian society. In 1880 he was given his highest position, that of Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

It is hard to imagine anyone being more prefect for the job of Chief Procurator than Konstantin Pobedonostsev. He was a devout Orthodox Christian and had a clear understanding of the essential cooperation between the Church and the monarchy and the vital, central place of the Church in the Russian Empire, on every level of society. His contribution to the Russian legal system was extensive but he is best remembered for his views on the monarchy and, most importantly, the emphasis on Russia as an Orthodox monarchy. This is partly due, it must be said, because his thoughts and writings on political matters drew much more attention and condemnation from leftists and revolutionaries than did his extensive work on legal matters. For anyone fond of the idea of faith-based, Christian absolute monarchy, the works of Pobedonostsev are hard to beat. In fact, he was probably the most brilliant theoretician to defend absolute monarchy to have lived into the Twentieth Century. Many in the west may not be aware of him or his work, but he is a find and well worth reading given how few other people there were, at the time, standing up and making the case that he did.

As a word of warning to western readers I will say that Pobedonostsev did not have a very favorable view of the west and was not bashful about saying so. However, before anyone gets too upset, just consider things from the Russian point of view. Think about the things that even many western monarchists cringe at such as the “Enlightenment” (so-called), the French Revolution, the spread of liberal democracy, constitutional government, the separation of Church and State and so on and so forth. All of these things did originate in the west and all of them had or led to things that had disastrous results for Russia (and, many would argue, the west as well). Pobedonostsev was an authentic statesman, not a blindly Slavophile nationalist, but a man who put the interests of his country, that being his Tsar and his people, first; which is as it should be. He also recognized, and famously impressed on Alexander III, that Russia was not a “European” country, certainly not a western one, and even things that might work in the west would not work in Russia. Surely in this most can agree that subsequent history has proven Pobedonostsev absolutely correct.

Faith was the foundation of the political views and the general world view of Pobedonostsev. He despised any sort of democracy, not out of any contempt for ‘the common man’ but because of the nature of man. He reasoned that, due to original sin, man is inherently sinful and inclined to do wrong. Therefore, it would be absurd to vest political power in every individual based on the whims of popularity. He viewed, quite correctly, the liberal political innovations of the west as being man-focused instead of God-focused. True authority came from God, preserved by the Orthodox Church and enacted by the Tsar. Therefore, as he once told Alexander III, it would be unthinkable for the Tsar to give up power or share that power with others in a system of representative government as this would be shirking the duty God entrusted to him. It was also because of his deep Orthodox convictions that he opposed anything other than religious education. A Christian state would recognize that Christ is “the Truth” and would, therefore, necessarily want to make “the Truth” the heart and center of the educational system. Anything less would be to deny the truth of Christianity or, at the very least, betray a fundamental loss of faith.

It was also for this reason that Pobedonostsev was very much in accord with what had been the motto, so to speak, of Tsar Nicholas I: Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality. This is nothing that should be seen as radical, even though few contemporaries were making the same argument elsewhere. Russia was an absolute, Orthodox monarchy and it seemed not at all unreasonable but perfectly natural for Pobedonostsev to emphasis Russia being Russian, being strongly Orthodox and maintaining the autocracy. This has, however, been used, and was at the time, as tool with which to criticize Pobedonostsev for encouraging religious intolerance. However, religious tolerance was simply not what he was about. His views were firm and strongly held. The Orthodox faith was true and therefore anything else was necessarily in error, therefore harmful and therefore, frankly, something which should not be tolerated or at least certainly not encouraged.

Pobedonostsev, by his ardent support for the Church and the autocracy and opposition to a constitution or any sort of democracy or representative government managed to make himself fairly unpopular toward the end of his life but, in this, he was at least in good company. The socialists and revolutionaries rightly saw him as their arch-enemy and tried on at least one occasion to assassinate him. His influence also declined with the accession of Tsar Nicholas II who, despite what many think of him, was much less willing to take as great a ‘hard-line’ approach as Pobedonostsev. The great statesman retired after the disastrous war with Japan and died on March 23, 1907. Had he lived longer he would have seen Russia enact many of the changes he had warned against and then finally fall prey to exactly the fate he had predicted in such an event. Few men of so relatively recent a time managed to make themselves more despised by all the right sort of people a loyal monarchist should wished to be despised by than Pobedonostsev. However, despite how unpopular his positions may be today, he was proven correct too often to simply ignore and his writings, particularly his “Reflections of a Russian Statesman” should be required reading for all monarchists and Orthodox monarchists particularly. He was, from first to last, a most gifted and eloquent defender of “unshakable autocracy”.

Hurrah for Prince Alois!

In something of a turnaround HSH Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, currently acting as regent for his father Prince Hans-Adam II, now says that the decriminalization of abortion in the little principality will not be happening. The government recently voted down a bill to legalize abortion in Liechtenstein but this was met with outrage by the pro-abortion crowd which claims that the majority of the public supports it, pointing to the numbers of women from Liechtenstein who leave the tiny country to have abortions done. They have called for a referendum to be held on the issue but they may decide not to bother as Prince Alois now says that he will use his veto power to overrule such a referendum if it is held and produces a favorable result for making abortion legal. Perhaps the rather public disapproval of the Bishop of Vaduz this last national day was effective in reminding everyone in the Liechtenstein government of their duty to God? The Principality of Liechtenstein is one of the few officially Catholic monarchies left in the world. The population is roughly 85% Christian (almost all of them Catholic) with the next largest religious group made up of Muslim immigrants. I salute Prince Alois for taking this stand and I hope he will stick to his guns and not back down on the issue. However, it is still a shame that anyone would Liechtenstein would favor such a thing to say nothing that enough would to have brought the issue this far.

Royals at Eternal Rest