<![CDATA[Society of King George - All Forums]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:29:14 -0700 MyBB <![CDATA[Any football fan here?]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=21 Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:49:46 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=21 Any Formula-1 fan here? Post here latest news about F1. I am a huge fan of F1 and my favorite driver is
Michael Schumacher. My favorite team is Ferrari.
Which is your favorite driver and favorite team?]]> Any Formula-1 fan here? Post here latest news about F1. I am a huge fan of F1 and my favorite driver is
Michael Schumacher. My favorite team is Ferrari.
Which is your favorite driver and favorite team?]]> <![CDATA[Favorite Sports.]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=20 Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:44:50 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=20 Which are your favorite sports? Post names of your favorite sports.My favorite sports are football and baseball.
Whenever I get free time, then I play these sports. I also like tennis, cricket ,golf and F1 race.]]> Which are your favorite sports? Post names of your favorite sports.My favorite sports are football and baseball.
Whenever I get free time, then I play these sports. I also like tennis, cricket ,golf and F1 race.]]> <![CDATA[Hello! New here.]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=19 Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:40:56 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=19 I am Styris from Brisbane, Australia and I have just joined this community. I am 21 years old. I stop here only for saying hello to each member of this community. I like to learn new things everyday and share that things to everyone and therefore I like forum discussion because here I can share my views and ideas to others.]]> I am Styris from Brisbane, Australia and I have just joined this community. I am 21 years old. I stop here only for saying hello to each member of this community. I like to learn new things everyday and share that things to everyone and therefore I like forum discussion because here I can share my views and ideas to others.]]> <![CDATA[My Fellow Monarchists]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=18 Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:20:12 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=18 <![CDATA[Hello]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=17 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:38:56 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=17
BTW, are any of y'all on Theo's board?:

http://royalcello.websitetoolbox.com/]]>
BTW, are any of y'all on Theo's board?:

http://royalcello.websitetoolbox.com/]]> <![CDATA[Prince Charles]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=16 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:50:02 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=16 <![CDATA[Returning to the Empire]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=15 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:48:26 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=15
I open this thread towards that discussion. This is something I have considered with my wife, and although it would take a lot of work and be some years in the making I think that a thread of this nature would be greatly beneficial to anyone with the same desire.

What would it take for an American to relocate to England? What would be some of the easier things (passports) and some of the harder things (employment) that would be involved in this pursuit? Where are the "less expensive" areas? This thread could also digress simply into a "when visiting England thread so that if one were to visit they would not be so easily pegged as tourists.

Share away!]]>
I open this thread towards that discussion. This is something I have considered with my wife, and although it would take a lot of work and be some years in the making I think that a thread of this nature would be greatly beneficial to anyone with the same desire.

What would it take for an American to relocate to England? What would be some of the easier things (passports) and some of the harder things (employment) that would be involved in this pursuit? Where are the "less expensive" areas? This thread could also digress simply into a "when visiting England thread so that if one were to visit they would not be so easily pegged as tourists.

Share away!]]> <![CDATA[a rough outline of the neobyzantine state]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=14 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:42:16 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=14
Upon his election to the imperial office, said king must abdicate his kingdom, it passing to to an heir selected by the bishops of that kingdom.

The emperor would perpetually patrol the empire, holding what the Celts of old called "llys" wherever he was in residence at the time. At the llys, the people could present petitions to him, without fear of reprisal from their king. As the ultimate arbiter of justice within the empire, it would be his responsibility to put down tyrants within his domains. In this function, he would also be the equivalent of an "appeals court"--providing a final ruling on justice within the empire.

His imperial retinue would be made up of 1) the Imperial guard (made up of levies from the armies of the petty kings, being the best 10% of the soldiers from each kingdom), 2) The Ministers of the Court (which would include the Emperor's confessor/chaplain, the Empress, and the various ministers of the state...war, media, arts, the chancellor of the exchequer, the marshall of horse, etc), 3) Either the Lord Oberprocurator or 2 designated legates from his office, 4) 2 legates from the head of the church in each kingdom (be this a patriarch, a catholicos-patriarch, a metropolitan, or an archbishop). The duties of the imperial retinue would include to provide advice to the emperor on matters of state upon his request, and to function as the executives of his imperial will, as well we to carry out any other function he may require of them.

About the Lord Oberprocurator...it is a regrettable, but nevertheless unavoidable, fact that sometimes people get unruly, out of hand, fall into heresy, produce "art" of questionable taste or morality, and so on. It is the office of the Lord Oberprocurator to see that these occasional lapses into deviance are efficiently and expertly handled. In addition to functioning as the imperial censor, the Lord Oberprocurator would also oversee the imperial incarceration and reeducation system (including but not limited to the administration of the mines, prison farms, and 'reeducation centers' or gulags).

Further details or refinements of this can be discussed here, at will.]]>
Upon his election to the imperial office, said king must abdicate his kingdom, it passing to to an heir selected by the bishops of that kingdom.

The emperor would perpetually patrol the empire, holding what the Celts of old called "llys" wherever he was in residence at the time. At the llys, the people could present petitions to him, without fear of reprisal from their king. As the ultimate arbiter of justice within the empire, it would be his responsibility to put down tyrants within his domains. In this function, he would also be the equivalent of an "appeals court"--providing a final ruling on justice within the empire.

His imperial retinue would be made up of 1) the Imperial guard (made up of levies from the armies of the petty kings, being the best 10% of the soldiers from each kingdom), 2) The Ministers of the Court (which would include the Emperor's confessor/chaplain, the Empress, and the various ministers of the state...war, media, arts, the chancellor of the exchequer, the marshall of horse, etc), 3) Either the Lord Oberprocurator or 2 designated legates from his office, 4) 2 legates from the head of the church in each kingdom (be this a patriarch, a catholicos-patriarch, a metropolitan, or an archbishop). The duties of the imperial retinue would include to provide advice to the emperor on matters of state upon his request, and to function as the executives of his imperial will, as well we to carry out any other function he may require of them.

About the Lord Oberprocurator...it is a regrettable, but nevertheless unavoidable, fact that sometimes people get unruly, out of hand, fall into heresy, produce "art" of questionable taste or morality, and so on. It is the office of the Lord Oberprocurator to see that these occasional lapses into deviance are efficiently and expertly handled. In addition to functioning as the imperial censor, the Lord Oberprocurator would also oversee the imperial incarceration and reeducation system (including but not limited to the administration of the mines, prison farms, and 'reeducation centers' or gulags).

Further details or refinements of this can be discussed here, at will.]]> <![CDATA[Anti-Monarchists]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=13 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:32:37 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=13
This quote shows the ignorance of the people (and this actually came from the fingers of a priest-monk....)

Quote:Democracy has not yet produced such bad leaders. So it would seem that democracy, though imperfect, is a God-given improvement over monarchy.

I gagged when I read this.. then I laughed.. then I cried a bit..

In the end, God save the Queen!]]>
This quote shows the ignorance of the people (and this actually came from the fingers of a priest-monk....)

Quote:Democracy has not yet produced such bad leaders. So it would seem that democracy, though imperfect, is a God-given improvement over monarchy.

I gagged when I read this.. then I laughed.. then I cried a bit..

In the end, God save the Queen!]]> <![CDATA[Why Are You A Monarchist?]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=12 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:17:01 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=12 <![CDATA[Remembering the Monarchy of Hawaii]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=11 Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:47:01 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=11
Liliuokalani, Last Queen of Hawaii

Background

Liliuokalani was was born in the old Hawaiian town of Honolulu on September 2nd, 1838. She was the daughter of a noble named Kapaakea and his wife Keohokalole. Her mother was a remarkable woman, member of the 15-seat advisory council that Hawaiian King Kamehameha III maintained. Liliuokalani had established nobility in her ancestral lineage. King Kamehameha III gave Hawaii its first written constitution in 1840.

She was a noted musical composer. She wrote the famous song "Aloha Oe", which is associated with Hawaii even today. She was a quick study and a "woman of virtue" in the Victorian sense; she had a strength of character that many people of the time didn't appreciate in women.
Queen

When her brother King Kalakaua died in January, 1891, Liliuokalani ascended the Hawaiian throne. As a Christian and a progressive thinker, her goals were to bring the Hawaiian people firmly into the burgeoning world economy and help them adapt to the realities of the modern world. As a native politician, Liliuokalani was deeply concerned with the common good. She spent much of her life setting up charitable organizations devoted to public education, health and welfare. Make no mistake; she was a monarch, and came from a rigid class-based social order. But she was also the last in a long line of traditional native government, which proved itself adaptable over the centuries and amenable to reform and change in the modern world.
A Trip to Europe

As Crown Princess of Hawaii, Liliuokalani went on a tour of the United States, visiting California, Washington and Boston. She was warmly received and was deeply impressed by the good-will of the Americans she met. After her American trip, she went to meet Queen Victoria in London at Victoria's Jubillee, when monarchs from around the world assembled.

The intelligent native princess of the small Pacific island chain hob-nobbed with the rulers of most of the planet-- princes of Japan, Persia (Iran), Siam (Thailand), Prussia (modern north-east Germany and Poland) and India; the queens of England and Belgium; dukes and duchesses from the German principalities and the German Emperor. She spent time with the English nobility, and was deeply impressed by the hospitality and respect she was given. By accounts of the time, the other royalty were in return impressed by the Hawaiian monarch.

This pleasant visit to the British queen brought the two royal women together in a bond of official friendship. Victoria-- "Queen of England and India"-- left a good impression on Liliuokalani, and Liliuokalani admired the pretty English towns and countryside she saw. Her visit was cut short, though-- she rushed home to face a foreigner's revolution in her country.
Annexation and Retirement

Deposed by white foreign businessmen, she went on a trip to Washington to plead her people's case before the democratically elected leaders of the U.S.A. She wrote a book in an attempt to dispell misconceptions and illusions about what was going on in her home, but, ultimately, her efforts to save her nation from the claws of the Republic's growing empire were unsuccessful.

She was forced to abdicate, and the Hawaiian throne passed to the U.S.A. and the rogues who had stolen it. The "reformers'" hollow call for democratic reform in Hawaii was soon revealed as a cruel ploy to strip Hawaiians of their nation, but by that time it was too late for Liliuokalani to save her people. She issued a clear warning of the effect this kind of imperialsm could have on American democracy, let alone the honour of the American people and political system. The repugnant Annexation Treaty drawn up by the "Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Republic" was the final stage in the clever invasion of her homeland.

She lived out the remainder of her life in her royal palace in Honolulu, called Washington House, tending her gardens and working for the improvement of conditions for the poor. In 1917 she died a deeply loved and well-respected figure.

Like other remarkable native leaders, she was forgotten by Americans as they invaded more and more territory, marginalizing and exterminating any inhabitants they found. Recently, her memory has been revived by a more progressive modern Hawaiian society.

Learn more about the struggle of Liliuokalani's people here.]]>
Liliuokalani, Last Queen of Hawaii

Background

Liliuokalani was was born in the old Hawaiian town of Honolulu on September 2nd, 1838. She was the daughter of a noble named Kapaakea and his wife Keohokalole. Her mother was a remarkable woman, member of the 15-seat advisory council that Hawaiian King Kamehameha III maintained. Liliuokalani had established nobility in her ancestral lineage. King Kamehameha III gave Hawaii its first written constitution in 1840.

She was a noted musical composer. She wrote the famous song "Aloha Oe", which is associated with Hawaii even today. She was a quick study and a "woman of virtue" in the Victorian sense; she had a strength of character that many people of the time didn't appreciate in women.
Queen

When her brother King Kalakaua died in January, 1891, Liliuokalani ascended the Hawaiian throne. As a Christian and a progressive thinker, her goals were to bring the Hawaiian people firmly into the burgeoning world economy and help them adapt to the realities of the modern world. As a native politician, Liliuokalani was deeply concerned with the common good. She spent much of her life setting up charitable organizations devoted to public education, health and welfare. Make no mistake; she was a monarch, and came from a rigid class-based social order. But she was also the last in a long line of traditional native government, which proved itself adaptable over the centuries and amenable to reform and change in the modern world.
A Trip to Europe

As Crown Princess of Hawaii, Liliuokalani went on a tour of the United States, visiting California, Washington and Boston. She was warmly received and was deeply impressed by the good-will of the Americans she met. After her American trip, she went to meet Queen Victoria in London at Victoria's Jubillee, when monarchs from around the world assembled.

The intelligent native princess of the small Pacific island chain hob-nobbed with the rulers of most of the planet-- princes of Japan, Persia (Iran), Siam (Thailand), Prussia (modern north-east Germany and Poland) and India; the queens of England and Belgium; dukes and duchesses from the German principalities and the German Emperor. She spent time with the English nobility, and was deeply impressed by the hospitality and respect she was given. By accounts of the time, the other royalty were in return impressed by the Hawaiian monarch.

This pleasant visit to the British queen brought the two royal women together in a bond of official friendship. Victoria-- "Queen of England and India"-- left a good impression on Liliuokalani, and Liliuokalani admired the pretty English towns and countryside she saw. Her visit was cut short, though-- she rushed home to face a foreigner's revolution in her country.
Annexation and Retirement

Deposed by white foreign businessmen, she went on a trip to Washington to plead her people's case before the democratically elected leaders of the U.S.A. She wrote a book in an attempt to dispell misconceptions and illusions about what was going on in her home, but, ultimately, her efforts to save her nation from the claws of the Republic's growing empire were unsuccessful.

She was forced to abdicate, and the Hawaiian throne passed to the U.S.A. and the rogues who had stolen it. The "reformers'" hollow call for democratic reform in Hawaii was soon revealed as a cruel ploy to strip Hawaiians of their nation, but by that time it was too late for Liliuokalani to save her people. She issued a clear warning of the effect this kind of imperialsm could have on American democracy, let alone the honour of the American people and political system. The repugnant Annexation Treaty drawn up by the "Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Republic" was the final stage in the clever invasion of her homeland.

She lived out the remainder of her life in her royal palace in Honolulu, called Washington House, tending her gardens and working for the improvement of conditions for the poor. In 1917 she died a deeply loved and well-respected figure.

Like other remarkable native leaders, she was forgotten by Americans as they invaded more and more territory, marginalizing and exterminating any inhabitants they found. Recently, her memory has been revived by a more progressive modern Hawaiian society.

Learn more about the struggle of Liliuokalani's people here.]]> <![CDATA[Pro-monarchy flag swap angers Town Hall]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=10 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:45:43 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=10 http://www.the-news.net/cgi-bin/google.pl?id=1023-39

15/8/2009

Lisbon Town Hall has initiated legal proceedings against a pro-monarchy group named the ‘Armada 31 Movement’ after the group used a ladder to climb to the town hall’s veranda and replaced the municipal flag with the monarchic flag.

The swap took place under the veil of night, in the early hours of Monday morning and was only detected when the first town hall employees arrived. Meanwhile the municipal flag, which bears the city’s coat of arms, has disappeared.

Armada 31 Movement has already admitted to being responsible for the swap and said it was “much simpler than anyone could imagine”, entailing a handful of people, a three-metre ladder, and “some caution”, due to the amount of policing in the area.

The group described the incident as an “act of ideological guerrilla warfare” that intended to “reinstate monarchic legality”. They also claimed it was the first celebration of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the republic, which will occur on October 5th, 2010.

Lisbon Town Hall has taken measures to verify the circumstances in which the incident occurred and placed a formal complaint with “the appropriate authorities”.

--------

You can see the glorious event here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyNMQ_fWre4]]> http://www.the-news.net/cgi-bin/google.pl?id=1023-39

15/8/2009

Lisbon Town Hall has initiated legal proceedings against a pro-monarchy group named the ‘Armada 31 Movement’ after the group used a ladder to climb to the town hall’s veranda and replaced the municipal flag with the monarchic flag.

The swap took place under the veil of night, in the early hours of Monday morning and was only detected when the first town hall employees arrived. Meanwhile the municipal flag, which bears the city’s coat of arms, has disappeared.

Armada 31 Movement has already admitted to being responsible for the swap and said it was “much simpler than anyone could imagine”, entailing a handful of people, a three-metre ladder, and “some caution”, due to the amount of policing in the area.

The group described the incident as an “act of ideological guerrilla warfare” that intended to “reinstate monarchic legality”. They also claimed it was the first celebration of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the republic, which will occur on October 5th, 2010.

Lisbon Town Hall has taken measures to verify the circumstances in which the incident occurred and placed a formal complaint with “the appropriate authorities”.

--------

You can see the glorious event here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyNMQ_fWre4]]> <![CDATA[Spanish Royal family defy Eta with their annual holiday to Mallorca]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=9 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:38:31 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=9 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo...797690.ece

QUEEN SOFIA of Spain was shopping in Mallorca last week with her two daughters when she spotted Montse Lezaun, the mother of one of two policemen killed in a car bomb by Eta, the Basque separatist group, only a few days before.

The two women had met only once, at the policemen’s funeral, but Sofia, looking like any other holidaymaker at the Mediterranean island resort, waved and went up to Lezaun. After chatting for several minutes, they parted with kisses and promised to stay in touch.

------

Monarchs are real people, unlike politicians...]]> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo...797690.ece

QUEEN SOFIA of Spain was shopping in Mallorca last week with her two daughters when she spotted Montse Lezaun, the mother of one of two policemen killed in a car bomb by Eta, the Basque separatist group, only a few days before.

The two women had met only once, at the policemen’s funeral, but Sofia, looking like any other holidaymaker at the Mediterranean island resort, waved and went up to Lezaun. After chatting for several minutes, they parted with kisses and promised to stay in touch.

------

Monarchs are real people, unlike politicians...]]> <![CDATA[Historical examples of good monarchs]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=8 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:49:35 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=8
I was wondering if anyone here would be interested in learning about and discussing instructive cases of historical monarchism as a way of getting at what are the qualities of a good monarch and what are the mistakes to avoid.

I have been reading several lives of holy Georgian monarchs and would love to share them for your edification. There are some wonderful examples of great and faithful leaders amongst the Georgian kings. Historical discussion of Georgian kings is also relevant given the recent news story of the joining of two of Georgia's royal houses through marriage. (Maybe someone can find that link.)

Here's to a fruitful and edifying discussion,
Vakhtang]]>
I was wondering if anyone here would be interested in learning about and discussing instructive cases of historical monarchism as a way of getting at what are the qualities of a good monarch and what are the mistakes to avoid.

I have been reading several lives of holy Georgian monarchs and would love to share them for your edification. There are some wonderful examples of great and faithful leaders amongst the Georgian kings. Historical discussion of Georgian kings is also relevant given the recent news story of the joining of two of Georgia's royal houses through marriage. (Maybe someone can find that link.)

Here's to a fruitful and edifying discussion,
Vakhtang]]> <![CDATA[Monarchist Blogs]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=7 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:57:49 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=7 http://monarchistamerican.blogspot.com/
A Commonwealth Monarchist Writes: http://commonwealthmonarchist.blogspot.com/
An Australian Young Fogey: http://youngfogeyaust.blogspot.com/
International Monarchism: http://internationalmonarchism.blogspot.com/
Le Fleur de Lys Too: http://lefleurdelystoo.blogspot.com/
Mad for Monaco: http://madmonaco.blogspot.com/
Monarchist Initiative: http://monarchists.blogspot.com/
Nobility News: http://nobilitynews.blogspot.com/
Radical Royalist: http://radicalroyalist.blogspot.com/
Royal World: http://royaltymonarchy.blogspot.com/
Russian Monarchist: http://alegista.blogspot.com/
Tea at Trianon: http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/
The Cross of Laeken: http://crossoflaeken.blogspot.com/
Mad Monarchist: http://madmonarchist.blogspot.com/
Merry Royals: http://www.merryroyals.com/
The Monarchist: http://themonarchist.blogspot.com/
Wilson Revolution Unplugged: http://wilsonrevunplugged.blogspot.com/]]> http://monarchistamerican.blogspot.com/
A Commonwealth Monarchist Writes: http://commonwealthmonarchist.blogspot.com/
An Australian Young Fogey: http://youngfogeyaust.blogspot.com/
International Monarchism: http://internationalmonarchism.blogspot.com/
Le Fleur de Lys Too: http://lefleurdelystoo.blogspot.com/
Mad for Monaco: http://madmonaco.blogspot.com/
Monarchist Initiative: http://monarchists.blogspot.com/
Nobility News: http://nobilitynews.blogspot.com/
Radical Royalist: http://radicalroyalist.blogspot.com/
Royal World: http://royaltymonarchy.blogspot.com/
Russian Monarchist: http://alegista.blogspot.com/
Tea at Trianon: http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/
The Cross of Laeken: http://crossoflaeken.blogspot.com/
Mad Monarchist: http://madmonarchist.blogspot.com/
Merry Royals: http://www.merryroyals.com/
The Monarchist: http://themonarchist.blogspot.com/
Wilson Revolution Unplugged: http://wilsonrevunplugged.blogspot.com/]]> <![CDATA[Monarchist Quotes]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=5 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:43:16 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=5
“In fact, after having abolished the monarchy, the best of all governments, [the French Revolution] had transferred all the public power to the people — the people... ever easy to deceive and to lead into every excess…” - Pope Pius VI, Pourquoi Notre Voix, 17th June 1793

“Monarchy is the one system of government where power is exercised for the good of all.” - Aristotle, 322-384 BC.

“I write by the light of two eternal truths: religion and monarchy, those twin essentials affirmed by contemporary events, and towards which every intelligent author should seek to direct our country.” - Honore de Balzac, 1842.

“I am a true servant of my King and country, not only as a dutiful subject but because I am a convinced monarchist, politically and intellectually. I mean by that, quite apart from myself and my relationship to my Bavarian and German fatherland, I believe monarchy to be the most successful form of government that the history of mankind has known.” - Adolf von Harnier, on trial for treason, Germany 1938.

“If the Allies at the peace table at Versailles had allowed a Hohenzollern, a Wittelsbach and a Habsburg to return to their thrones, there would have been no Hitler. A democratic basis of society might have been preserved by a crowned Weimar in contact with the victorious Allies.” - Winston Churchill, 26th April 1946.

“In Italy they are already speaking about a republic, but keep in mind that there is nothing less suited to Italians...... The Italians are individualists and a republic will become the cause of confusion and disorder. Certainly of corruption. I have no doubt of it. When all this comes to pass who will profit from it?” - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, 10th April 1944.

“Remember that life is made up of loyalty: loyalty to your friends; loyalty to things beautiful and good; loyalty to the country in which you live; loyalty to your King; and above all, for this holds all other loyalties together, loyalty to God.” -
Queen Mary, Buckingham Palace, 23rd March 1923.

“Politicians debating the future of our monarchy resemble a poachers’ convention deliberating on the future role of the gamekeeper.” - Malcolm Winram, The Times, 9th March 1996.

“I devote all my attentions to improving the welfare of my subjects, since I wish to save my soul and go to Heaven.” - King Charles III of Spain, 1750.

“(King George VI) represented, for us, a model of character and deportment for those in high places. Our respect for him as an inspirational force was equalled by our affection for him as a gentle human being.” - General Dwight D Eisenhower, 7th February 1952.

“Impartiality and continuity are important aspects of government, and it is doubtful whether any form of democratic government yet discovered provides these to any greater extent than does constitutional monarchy.” - Sydney D Bailey, British Parliamentary Democracy, Harrap, 1959.

“This war would never have come unless, under American and modernising pressure, we had driven the Habsburgs out of Austria and the Hohenzollerns out of Germany. By making these vacuums we gave the opening for the Hitlerite monster to crawl out of its sewer on to the vacant thrones. No doubt these views are very unfashionable....” - Winston Churchill, 8th April 1945.

“The public are sick and tired of politics, they are sick and tired of the machinations of elected office in a media age, and I think it’s quite good having a Head of State that’s completely to one side of that.” - Simon Upton, New Zealand Environment Minister, March 1994.

“I notice that the constitutional monarchies are the most democratic countries of Europe. I can’t understand how there could be any debate about it.” - Jack Lang, French Minister of Culture, October 1993.

“If constitutional monarchy were to come to an end in Britain, parliamentary democracy would probably not survive it. It is, after all, through the monarchy that parliamentary control over the armed forces is mediated and maintained.” - Conor Cruise O’Brien, The Independent, 25th June 1993.

“If a nation does not want a monarchy, change the nation’s mind. If a nation does not need a monarchy, change the nation’s needs.” - Jan Christian Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa 1939-1948.

“I am personally still convinced that there are safeguards in the constitutional monarchy that an elected head of state just would not possess.” - Roger Stott MP, The Independent on Sunday, 7th September 1997.

“The Prince of Wales, as so often, has demonstrated his common sense in the words he spoke on Wednesday (during his visit to southern Africa). His demeanour is a perfect illustration of the benefits of a constitutional monarchy. In the heat of euphoria, in the midst of all the blather about a “new” this and a “new” that, his is a message of modernisation and wisdom. We would do well to heed it.” =
Kwasi Kwarteng, The Daily Telegraph, 31st October 1997.

“Anyone who fears that by becoming a republic we would condemn ourselves to a presidency held by a perpetual succession of superannuated politicians - at the moment presumably a choice between Heath, Kinnock, Thatcher and Major - is an optimist.
The alternative nightmare scenario looks not to the European model but to the American, where the essentials for election to the presidency appear to be ruthless ambition, access to vast wealth, reckless promises of patronage and preferment, effective control of a big slice of the media and a plausible TV manner.
We don’t know when we are well off.” - Gordon Medcalf, The Independent, 10th September 1997.

“The Queen Mother is one who knows how to be Queen, how to preserve mystery and yet be accessible, one who knows how to epitomise the higher aspirations of a people, yet retain both humanity and humour.” - Sir Roy Strong, January 1998.

“Being a nation of hypocrites, we have for years looked to the Royal Family to embody the values we’re not prepared to embody ourselves.” - Serena Mackesy, The Independent, 10th December 1996.

“The Queen’s appearances abroad do more in a day to gain goodwill for Britain than all the politicians and diplomats lumped together could achieve in years.” - Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Prime Minister 1963-64).

“I owe no allegiance to the Provisional Government established by a minority of the foreign population .... nor to anyone save the will of my people and the welfare of my country.” - Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai’i after the overthrow of the monarchy by US Marines in 1893.

“The Tarquins, meanwhile, had taken refuge at the court of Lars Porsena, the King of Clusium. By every means in their power they tried to win his support, now begging him not to allow fellow Etruscans, men of the same blood as himself, to continue living in penniless exile, now warning him of the dangerous consequences of letting republicanism go unavenged. The expulsion of kings they urged, once it had begun, might well become common practice; liberty was an attractive idea, and unless reigning monarchs defended their thrones as vigorously as states now seemed to be trying to destroy them, all order and subordination would collapse; nothing would be left in any country but flat equality; greatness and eminence would be gone for ever. Monarchy, the noblest thing in heaven or on earth, was nearing its end.” - Livy, The History of Rome from its Foundation, Book II.

“Those who imagine that a politician would make a better figurehead than a hereditary monarch might perhaps make the acquaintance of more politicians.” - Baroness Thatcher, November 1995.

“Why has destiny willed the downfall of this Sovereign? He is endowed with every kingly quality; he is courageous, generous, and magnanimous; he has a fine intellect and a well-balanced mind; and his name bears the tradition of a thousand years of history. Who better than he to symbolise the unity of the country, and act as supreme moderator in party strife?” - Aldo Castellani, Physician to Umberto II of Italy, June 1946.

“Thus the young royals are reproached for setting a bad example and failing to keep their marriages together by journalists who themselves lead Casanova-like lives.” - Richard Ingrams, The Observer, 31st March 1996.

“Canadians should realise when they are well off under the Monarchy. For the vast majority of Canadians, being a Monarchy is probably the only form of government acceptable to them. I have always been for parliamentary democracy and I think the institution of Monarchy with the Queen heading it all has served Canada well.” - Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, 1973.

“If to be a Republican is to hold, as a matter of theory at least, that is the best government for a free and intelligent people in which merit is to be preferred to birth, then I hold it an honour to be associated with nearly all the greatest thinkers of the country and to be a Republican. But if a Republican is one who would thrust aside the opinion and affront the sentiment of a huge majority of the nation, merely to carry to a logical conclusion an abstract theory, then I am far from being a Republican as any man can be.” - Rt Hon Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) in 1875.

“The State functions more easily if it can be personified. An elected President who has stepped out of politics, like the French President, is no substitute for a King who has stepped in by right of inheritance. Still less is an active politician, like the President of the United States, a substitute. We can damn the Government and cheer the King.” - W Ivor Jennings, The British Constitution, 1943.

“Modern monarchs neither have nor need executive power. Integrity and continuity are their stock in trade. These qualities are becoming more precious when European political parties, many of them in power for a decade or more, are increasingly judged arrogant or corrupt or both. Politicians could with profit learn not to treat modesty as merely a royal prerogative.” - Editorial, The Times, 2nd August 1993.

“To be a King is dedication, patience and moderation, self-denial, statesmanship, national unity and, above all, having faith in one’s people.” - HM King Simeon II of the Bulgarians, October 1968.

“The monarchy is a political referee, not a political player, and there is a lot of sense in choosing the referee by a different principle from the players. It lessens the danger that the referee might try to start playing.” - Earl Russell, The Spectator, 11th January 1997.

“Monarchy is first proved to be the true and rightful form of government. Men’s objects are best attained during universal peace: this is possible only under a monarch. And as he is the image of the divine unity, so man is through him made one, and brought most near to God. There must, in every system of forces, be a ‘primum mobile’; to be perfect, every organisation must have a centre, into which all is gathered, by which all is controlled. Justice is best secured by a supreme arbiter of disputes, himself untempted by ambition, since his dominion is already bounded only by ocean. Man is best and happiest when he is most free; to be free is to exist for one’s own sake. To this noblest end does the monarch and he alone guide us; other forms of government are perverted, and exist for the benefit of some class; he seeks the good of all alike, being to that very end appointed.” - James Bryce’s summary of Dante’s De Monarchia.

“I think it is a misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn’t. It exists in the interests of the people.” - HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1969.

“The fact that the Monarchy can unify in this way - can comfort and exhilarate and embrace - remains, as Cameron (James Cameron, republican journalist) put it, its great ‘gesture to all the forces of logic’, the power before which the neat rationality of republicanism wilts.” - Robert Harris, Mail on Sunday, 7th September 1997.

“For any country it is better to have a monarch than an elected president of the republic ..... monarchies provide the continuity of states, while prime ministers come and go. Elections are all very well for the designation of the prime minister or of the party which should take power, but not for the Head of State, who should be above party.
(Unlike a president) in all probability the monarch who succeeds to the throne has been trained for this exalted post by having spent many years by the side of his predecessor.
A monarch, however, cannot declare that he is ready to throw in his hand. The personal conveniences of sovereigns are of little importance. What is important is that Great Britain needs them.” - George Brown (Foreign Secretary in the Wilson government), Daily Mail, November 1969.

“Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. Yet even if they desire mere equality they cannot reach it. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.” - C S Lewis.

“The Royal tour (of South Africa) gives reassurance that when it comes to flying the flag nobody does it quite as well as the Queen.” - The Guardian, 22nd March 1995.

“A priest who is not a monarchist is not worthy to stand at the altar table. The priest who is a republican is always a man of poor faith. God himself anoints the monarch to be head of the kingdom, while the president is elected by the pride of the people. The king stays in power by implementing God’s commandments, while the president does so by pleasing those who rule. The king brings his faithful subjects to God, while the president takes them away from God.” - Neomartyr Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev, tortured and killed by Bolsheviks on 7th February 1918.

“The Queen was helpful, lively, fascinating to talk to, and very, very funny. The idea that she is out of touch is nonsense.” - Robert Wraith, painter of Her Majesty’s portrait, May 1998.

“The monarchical principle is laughed at by vulgar and foolish people in all the suburbs of Europe. It is hated in all the gutters of the world. The reason is simple. It enshrines with a fitting dignity and elaboration the principle of authority as something independent of this or that politician. It places it above attack. It symbolises and consecrates an attitude of mind essential to the happiness of peoples.” - D’Alvarez, Storm Over Europe, by Douglas Jerrold (1930), Chapter XII.

“The British love their Queen, their Queen Mother, Prince Charles, and the comforting security of their hereditary constitutional monarchy, an institution of which the characters are beyond the manipulation of man, an institution guaranteeing continuity, overriding the dissensions of politics. The best governments are constitutional monarchies, and we may yet see some restored in eastern Europe.” - Lord Menuhin, The Daily Telegraph, 2nd July 1998.

“In republics there is not a respect for authority, but a fear of power.” - Dr Samuel Johnson (Boswell’s Life, p 464).

“The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other.” - Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, 1867.

“I think the family has got to streamline itself but the core members have a brand personality that a business would die for. You might say they’re the brand identity of Britain: ask any American what they’d give to have a Royal Family.” - Jack Stevens, advertising agent, The Independent, 30th June 1998.

“Above the ebb and flow of party strife, the rise and fall of ministries, and individuals, the changes of public opinion or public fortune, the British Monarchy presides, ancient, calm and supreme within its function, over all the treasures that have been saved from the past and all the glories we write in the annals of our country.” - Sir Winston Churchill.

“To be a king and wear a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is a pleasure to them that bear it.” - Queen Elizabeth I.

“Parliaments and Ministers pass, but she abides in lifelong duty, and she is to them as the oak in the forest is to the annual harvest in the field.” - William Gladstone, writing about Queen Victoria.

“Russia under Nicholas II, with all the survivals of feudalism, had opposition political parties, independent trade unions and newspapers, a rather radical parliament and a modern legal system. Its agriculture was on the level of the USA, with industry rapidly approaching the West European level.
In the USSR there was total tyranny, no political liberties and practically no human rights. Its economy was not viable; agriculture was destroyed. The terror against the population reached a scope unprecedented in history.
No wonder many Russians look back at Tsarist Russia as a paradise lost.” - Oleg Gordievsky, letter to The Independent, 21st July 1998.

“Americans also seem to believe that the monarchy is a kind of mediaeval hangover, encumbered by premodern notions of decorum; the reality is that the British monarchy, for good or ill, is a modern political institution - perhaps the first modern political institution.” - Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, September 29th 1997.

“There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.” - Queen Elizabeth I, in 1564.

“I consider tolerance as one of the ruler’s first duties. I have always tried to be tolerant and to respect and treat with consideration all kinds of religious beliefs. In this respect the ruler must not permit any discrimination. During my long reign in Bulgaria there was no persecution of those belonging to another faith, of Mohammedans or Jews. Had there been any I would have punished those responsible with the greatest severity.” - Ferdinand I, King of the Bulgarians (Abdicated 1918), 1931.

“Be the person in relation to whom .... all things in your Kingdom are ordered; the person in whom your people perceive their own nationhood; the person by whose existence and dignity the national unity is upheld.” - General de Gaulle in a speech addressed to Queen Elizabeth II.

“We should all bear carefully in mind the constitutional safeguards inherent in the monarchy: While the Queen occupies the highest office of state, no one can take over the government. While she is head of the law, no politician can take over the courts. While she is ultimately in command of the Armed Forces, no would-be dictator can take over the Army.
The Queen’s only power, in short, is to deny power to anyone else. Any attempt to tamper with the royal prerogative must be firmly resisted.” - D G O Hughes, letter to The Daily Telegraph, 1st September 1998.

“Of all people on the face of the earth, the people of England are a King-loving and aristocracy-loving generation. However men may indulge in republican reveries in the closet, there is no permanent object of human sympathy but human beings, that is, no political doctrine’s constitution can retain a lasting grasp on the affections of the mass of mankind - save as they are identified with individuals.” - The Times, September 9th 1831, on the occasion of William IV’s Coronation.

“I have always been vaguely comforted by the sense that the Crown, and therefore the nation, endures like weathered granite through whatever turpitude and buffoonery may pass in Parliament. There is also something re-assuring in the knowledge that every Prime Minister, every week, has a confidential and not necessarily comfortable conversation with a monarch: that is to say with someone who is not their dependant, not their sycophant, who has no political affiliation beyond patriotism and who has seen governments rise and fall over decades. This sense of continuity, of a nation mature enough to be able to make electoral mistakes and later recant without risk of losing its identity, is profoundly useful.” - Libby Purves, The Times, 8th September 1998.

“A Republic of Great Britain Bill would dominate the lifetime of a parliament to the detriment of all other economic and social affairs, and if passed would change virtually every facet of British life beyond recognition. From postage stamps to the names of warships, every area of political, social, economic, financial, religious and civil life would be transformed, and potentially unleash political forces beyond our control or comprehension.” - Paul Richards, in the Fabian Society pamphlet “Long to reign over us?” August 1996.

“There is no doubt that of all the institutions which have grown up among us over the centuries or sprung into being in our lifetime, the Constitutional Monarchy is the most deeply founded and dearly cherished.
In the present generation it has acquired a meaning incomparably more powerful than anyone had dreamed possible in former times. The Crown has become the mysterious link, may I say the magic link, which unites our loosely bound but strongly interwoven Commonwealth of Nations, states and races. People who would never tolerate the assertions of a written Constitution which implies any diminution of their independence are the foremost to be proud of their loyalty to the Crown.” - Winston Churchill, February 1952.

“It is the merit of hereditary Royalty that its virtue as a moral force does not depend on the varying qualities of its representatives; but what a heaven-sent boon it is when those who are born into the Purple have gifts as truly royal as Prince Charles’s. Under a relentless scrutiny which gives no scope for fraud or fabrication, he has come across as what the British (no doubt with the overtones of apologetic self-parody which fashion requires) still call “a jolly good chap.” He is, to use another outmoded phrase, “a good all-rounder.” He flies, plays polo, took a creditable university degree, speaks impromptu with fluency, charm and wit, serves his country not only steadfastly but with lightness of touch and a disarming capacity for occasional uncalculated indiscretion, and he bears himself towards all who meet him with manly humility.” - Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, July 1981.

“Royalty is a Government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a Government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting things.” - Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution.

“The most odious and repressive regimes in the 20th century have ‘people’s’ or ‘democratic’ in their names, and that is no accident. The theoretical basis for democracy, egalitarianism, was responsible for the worst excesses of the French revolution; little blood was shed in support of liberty and fraternity. Had the hereditary principle been upheld in places as diverse as Libya, Greece, Albania, even Russia, had those monarchies not been overthrown and replaced by monstrous peoples’ regimes, the very lives, never mind prosperity, of those peoples would have been saved.
It is not necessary to try to prove the superiority of the hereditary principle over mass democracy, nor to spend much time over democracy’s supposed greatest achievement - the US.” - Peter Scanlan, letter to Country Life, 4th February 1999.

“Monarchy is often criticised for being a lottery, but so is an elected presidency. Britain last had to play the regal lottery in 1952, when it won handsomely. It has not had to gamble again since then. In the past 45 years Ireland has had to vote in seven presidents, few of them memorable, most of them just grazing.
We have had just one head of state, who has performed her duties superbly. Throughout a time of immense social change, indeed revolution, the centre of the British system has remained calm and outside party politics. That is an incalculable asset which no republic can come close to matching.” - William Shawcross, the article ‘The Irish case for monarchy’, The Daily Telegraph, 30th October 1997.

“Kings have advantages over democratic politicians. Although they must remain popular ..... they do not have to grub for votes. Unlike American senators, they are not obliged to start raising money for their re-election campaign days after the electorate has voted them in. Inheritance has its privileges, for both rulers and the ruled......For politicians in democracies, the business of government is all too often a great game, a chance to strut and posture their little moment on the stage, before retiring to directorships and lecture tours. No such retreat is possible for monarchs, so they are less likely to mess with the dodgy loan, or fool around with the intern. - Editorial, The Spectator, 13th February 1999.

“The monarchy’s most important constitutional function is simply to be there: by occupying the constitutional high ground, it denies access to more sinister forces; to a partisan or corrupt president, divisive of the nation; or even to a dictator. The Queen’s powers are a vital safeguard of democracy and liberty.” - Sir Michael Forsyth, speech 26th January, 1999.

“This country suffered greatly as a result of the abolition of the monarchy in 1970. We support it, because it is an institution the country needs, for its unity and its development.
There is a Cambodian proverb which says “While you are eating fruit, don’t forget who planted it”. We must not forget our King and his vital role in securing a victory for democracy in our country. If he had not remained here during the elections, or if he had not personally appealed to our citizens to vote, the population would without doubt have been afraid to participate and we would not have achieved the 90% turn out that we did. And perhaps the international observers would not have agreed to come.” - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, July 1998.

“For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free.” - Anatole France, first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1921.

“A sovereign must constantly heed the will of his people and at the same time care for the poor and humble; he is the servant of the law, and the mainstay of social peace and security.” - King Albert I of the Belgians, 1909.
“My grandfather was of peasant stock and I am prouder of that than of my throne. Crowns are lost, but the pure blood of those who have loved the earth does not die.” - King Peter I of Serbia.

“Parliamentary monarchy fulfils a role which an elected president never can. It formally limits the politicians’ thirst for power because with it the supreme office of the state is occupied once and for all.” - Max Weber, German economist.

“Anyone who has walked through the deserted Palaces of Versailles or Vienna realise how much a part of the life of a nation is lost when a monarchy is abolished. If Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle were transformed into museums, if one politician competed against another for the position of President of the Republic, Britain would be a sadder and less interesting place. Our politicians are not men such as could challenge more than a thousand years of history!” - William Rees-Mogg, former Editor of The Times.

“[A] king is a king, not because he is rich and powerful, not because he is a successful politician, not because he belongs to a particular creed or to a national group. He is King because he is born. And in choosing to leave the selection of their head of state to this most common denominator in the world - the accident of birth - Canadians implicitly proclaim their faith in human equality; their hope for the triumph of nature over political manoeuvre, over social and financial interest; for the victory of the human person.” - Jacques Monet, Canadian historian.

“It is helpful when the personality of the head of state is not disputed or contested periodically. The monarch is the incarnation of popular hope and the repository of national legitimacy.” - Henri, Comte de Paris (1908-1999).

“Have a care over my people. You have my people - do you that which I ought to do. They are my people. Every man oppresseth and spoileth them without mercy. They cannot revenge their quarrel, nor help themselves. See unto them - see unto them, for they are my charge. I charge you, even as God hath charged me. I care not for myself; my life is not dear to me. My care is for my people. I pray God, whoever succeedeth me, be as careful of them as I am.” - Queen Elizabeth I, addressing her judges, 1559.

“(Europe’s monarchs are) all there to listen to the voice of the people and, without influencing politics, to protect the nation. Their example gives some credibility to those who think that restoration of King Michael of Romania might help heal recent wounds. Does the monarchy have a future? It’s a very definite reality in today’s Europe, and without it Europe would be a very different place.” - Jean-Yves Masson, Eurostar Magazine, Autumn 2000

“No practising politician could possibly hope to be more deeply and widely informed about domestic, Commonwealth and international affairs than The Queen. She has sources of information available to nobody else.” - James Callaghan, British Prime Minister 1976-79.

“Not to be a republican at 20 shows lack of heart. To be one at 30 shows lack of head.” - Francois Guizot, French statesman 1787-1874.

“The hereditary head of state is like the senior member of a larger household, representing the national family and its ancestral inheritance while standing above its internal disputes and intervening only if a major emergency threatens its survival.” - Wade Smith, letter to The Daily Telegraph, 16th November 1999.

“The value of a constitutional monarchy is to provide a figurehead to embody a sense of nationhood beyond the divisions of temporal political argument. Republicans, who choose to give the impression that the British enjoy as much power as French peasants in the reign of Louis XVI, believe that in a democracy just about everything that moves has to be elected. This callow approach would result in a polarised and unpleasant society, of which the prime example is the United States.” - Melanie Phillips, The Sunday Times, 7th November 1999.

“Most Australians - contrary to what is constantly claimed - are not yet republicans. The Queen, touring the country with dignity at this slightly touchy time, says that she sees herself as the servant of the Australian Constitution and of the people. It is fair to suggest that many of Australia’s republican leaders do not quite see themselves as so answerable.” - Geoffrey Blainey, The Age, March 2000.

“I had been told the Queen is not interested in anything political and speaks only on social issues. On the contrary, the Queen is very well informed on a number of international issues and on security matters.” - Vladimir Putin, Russian president-elect, 18th April 2000

“Q is for the Queen who, in half a century, hasn’t put a foot wrong once. Her accumulated wisdom is extraordinary. Her charm is infinite. She is duty personified.” - The Duke of Devonshire, The Sunday Telegraph, 23rd April 2000.

“All of us who come here [to the UK] do so because the notion of Britishness is far more than merely ethnic - or at least we think it is. You may not go on about it as much as Americans do, but you also have a set of ideas attached to your national identity, and we admire them. We most admire, in fact, those bits of your national identity which you seem most keen on discarding: not just boring old political liberty and economic freedom, which we could get in America or lots of other places, but history, tradition, centuries of stability, tolerance of eccentricity, cars which drive on the wrong side of the road, flat green lawns and, above all, a Queen, together with her Heirs and Successors. After spending the first part of my life being a mere citizen, I am delighted to find myself a subject as well.” - Anne Applebaum (on becoming a British subject), The Spectator, 6th May 2000.

“I don’t think I really came to appreciate what royalty meant to you Brits until I came to Wimbledon, with all its pomp and circumstance. It is tradition, it is such an important factor here and you start thinking it’s not bad when you see the effect it has on people. I suppose the monarchy is a bit like grass at Wimbledon. How long will it last? My guess is that they will both go on for many, many years to come.” - John McEnroe, The Sunday Telegraph, 2nd July 2000.

“I have previously observed that British republicans seem to have a blind spot about the family: they do not grasp that the Royal Family touches some chord in most of us linked with family feeling. Even as an Irishwoman, I feel a warm sense of maternal protectiveness when I pass Buckingham Palace and see the Royal Standard flying. The Queen is at home, and a benign matriarchal wisdom prevails over the land.” - Mary Kenny, The Daily Telegraph, 1st July 2000.

“(Kaiser Franz Josef) was especially noted for his exceptional attitude to Jewish soldiers serving in the Austrian army, concerning himself over the availability of kosher food of the highest standard, assuring them of access to the necessary religious articles and ensuring unhindered Sabbath observance. .... Many of the world’s Jews referred to him as “The King of Jerusalem.”” - Menachem Gerlitz, The Heavenly City p.210, published 1979.

“They tell us that all Kings are bad; that God never made a King; and that all Kings are very expensive. But, that all Kings are bad cannot be true: because God himself is one of them; he calls himself King of Kings; which not only shows us he is a King, but he has other Kings under him: he is never called King of Republics. The Scripture calls Kings, the Lord’s Anointed; but who ever heard of an anointed Republic?” - Association Papers, London, 1793.

“Britain’s constitutional monarchy is one of its greatest strengths as well as one of its greatest attractions. The monarch is detached from party politics in a way no president could be. For years, the existence of a monarchy was the guarantee that no would-be dictator could stage a coup by deploying troops, as the monarch controls the armed services. No latter-day Cromwell could win power by force. We have had no civil war since Cromwell’s and much of that is due to having had a constitutional monarchy as a focus of loyalty.” - Ann Widdecombe MP, BBC History Magazine, September 2000.

"A Monarchy which above all, values the liberty of its subjects" - Marcus Aurelius (Stoic Philosopher and Emporer)

"A King's lot: to do good and be damned." - Antisthenes (philosopher)]]>
“In fact, after having abolished the monarchy, the best of all governments, [the French Revolution] had transferred all the public power to the people — the people... ever easy to deceive and to lead into every excess…” - Pope Pius VI, Pourquoi Notre Voix, 17th June 1793

“Monarchy is the one system of government where power is exercised for the good of all.” - Aristotle, 322-384 BC.

“I write by the light of two eternal truths: religion and monarchy, those twin essentials affirmed by contemporary events, and towards which every intelligent author should seek to direct our country.” - Honore de Balzac, 1842.

“I am a true servant of my King and country, not only as a dutiful subject but because I am a convinced monarchist, politically and intellectually. I mean by that, quite apart from myself and my relationship to my Bavarian and German fatherland, I believe monarchy to be the most successful form of government that the history of mankind has known.” - Adolf von Harnier, on trial for treason, Germany 1938.

“If the Allies at the peace table at Versailles had allowed a Hohenzollern, a Wittelsbach and a Habsburg to return to their thrones, there would have been no Hitler. A democratic basis of society might have been preserved by a crowned Weimar in contact with the victorious Allies.” - Winston Churchill, 26th April 1946.

“In Italy they are already speaking about a republic, but keep in mind that there is nothing less suited to Italians...... The Italians are individualists and a republic will become the cause of confusion and disorder. Certainly of corruption. I have no doubt of it. When all this comes to pass who will profit from it?” - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, 10th April 1944.

“Remember that life is made up of loyalty: loyalty to your friends; loyalty to things beautiful and good; loyalty to the country in which you live; loyalty to your King; and above all, for this holds all other loyalties together, loyalty to God.” -
Queen Mary, Buckingham Palace, 23rd March 1923.

“Politicians debating the future of our monarchy resemble a poachers’ convention deliberating on the future role of the gamekeeper.” - Malcolm Winram, The Times, 9th March 1996.

“I devote all my attentions to improving the welfare of my subjects, since I wish to save my soul and go to Heaven.” - King Charles III of Spain, 1750.

“(King George VI) represented, for us, a model of character and deportment for those in high places. Our respect for him as an inspirational force was equalled by our affection for him as a gentle human being.” - General Dwight D Eisenhower, 7th February 1952.

“Impartiality and continuity are important aspects of government, and it is doubtful whether any form of democratic government yet discovered provides these to any greater extent than does constitutional monarchy.” - Sydney D Bailey, British Parliamentary Democracy, Harrap, 1959.

“This war would never have come unless, under American and modernising pressure, we had driven the Habsburgs out of Austria and the Hohenzollerns out of Germany. By making these vacuums we gave the opening for the Hitlerite monster to crawl out of its sewer on to the vacant thrones. No doubt these views are very unfashionable....” - Winston Churchill, 8th April 1945.

“The public are sick and tired of politics, they are sick and tired of the machinations of elected office in a media age, and I think it’s quite good having a Head of State that’s completely to one side of that.” - Simon Upton, New Zealand Environment Minister, March 1994.

“I notice that the constitutional monarchies are the most democratic countries of Europe. I can’t understand how there could be any debate about it.” - Jack Lang, French Minister of Culture, October 1993.

“If constitutional monarchy were to come to an end in Britain, parliamentary democracy would probably not survive it. It is, after all, through the monarchy that parliamentary control over the armed forces is mediated and maintained.” - Conor Cruise O’Brien, The Independent, 25th June 1993.

“If a nation does not want a monarchy, change the nation’s mind. If a nation does not need a monarchy, change the nation’s needs.” - Jan Christian Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa 1939-1948.

“I am personally still convinced that there are safeguards in the constitutional monarchy that an elected head of state just would not possess.” - Roger Stott MP, The Independent on Sunday, 7th September 1997.

“The Prince of Wales, as so often, has demonstrated his common sense in the words he spoke on Wednesday (during his visit to southern Africa). His demeanour is a perfect illustration of the benefits of a constitutional monarchy. In the heat of euphoria, in the midst of all the blather about a “new” this and a “new” that, his is a message of modernisation and wisdom. We would do well to heed it.” =
Kwasi Kwarteng, The Daily Telegraph, 31st October 1997.

“Anyone who fears that by becoming a republic we would condemn ourselves to a presidency held by a perpetual succession of superannuated politicians - at the moment presumably a choice between Heath, Kinnock, Thatcher and Major - is an optimist.
The alternative nightmare scenario looks not to the European model but to the American, where the essentials for election to the presidency appear to be ruthless ambition, access to vast wealth, reckless promises of patronage and preferment, effective control of a big slice of the media and a plausible TV manner.
We don’t know when we are well off.” - Gordon Medcalf, The Independent, 10th September 1997.

“The Queen Mother is one who knows how to be Queen, how to preserve mystery and yet be accessible, one who knows how to epitomise the higher aspirations of a people, yet retain both humanity and humour.” - Sir Roy Strong, January 1998.

“Being a nation of hypocrites, we have for years looked to the Royal Family to embody the values we’re not prepared to embody ourselves.” - Serena Mackesy, The Independent, 10th December 1996.

“The Queen’s appearances abroad do more in a day to gain goodwill for Britain than all the politicians and diplomats lumped together could achieve in years.” - Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Prime Minister 1963-64).

“I owe no allegiance to the Provisional Government established by a minority of the foreign population .... nor to anyone save the will of my people and the welfare of my country.” - Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai’i after the overthrow of the monarchy by US Marines in 1893.

“The Tarquins, meanwhile, had taken refuge at the court of Lars Porsena, the King of Clusium. By every means in their power they tried to win his support, now begging him not to allow fellow Etruscans, men of the same blood as himself, to continue living in penniless exile, now warning him of the dangerous consequences of letting republicanism go unavenged. The expulsion of kings they urged, once it had begun, might well become common practice; liberty was an attractive idea, and unless reigning monarchs defended their thrones as vigorously as states now seemed to be trying to destroy them, all order and subordination would collapse; nothing would be left in any country but flat equality; greatness and eminence would be gone for ever. Monarchy, the noblest thing in heaven or on earth, was nearing its end.” - Livy, The History of Rome from its Foundation, Book II.

“Those who imagine that a politician would make a better figurehead than a hereditary monarch might perhaps make the acquaintance of more politicians.” - Baroness Thatcher, November 1995.

“Why has destiny willed the downfall of this Sovereign? He is endowed with every kingly quality; he is courageous, generous, and magnanimous; he has a fine intellect and a well-balanced mind; and his name bears the tradition of a thousand years of history. Who better than he to symbolise the unity of the country, and act as supreme moderator in party strife?” - Aldo Castellani, Physician to Umberto II of Italy, June 1946.

“Thus the young royals are reproached for setting a bad example and failing to keep their marriages together by journalists who themselves lead Casanova-like lives.” - Richard Ingrams, The Observer, 31st March 1996.

“Canadians should realise when they are well off under the Monarchy. For the vast majority of Canadians, being a Monarchy is probably the only form of government acceptable to them. I have always been for parliamentary democracy and I think the institution of Monarchy with the Queen heading it all has served Canada well.” - Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, 1973.

“If to be a Republican is to hold, as a matter of theory at least, that is the best government for a free and intelligent people in which merit is to be preferred to birth, then I hold it an honour to be associated with nearly all the greatest thinkers of the country and to be a Republican. But if a Republican is one who would thrust aside the opinion and affront the sentiment of a huge majority of the nation, merely to carry to a logical conclusion an abstract theory, then I am far from being a Republican as any man can be.” - Rt Hon Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) in 1875.

“The State functions more easily if it can be personified. An elected President who has stepped out of politics, like the French President, is no substitute for a King who has stepped in by right of inheritance. Still less is an active politician, like the President of the United States, a substitute. We can damn the Government and cheer the King.” - W Ivor Jennings, The British Constitution, 1943.

“Modern monarchs neither have nor need executive power. Integrity and continuity are their stock in trade. These qualities are becoming more precious when European political parties, many of them in power for a decade or more, are increasingly judged arrogant or corrupt or both. Politicians could with profit learn not to treat modesty as merely a royal prerogative.” - Editorial, The Times, 2nd August 1993.

“To be a King is dedication, patience and moderation, self-denial, statesmanship, national unity and, above all, having faith in one’s people.” - HM King Simeon II of the Bulgarians, October 1968.

“The monarchy is a political referee, not a political player, and there is a lot of sense in choosing the referee by a different principle from the players. It lessens the danger that the referee might try to start playing.” - Earl Russell, The Spectator, 11th January 1997.

“Monarchy is first proved to be the true and rightful form of government. Men’s objects are best attained during universal peace: this is possible only under a monarch. And as he is the image of the divine unity, so man is through him made one, and brought most near to God. There must, in every system of forces, be a ‘primum mobile’; to be perfect, every organisation must have a centre, into which all is gathered, by which all is controlled. Justice is best secured by a supreme arbiter of disputes, himself untempted by ambition, since his dominion is already bounded only by ocean. Man is best and happiest when he is most free; to be free is to exist for one’s own sake. To this noblest end does the monarch and he alone guide us; other forms of government are perverted, and exist for the benefit of some class; he seeks the good of all alike, being to that very end appointed.” - James Bryce’s summary of Dante’s De Monarchia.

“I think it is a misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn’t. It exists in the interests of the people.” - HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1969.

“The fact that the Monarchy can unify in this way - can comfort and exhilarate and embrace - remains, as Cameron (James Cameron, republican journalist) put it, its great ‘gesture to all the forces of logic’, the power before which the neat rationality of republicanism wilts.” - Robert Harris, Mail on Sunday, 7th September 1997.

“For any country it is better to have a monarch than an elected president of the republic ..... monarchies provide the continuity of states, while prime ministers come and go. Elections are all very well for the designation of the prime minister or of the party which should take power, but not for the Head of State, who should be above party.
(Unlike a president) in all probability the monarch who succeeds to the throne has been trained for this exalted post by having spent many years by the side of his predecessor.
A monarch, however, cannot declare that he is ready to throw in his hand. The personal conveniences of sovereigns are of little importance. What is important is that Great Britain needs them.” - George Brown (Foreign Secretary in the Wilson government), Daily Mail, November 1969.

“Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. Yet even if they desire mere equality they cannot reach it. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.” - C S Lewis.

“The Royal tour (of South Africa) gives reassurance that when it comes to flying the flag nobody does it quite as well as the Queen.” - The Guardian, 22nd March 1995.

“A priest who is not a monarchist is not worthy to stand at the altar table. The priest who is a republican is always a man of poor faith. God himself anoints the monarch to be head of the kingdom, while the president is elected by the pride of the people. The king stays in power by implementing God’s commandments, while the president does so by pleasing those who rule. The king brings his faithful subjects to God, while the president takes them away from God.” - Neomartyr Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev, tortured and killed by Bolsheviks on 7th February 1918.

“The Queen was helpful, lively, fascinating to talk to, and very, very funny. The idea that she is out of touch is nonsense.” - Robert Wraith, painter of Her Majesty’s portrait, May 1998.

“The monarchical principle is laughed at by vulgar and foolish people in all the suburbs of Europe. It is hated in all the gutters of the world. The reason is simple. It enshrines with a fitting dignity and elaboration the principle of authority as something independent of this or that politician. It places it above attack. It symbolises and consecrates an attitude of mind essential to the happiness of peoples.” - D’Alvarez, Storm Over Europe, by Douglas Jerrold (1930), Chapter XII.

“The British love their Queen, their Queen Mother, Prince Charles, and the comforting security of their hereditary constitutional monarchy, an institution of which the characters are beyond the manipulation of man, an institution guaranteeing continuity, overriding the dissensions of politics. The best governments are constitutional monarchies, and we may yet see some restored in eastern Europe.” - Lord Menuhin, The Daily Telegraph, 2nd July 1998.

“In republics there is not a respect for authority, but a fear of power.” - Dr Samuel Johnson (Boswell’s Life, p 464).

“The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other.” - Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, 1867.

“I think the family has got to streamline itself but the core members have a brand personality that a business would die for. You might say they’re the brand identity of Britain: ask any American what they’d give to have a Royal Family.” - Jack Stevens, advertising agent, The Independent, 30th June 1998.

“Above the ebb and flow of party strife, the rise and fall of ministries, and individuals, the changes of public opinion or public fortune, the British Monarchy presides, ancient, calm and supreme within its function, over all the treasures that have been saved from the past and all the glories we write in the annals of our country.” - Sir Winston Churchill.

“To be a king and wear a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is a pleasure to them that bear it.” - Queen Elizabeth I.

“Parliaments and Ministers pass, but she abides in lifelong duty, and she is to them as the oak in the forest is to the annual harvest in the field.” - William Gladstone, writing about Queen Victoria.

“Russia under Nicholas II, with all the survivals of feudalism, had opposition political parties, independent trade unions and newspapers, a rather radical parliament and a modern legal system. Its agriculture was on the level of the USA, with industry rapidly approaching the West European level.
In the USSR there was total tyranny, no political liberties and practically no human rights. Its economy was not viable; agriculture was destroyed. The terror against the population reached a scope unprecedented in history.
No wonder many Russians look back at Tsarist Russia as a paradise lost.” - Oleg Gordievsky, letter to The Independent, 21st July 1998.

“Americans also seem to believe that the monarchy is a kind of mediaeval hangover, encumbered by premodern notions of decorum; the reality is that the British monarchy, for good or ill, is a modern political institution - perhaps the first modern political institution.” - Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, September 29th 1997.

“There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.” - Queen Elizabeth I, in 1564.

“I consider tolerance as one of the ruler’s first duties. I have always tried to be tolerant and to respect and treat with consideration all kinds of religious beliefs. In this respect the ruler must not permit any discrimination. During my long reign in Bulgaria there was no persecution of those belonging to another faith, of Mohammedans or Jews. Had there been any I would have punished those responsible with the greatest severity.” - Ferdinand I, King of the Bulgarians (Abdicated 1918), 1931.

“Be the person in relation to whom .... all things in your Kingdom are ordered; the person in whom your people perceive their own nationhood; the person by whose existence and dignity the national unity is upheld.” - General de Gaulle in a speech addressed to Queen Elizabeth II.

“We should all bear carefully in mind the constitutional safeguards inherent in the monarchy: While the Queen occupies the highest office of state, no one can take over the government. While she is head of the law, no politician can take over the courts. While she is ultimately in command of the Armed Forces, no would-be dictator can take over the Army.
The Queen’s only power, in short, is to deny power to anyone else. Any attempt to tamper with the royal prerogative must be firmly resisted.” - D G O Hughes, letter to The Daily Telegraph, 1st September 1998.

“Of all people on the face of the earth, the people of England are a King-loving and aristocracy-loving generation. However men may indulge in republican reveries in the closet, there is no permanent object of human sympathy but human beings, that is, no political doctrine’s constitution can retain a lasting grasp on the affections of the mass of mankind - save as they are identified with individuals.” - The Times, September 9th 1831, on the occasion of William IV’s Coronation.

“I have always been vaguely comforted by the sense that the Crown, and therefore the nation, endures like weathered granite through whatever turpitude and buffoonery may pass in Parliament. There is also something re-assuring in the knowledge that every Prime Minister, every week, has a confidential and not necessarily comfortable conversation with a monarch: that is to say with someone who is not their dependant, not their sycophant, who has no political affiliation beyond patriotism and who has seen governments rise and fall over decades. This sense of continuity, of a nation mature enough to be able to make electoral mistakes and later recant without risk of losing its identity, is profoundly useful.” - Libby Purves, The Times, 8th September 1998.

“A Republic of Great Britain Bill would dominate the lifetime of a parliament to the detriment of all other economic and social affairs, and if passed would change virtually every facet of British life beyond recognition. From postage stamps to the names of warships, every area of political, social, economic, financial, religious and civil life would be transformed, and potentially unleash political forces beyond our control or comprehension.” - Paul Richards, in the Fabian Society pamphlet “Long to reign over us?” August 1996.

“There is no doubt that of all the institutions which have grown up among us over the centuries or sprung into being in our lifetime, the Constitutional Monarchy is the most deeply founded and dearly cherished.
In the present generation it has acquired a meaning incomparably more powerful than anyone had dreamed possible in former times. The Crown has become the mysterious link, may I say the magic link, which unites our loosely bound but strongly interwoven Commonwealth of Nations, states and races. People who would never tolerate the assertions of a written Constitution which implies any diminution of their independence are the foremost to be proud of their loyalty to the Crown.” - Winston Churchill, February 1952.

“It is the merit of hereditary Royalty that its virtue as a moral force does not depend on the varying qualities of its representatives; but what a heaven-sent boon it is when those who are born into the Purple have gifts as truly royal as Prince Charles’s. Under a relentless scrutiny which gives no scope for fraud or fabrication, he has come across as what the British (no doubt with the overtones of apologetic self-parody which fashion requires) still call “a jolly good chap.” He is, to use another outmoded phrase, “a good all-rounder.” He flies, plays polo, took a creditable university degree, speaks impromptu with fluency, charm and wit, serves his country not only steadfastly but with lightness of touch and a disarming capacity for occasional uncalculated indiscretion, and he bears himself towards all who meet him with manly humility.” - Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, July 1981.

“Royalty is a Government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a Government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting things.” - Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution.

“The most odious and repressive regimes in the 20th century have ‘people’s’ or ‘democratic’ in their names, and that is no accident. The theoretical basis for democracy, egalitarianism, was responsible for the worst excesses of the French revolution; little blood was shed in support of liberty and fraternity. Had the hereditary principle been upheld in places as diverse as Libya, Greece, Albania, even Russia, had those monarchies not been overthrown and replaced by monstrous peoples’ regimes, the very lives, never mind prosperity, of those peoples would have been saved.
It is not necessary to try to prove the superiority of the hereditary principle over mass democracy, nor to spend much time over democracy’s supposed greatest achievement - the US.” - Peter Scanlan, letter to Country Life, 4th February 1999.

“Monarchy is often criticised for being a lottery, but so is an elected presidency. Britain last had to play the regal lottery in 1952, when it won handsomely. It has not had to gamble again since then. In the past 45 years Ireland has had to vote in seven presidents, few of them memorable, most of them just grazing.
We have had just one head of state, who has performed her duties superbly. Throughout a time of immense social change, indeed revolution, the centre of the British system has remained calm and outside party politics. That is an incalculable asset which no republic can come close to matching.” - William Shawcross, the article ‘The Irish case for monarchy’, The Daily Telegraph, 30th October 1997.

“Kings have advantages over democratic politicians. Although they must remain popular ..... they do not have to grub for votes. Unlike American senators, they are not obliged to start raising money for their re-election campaign days after the electorate has voted them in. Inheritance has its privileges, for both rulers and the ruled......For politicians in democracies, the business of government is all too often a great game, a chance to strut and posture their little moment on the stage, before retiring to directorships and lecture tours. No such retreat is possible for monarchs, so they are less likely to mess with the dodgy loan, or fool around with the intern. - Editorial, The Spectator, 13th February 1999.

“The monarchy’s most important constitutional function is simply to be there: by occupying the constitutional high ground, it denies access to more sinister forces; to a partisan or corrupt president, divisive of the nation; or even to a dictator. The Queen’s powers are a vital safeguard of democracy and liberty.” - Sir Michael Forsyth, speech 26th January, 1999.

“This country suffered greatly as a result of the abolition of the monarchy in 1970. We support it, because it is an institution the country needs, for its unity and its development.
There is a Cambodian proverb which says “While you are eating fruit, don’t forget who planted it”. We must not forget our King and his vital role in securing a victory for democracy in our country. If he had not remained here during the elections, or if he had not personally appealed to our citizens to vote, the population would without doubt have been afraid to participate and we would not have achieved the 90% turn out that we did. And perhaps the international observers would not have agreed to come.” - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, July 1998.

“For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free.” - Anatole France, first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1921.

“A sovereign must constantly heed the will of his people and at the same time care for the poor and humble; he is the servant of the law, and the mainstay of social peace and security.” - King Albert I of the Belgians, 1909.
“My grandfather was of peasant stock and I am prouder of that than of my throne. Crowns are lost, but the pure blood of those who have loved the earth does not die.” - King Peter I of Serbia.

“Parliamentary monarchy fulfils a role which an elected president never can. It formally limits the politicians’ thirst for power because with it the supreme office of the state is occupied once and for all.” - Max Weber, German economist.

“Anyone who has walked through the deserted Palaces of Versailles or Vienna realise how much a part of the life of a nation is lost when a monarchy is abolished. If Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle were transformed into museums, if one politician competed against another for the position of President of the Republic, Britain would be a sadder and less interesting place. Our politicians are not men such as could challenge more than a thousand years of history!” - William Rees-Mogg, former Editor of The Times.

“[A] king is a king, not because he is rich and powerful, not because he is a successful politician, not because he belongs to a particular creed or to a national group. He is King because he is born. And in choosing to leave the selection of their head of state to this most common denominator in the world - the accident of birth - Canadians implicitly proclaim their faith in human equality; their hope for the triumph of nature over political manoeuvre, over social and financial interest; for the victory of the human person.” - Jacques Monet, Canadian historian.

“It is helpful when the personality of the head of state is not disputed or contested periodically. The monarch is the incarnation of popular hope and the repository of national legitimacy.” - Henri, Comte de Paris (1908-1999).

“Have a care over my people. You have my people - do you that which I ought to do. They are my people. Every man oppresseth and spoileth them without mercy. They cannot revenge their quarrel, nor help themselves. See unto them - see unto them, for they are my charge. I charge you, even as God hath charged me. I care not for myself; my life is not dear to me. My care is for my people. I pray God, whoever succeedeth me, be as careful of them as I am.” - Queen Elizabeth I, addressing her judges, 1559.

“(Europe’s monarchs are) all there to listen to the voice of the people and, without influencing politics, to protect the nation. Their example gives some credibility to those who think that restoration of King Michael of Romania might help heal recent wounds. Does the monarchy have a future? It’s a very definite reality in today’s Europe, and without it Europe would be a very different place.” - Jean-Yves Masson, Eurostar Magazine, Autumn 2000

“No practising politician could possibly hope to be more deeply and widely informed about domestic, Commonwealth and international affairs than The Queen. She has sources of information available to nobody else.” - James Callaghan, British Prime Minister 1976-79.

“Not to be a republican at 20 shows lack of heart. To be one at 30 shows lack of head.” - Francois Guizot, French statesman 1787-1874.

“The hereditary head of state is like the senior member of a larger household, representing the national family and its ancestral inheritance while standing above its internal disputes and intervening only if a major emergency threatens its survival.” - Wade Smith, letter to The Daily Telegraph, 16th November 1999.

“The value of a constitutional monarchy is to provide a figurehead to embody a sense of nationhood beyond the divisions of temporal political argument. Republicans, who choose to give the impression that the British enjoy as much power as French peasants in the reign of Louis XVI, believe that in a democracy just about everything that moves has to be elected. This callow approach would result in a polarised and unpleasant society, of which the prime example is the United States.” - Melanie Phillips, The Sunday Times, 7th November 1999.

“Most Australians - contrary to what is constantly claimed - are not yet republicans. The Queen, touring the country with dignity at this slightly touchy time, says that she sees herself as the servant of the Australian Constitution and of the people. It is fair to suggest that many of Australia’s republican leaders do not quite see themselves as so answerable.” - Geoffrey Blainey, The Age, March 2000.

“I had been told the Queen is not interested in anything political and speaks only on social issues. On the contrary, the Queen is very well informed on a number of international issues and on security matters.” - Vladimir Putin, Russian president-elect, 18th April 2000

“Q is for the Queen who, in half a century, hasn’t put a foot wrong once. Her accumulated wisdom is extraordinary. Her charm is infinite. She is duty personified.” - The Duke of Devonshire, The Sunday Telegraph, 23rd April 2000.

“All of us who come here [to the UK] do so because the notion of Britishness is far more than merely ethnic - or at least we think it is. You may not go on about it as much as Americans do, but you also have a set of ideas attached to your national identity, and we admire them. We most admire, in fact, those bits of your national identity which you seem most keen on discarding: not just boring old political liberty and economic freedom, which we could get in America or lots of other places, but history, tradition, centuries of stability, tolerance of eccentricity, cars which drive on the wrong side of the road, flat green lawns and, above all, a Queen, together with her Heirs and Successors. After spending the first part of my life being a mere citizen, I am delighted to find myself a subject as well.” - Anne Applebaum (on becoming a British subject), The Spectator, 6th May 2000.

“I don’t think I really came to appreciate what royalty meant to you Brits until I came to Wimbledon, with all its pomp and circumstance. It is tradition, it is such an important factor here and you start thinking it’s not bad when you see the effect it has on people. I suppose the monarchy is a bit like grass at Wimbledon. How long will it last? My guess is that they will both go on for many, many years to come.” - John McEnroe, The Sunday Telegraph, 2nd July 2000.

“I have previously observed that British republicans seem to have a blind spot about the family: they do not grasp that the Royal Family touches some chord in most of us linked with family feeling. Even as an Irishwoman, I feel a warm sense of maternal protectiveness when I pass Buckingham Palace and see the Royal Standard flying. The Queen is at home, and a benign matriarchal wisdom prevails over the land.” - Mary Kenny, The Daily Telegraph, 1st July 2000.

“(Kaiser Franz Josef) was especially noted for his exceptional attitude to Jewish soldiers serving in the Austrian army, concerning himself over the availability of kosher food of the highest standard, assuring them of access to the necessary religious articles and ensuring unhindered Sabbath observance. .... Many of the world’s Jews referred to him as “The King of Jerusalem.”” - Menachem Gerlitz, The Heavenly City p.210, published 1979.

“They tell us that all Kings are bad; that God never made a King; and that all Kings are very expensive. But, that all Kings are bad cannot be true: because God himself is one of them; he calls himself King of Kings; which not only shows us he is a King, but he has other Kings under him: he is never called King of Republics. The Scripture calls Kings, the Lord’s Anointed; but who ever heard of an anointed Republic?” - Association Papers, London, 1793.

“Britain’s constitutional monarchy is one of its greatest strengths as well as one of its greatest attractions. The monarch is detached from party politics in a way no president could be. For years, the existence of a monarchy was the guarantee that no would-be dictator could stage a coup by deploying troops, as the monarch controls the armed services. No latter-day Cromwell could win power by force. We have had no civil war since Cromwell’s and much of that is due to having had a constitutional monarchy as a focus of loyalty.” - Ann Widdecombe MP, BBC History Magazine, September 2000.

"A Monarchy which above all, values the liberty of its subjects" - Marcus Aurelius (Stoic Philosopher and Emporer)

"A King's lot: to do good and be damned." - Antisthenes (philosopher)]]> <![CDATA[Monarchist Quotes]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=6 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:43:16 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=6
“In fact, after having abolished the monarchy, the best of all governments, [the French Revolution] had transferred all the public power to the people — the people... ever easy to deceive and to lead into every excess…” - Pope Pius VI, Pourquoi Notre Voix, 17th June 1793

“Monarchy is the one system of government where power is exercised for the good of all.” - Aristotle, 322-384 BC.

“I write by the light of two eternal truths: religion and monarchy, those twin essentials affirmed by contemporary events, and towards which every intelligent author should seek to direct our country.” - Honore de Balzac, 1842.

“I am a true servant of my King and country, not only as a dutiful subject but because I am a convinced monarchist, politically and intellectually. I mean by that, quite apart from myself and my relationship to my Bavarian and German fatherland, I believe monarchy to be the most successful form of government that the history of mankind has known.” - Adolf von Harnier, on trial for treason, Germany 1938.

“If the Allies at the peace table at Versailles had allowed a Hohenzollern, a Wittelsbach and a Habsburg to return to their thrones, there would have been no Hitler. A democratic basis of society might have been preserved by a crowned Weimar in contact with the victorious Allies.” - Winston Churchill, 26th April 1946.

“In Italy they are already speaking about a republic, but keep in mind that there is nothing less suited to Italians...... The Italians are individualists and a republic will become the cause of confusion and disorder. Certainly of corruption. I have no doubt of it. When all this comes to pass who will profit from it?” - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, 10th April 1944.

“Remember that life is made up of loyalty: loyalty to your friends; loyalty to things beautiful and good; loyalty to the country in which you live; loyalty to your King; and above all, for this holds all other loyalties together, loyalty to God.” -
Queen Mary, Buckingham Palace, 23rd March 1923.

“Politicians debating the future of our monarchy resemble a poachers’ convention deliberating on the future role of the gamekeeper.” - Malcolm Winram, The Times, 9th March 1996.

“I devote all my attentions to improving the welfare of my subjects, since I wish to save my soul and go to Heaven.” - King Charles III of Spain, 1750.

“(King George VI) represented, for us, a model of character and deportment for those in high places. Our respect for him as an inspirational force was equalled by our affection for him as a gentle human being.” - General Dwight D Eisenhower, 7th February 1952.

“Impartiality and continuity are important aspects of government, and it is doubtful whether any form of democratic government yet discovered provides these to any greater extent than does constitutional monarchy.” - Sydney D Bailey, British Parliamentary Democracy, Harrap, 1959.

“This war would never have come unless, under American and modernising pressure, we had driven the Habsburgs out of Austria and the Hohenzollerns out of Germany. By making these vacuums we gave the opening for the Hitlerite monster to crawl out of its sewer on to the vacant thrones. No doubt these views are very unfashionable....” - Winston Churchill, 8th April 1945.

“The public are sick and tired of politics, they are sick and tired of the machinations of elected office in a media age, and I think it’s quite good having a Head of State that’s completely to one side of that.” - Simon Upton, New Zealand Environment Minister, March 1994.

“I notice that the constitutional monarchies are the most democratic countries of Europe. I can’t understand how there could be any debate about it.” - Jack Lang, French Minister of Culture, October 1993.

“If constitutional monarchy were to come to an end in Britain, parliamentary democracy would probably not survive it. It is, after all, through the monarchy that parliamentary control over the armed forces is mediated and maintained.” - Conor Cruise O’Brien, The Independent, 25th June 1993.

“If a nation does not want a monarchy, change the nation’s mind. If a nation does not need a monarchy, change the nation’s needs.” - Jan Christian Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa 1939-1948.

“I am personally still convinced that there are safeguards in the constitutional monarchy that an elected head of state just would not possess.” - Roger Stott MP, The Independent on Sunday, 7th September 1997.

“The Prince of Wales, as so often, has demonstrated his common sense in the words he spoke on Wednesday (during his visit to southern Africa). His demeanour is a perfect illustration of the benefits of a constitutional monarchy. In the heat of euphoria, in the midst of all the blather about a “new” this and a “new” that, his is a message of modernisation and wisdom. We would do well to heed it.” =
Kwasi Kwarteng, The Daily Telegraph, 31st October 1997.

“Anyone who fears that by becoming a republic we would condemn ourselves to a presidency held by a perpetual succession of superannuated politicians - at the moment presumably a choice between Heath, Kinnock, Thatcher and Major - is an optimist.
The alternative nightmare scenario looks not to the European model but to the American, where the essentials for election to the presidency appear to be ruthless ambition, access to vast wealth, reckless promises of patronage and preferment, effective control of a big slice of the media and a plausible TV manner.
We don’t know when we are well off.” - Gordon Medcalf, The Independent, 10th September 1997.

“The Queen Mother is one who knows how to be Queen, how to preserve mystery and yet be accessible, one who knows how to epitomise the higher aspirations of a people, yet retain both humanity and humour.” - Sir Roy Strong, January 1998.

“Being a nation of hypocrites, we have for years looked to the Royal Family to embody the values we’re not prepared to embody ourselves.” - Serena Mackesy, The Independent, 10th December 1996.

“The Queen’s appearances abroad do more in a day to gain goodwill for Britain than all the politicians and diplomats lumped together could achieve in years.” - Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Prime Minister 1963-64).

“I owe no allegiance to the Provisional Government established by a minority of the foreign population .... nor to anyone save the will of my people and the welfare of my country.” - Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai’i after the overthrow of the monarchy by US Marines in 1893.

“The Tarquins, meanwhile, had taken refuge at the court of Lars Porsena, the King of Clusium. By every means in their power they tried to win his support, now begging him not to allow fellow Etruscans, men of the same blood as himself, to continue living in penniless exile, now warning him of the dangerous consequences of letting republicanism go unavenged. The expulsion of kings they urged, once it had begun, might well become common practice; liberty was an attractive idea, and unless reigning monarchs defended their thrones as vigorously as states now seemed to be trying to destroy them, all order and subordination would collapse; nothing would be left in any country but flat equality; greatness and eminence would be gone for ever. Monarchy, the noblest thing in heaven or on earth, was nearing its end.” - Livy, The History of Rome from its Foundation, Book II.

“Those who imagine that a politician would make a better figurehead than a hereditary monarch might perhaps make the acquaintance of more politicians.” - Baroness Thatcher, November 1995.

“Why has destiny willed the downfall of this Sovereign? He is endowed with every kingly quality; he is courageous, generous, and magnanimous; he has a fine intellect and a well-balanced mind; and his name bears the tradition of a thousand years of history. Who better than he to symbolise the unity of the country, and act as supreme moderator in party strife?” - Aldo Castellani, Physician to Umberto II of Italy, June 1946.

“Thus the young royals are reproached for setting a bad example and failing to keep their marriages together by journalists who themselves lead Casanova-like lives.” - Richard Ingrams, The Observer, 31st March 1996.

“Canadians should realise when they are well off under the Monarchy. For the vast majority of Canadians, being a Monarchy is probably the only form of government acceptable to them. I have always been for parliamentary democracy and I think the institution of Monarchy with the Queen heading it all has served Canada well.” - Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, 1973.

“If to be a Republican is to hold, as a matter of theory at least, that is the best government for a free and intelligent people in which merit is to be preferred to birth, then I hold it an honour to be associated with nearly all the greatest thinkers of the country and to be a Republican. But if a Republican is one who would thrust aside the opinion and affront the sentiment of a huge majority of the nation, merely to carry to a logical conclusion an abstract theory, then I am far from being a Republican as any man can be.” - Rt Hon Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) in 1875.

“The State functions more easily if it can be personified. An elected President who has stepped out of politics, like the French President, is no substitute for a King who has stepped in by right of inheritance. Still less is an active politician, like the President of the United States, a substitute. We can damn the Government and cheer the King.” - W Ivor Jennings, The British Constitution, 1943.

“Modern monarchs neither have nor need executive power. Integrity and continuity are their stock in trade. These qualities are becoming more precious when European political parties, many of them in power for a decade or more, are increasingly judged arrogant or corrupt or both. Politicians could with profit learn not to treat modesty as merely a royal prerogative.” - Editorial, The Times, 2nd August 1993.

“To be a King is dedication, patience and moderation, self-denial, statesmanship, national unity and, above all, having faith in one’s people.” - HM King Simeon II of the Bulgarians, October 1968.

“The monarchy is a political referee, not a political player, and there is a lot of sense in choosing the referee by a different principle from the players. It lessens the danger that the referee might try to start playing.” - Earl Russell, The Spectator, 11th January 1997.

“Monarchy is first proved to be the true and rightful form of government. Men’s objects are best attained during universal peace: this is possible only under a monarch. And as he is the image of the divine unity, so man is through him made one, and brought most near to God. There must, in every system of forces, be a ‘primum mobile’; to be perfect, every organisation must have a centre, into which all is gathered, by which all is controlled. Justice is best secured by a supreme arbiter of disputes, himself untempted by ambition, since his dominion is already bounded only by ocean. Man is best and happiest when he is most free; to be free is to exist for one’s own sake. To this noblest end does the monarch and he alone guide us; other forms of government are perverted, and exist for the benefit of some class; he seeks the good of all alike, being to that very end appointed.” - James Bryce’s summary of Dante’s De Monarchia.

“I think it is a misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn’t. It exists in the interests of the people.” - HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1969.

“The fact that the Monarchy can unify in this way - can comfort and exhilarate and embrace - remains, as Cameron (James Cameron, republican journalist) put it, its great ‘gesture to all the forces of logic’, the power before which the neat rationality of republicanism wilts.” - Robert Harris, Mail on Sunday, 7th September 1997.

“For any country it is better to have a monarch than an elected president of the republic ..... monarchies provide the continuity of states, while prime ministers come and go. Elections are all very well for the designation of the prime minister or of the party which should take power, but not for the Head of State, who should be above party.
(Unlike a president) in all probability the monarch who succeeds to the throne has been trained for this exalted post by having spent many years by the side of his predecessor.
A monarch, however, cannot declare that he is ready to throw in his hand. The personal conveniences of sovereigns are of little importance. What is important is that Great Britain needs them.” - George Brown (Foreign Secretary in the Wilson government), Daily Mail, November 1969.

“Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. Yet even if they desire mere equality they cannot reach it. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.” - C S Lewis.

“The Royal tour (of South Africa) gives reassurance that when it comes to flying the flag nobody does it quite as well as the Queen.” - The Guardian, 22nd March 1995.

“A priest who is not a monarchist is not worthy to stand at the altar table. The priest who is a republican is always a man of poor faith. God himself anoints the monarch to be head of the kingdom, while the president is elected by the pride of the people. The king stays in power by implementing God’s commandments, while the president does so by pleasing those who rule. The king brings his faithful subjects to God, while the president takes them away from God.” - Neomartyr Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev, tortured and killed by Bolsheviks on 7th February 1918.

“The Queen was helpful, lively, fascinating to talk to, and very, very funny. The idea that she is out of touch is nonsense.” - Robert Wraith, painter of Her Majesty’s portrait, May 1998.

“The monarchical principle is laughed at by vulgar and foolish people in all the suburbs of Europe. It is hated in all the gutters of the world. The reason is simple. It enshrines with a fitting dignity and elaboration the principle of authority as something independent of this or that politician. It places it above attack. It symbolises and consecrates an attitude of mind essential to the happiness of peoples.” - D’Alvarez, Storm Over Europe, by Douglas Jerrold (1930), Chapter XII.

“The British love their Queen, their Queen Mother, Prince Charles, and the comforting security of their hereditary constitutional monarchy, an institution of which the characters are beyond the manipulation of man, an institution guaranteeing continuity, overriding the dissensions of politics. The best governments are constitutional monarchies, and we may yet see some restored in eastern Europe.” - Lord Menuhin, The Daily Telegraph, 2nd July 1998.

“In republics there is not a respect for authority, but a fear of power.” - Dr Samuel Johnson (Boswell’s Life, p 464).

“The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other.” - Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, 1867.

“I think the family has got to streamline itself but the core members have a brand personality that a business would die for. You might say they’re the brand identity of Britain: ask any American what they’d give to have a Royal Family.” - Jack Stevens, advertising agent, The Independent, 30th June 1998.

“Above the ebb and flow of party strife, the rise and fall of ministries, and individuals, the changes of public opinion or public fortune, the British Monarchy presides, ancient, calm and supreme within its function, over all the treasures that have been saved from the past and all the glories we write in the annals of our country.” - Sir Winston Churchill.

“To be a king and wear a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is a pleasure to them that bear it.” - Queen Elizabeth I.

“Parliaments and Ministers pass, but she abides in lifelong duty, and she is to them as the oak in the forest is to the annual harvest in the field.” - William Gladstone, writing about Queen Victoria.

“Russia under Nicholas II, with all the survivals of feudalism, had opposition political parties, independent trade unions and newspapers, a rather radical parliament and a modern legal system. Its agriculture was on the level of the USA, with industry rapidly approaching the West European level.
In the USSR there was total tyranny, no political liberties and practically no human rights. Its economy was not viable; agriculture was destroyed. The terror against the population reached a scope unprecedented in history.
No wonder many Russians look back at Tsarist Russia as a paradise lost.” - Oleg Gordievsky, letter to The Independent, 21st July 1998.

“Americans also seem to believe that the monarchy is a kind of mediaeval hangover, encumbered by premodern notions of decorum; the reality is that the British monarchy, for good or ill, is a modern political institution - perhaps the first modern political institution.” - Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, September 29th 1997.

“There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.” - Queen Elizabeth I, in 1564.

“I consider tolerance as one of the ruler’s first duties. I have always tried to be tolerant and to respect and treat with consideration all kinds of religious beliefs. In this respect the ruler must not permit any discrimination. During my long reign in Bulgaria there was no persecution of those belonging to another faith, of Mohammedans or Jews. Had there been any I would have punished those responsible with the greatest severity.” - Ferdinand I, King of the Bulgarians (Abdicated 1918), 1931.

“Be the person in relation to whom .... all things in your Kingdom are ordered; the person in whom your people perceive their own nationhood; the person by whose existence and dignity the national unity is upheld.” - General de Gaulle in a speech addressed to Queen Elizabeth II.

“We should all bear carefully in mind the constitutional safeguards inherent in the monarchy: While the Queen occupies the highest office of state, no one can take over the government. While she is head of the law, no politician can take over the courts. While she is ultimately in command of the Armed Forces, no would-be dictator can take over the Army.
The Queen’s only power, in short, is to deny power to anyone else. Any attempt to tamper with the royal prerogative must be firmly resisted.” - D G O Hughes, letter to The Daily Telegraph, 1st September 1998.

“Of all people on the face of the earth, the people of England are a King-loving and aristocracy-loving generation. However men may indulge in republican reveries in the closet, there is no permanent object of human sympathy but human beings, that is, no political doctrine’s constitution can retain a lasting grasp on the affections of the mass of mankind - save as they are identified with individuals.” - The Times, September 9th 1831, on the occasion of William IV’s Coronation.

“I have always been vaguely comforted by the sense that the Crown, and therefore the nation, endures like weathered granite through whatever turpitude and buffoonery may pass in Parliament. There is also something re-assuring in the knowledge that every Prime Minister, every week, has a confidential and not necessarily comfortable conversation with a monarch: that is to say with someone who is not their dependant, not their sycophant, who has no political affiliation beyond patriotism and who has seen governments rise and fall over decades. This sense of continuity, of a nation mature enough to be able to make electoral mistakes and later recant without risk of losing its identity, is profoundly useful.” - Libby Purves, The Times, 8th September 1998.

“A Republic of Great Britain Bill would dominate the lifetime of a parliament to the detriment of all other economic and social affairs, and if passed would change virtually every facet of British life beyond recognition. From postage stamps to the names of warships, every area of political, social, economic, financial, religious and civil life would be transformed, and potentially unleash political forces beyond our control or comprehension.” - Paul Richards, in the Fabian Society pamphlet “Long to reign over us?” August 1996.

“There is no doubt that of all the institutions which have grown up among us over the centuries or sprung into being in our lifetime, the Constitutional Monarchy is the most deeply founded and dearly cherished.
In the present generation it has acquired a meaning incomparably more powerful than anyone had dreamed possible in former times. The Crown has become the mysterious link, may I say the magic link, which unites our loosely bound but strongly interwoven Commonwealth of Nations, states and races. People who would never tolerate the assertions of a written Constitution which implies any diminution of their independence are the foremost to be proud of their loyalty to the Crown.” - Winston Churchill, February 1952.

“It is the merit of hereditary Royalty that its virtue as a moral force does not depend on the varying qualities of its representatives; but what a heaven-sent boon it is when those who are born into the Purple have gifts as truly royal as Prince Charles’s. Under a relentless scrutiny which gives no scope for fraud or fabrication, he has come across as what the British (no doubt with the overtones of apologetic self-parody which fashion requires) still call “a jolly good chap.” He is, to use another outmoded phrase, “a good all-rounder.” He flies, plays polo, took a creditable university degree, speaks impromptu with fluency, charm and wit, serves his country not only steadfastly but with lightness of touch and a disarming capacity for occasional uncalculated indiscretion, and he bears himself towards all who meet him with manly humility.” - Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, July 1981.

“Royalty is a Government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a Government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting things.” - Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution.

“The most odious and repressive regimes in the 20th century have ‘people’s’ or ‘democratic’ in their names, and that is no accident. The theoretical basis for democracy, egalitarianism, was responsible for the worst excesses of the French revolution; little blood was shed in support of liberty and fraternity. Had the hereditary principle been upheld in places as diverse as Libya, Greece, Albania, even Russia, had those monarchies not been overthrown and replaced by monstrous peoples’ regimes, the very lives, never mind prosperity, of those peoples would have been saved.
It is not necessary to try to prove the superiority of the hereditary principle over mass democracy, nor to spend much time over democracy’s supposed greatest achievement - the US.” - Peter Scanlan, letter to Country Life, 4th February 1999.

“Monarchy is often criticised for being a lottery, but so is an elected presidency. Britain last had to play the regal lottery in 1952, when it won handsomely. It has not had to gamble again since then. In the past 45 years Ireland has had to vote in seven presidents, few of them memorable, most of them just grazing.
We have had just one head of state, who has performed her duties superbly. Throughout a time of immense social change, indeed revolution, the centre of the British system has remained calm and outside party politics. That is an incalculable asset which no republic can come close to matching.” - William Shawcross, the article ‘The Irish case for monarchy’, The Daily Telegraph, 30th October 1997.

“Kings have advantages over democratic politicians. Although they must remain popular ..... they do not have to grub for votes. Unlike American senators, they are not obliged to start raising money for their re-election campaign days after the electorate has voted them in. Inheritance has its privileges, for both rulers and the ruled......For politicians in democracies, the business of government is all too often a great game, a chance to strut and posture their little moment on the stage, before retiring to directorships and lecture tours. No such retreat is possible for monarchs, so they are less likely to mess with the dodgy loan, or fool around with the intern. - Editorial, The Spectator, 13th February 1999.

“The monarchy’s most important constitutional function is simply to be there: by occupying the constitutional high ground, it denies access to more sinister forces; to a partisan or corrupt president, divisive of the nation; or even to a dictator. The Queen’s powers are a vital safeguard of democracy and liberty.” - Sir Michael Forsyth, speech 26th January, 1999.

“This country suffered greatly as a result of the abolition of the monarchy in 1970. We support it, because it is an institution the country needs, for its unity and its development.
There is a Cambodian proverb which says “While you are eating fruit, don’t forget who planted it”. We must not forget our King and his vital role in securing a victory for democracy in our country. If he had not remained here during the elections, or if he had not personally appealed to our citizens to vote, the population would without doubt have been afraid to participate and we would not have achieved the 90% turn out that we did. And perhaps the international observers would not have agreed to come.” - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, July 1998.

“For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free.” - Anatole France, first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1921.

“A sovereign must constantly heed the will of his people and at the same time care for the poor and humble; he is the servant of the law, and the mainstay of social peace and security.” - King Albert I of the Belgians, 1909.
“My grandfather was of peasant stock and I am prouder of that than of my throne. Crowns are lost, but the pure blood of those who have loved the earth does not die.” - King Peter I of Serbia.

“Parliamentary monarchy fulfils a role which an elected president never can. It formally limits the politicians’ thirst for power because with it the supreme office of the state is occupied once and for all.” - Max Weber, German economist.

“Anyone who has walked through the deserted Palaces of Versailles or Vienna realise how much a part of the life of a nation is lost when a monarchy is abolished. If Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle were transformed into museums, if one politician competed against another for the position of President of the Republic, Britain would be a sadder and less interesting place. Our politicians are not men such as could challenge more than a thousand years of history!” - William Rees-Mogg, former Editor of The Times.

“[A] king is a king, not because he is rich and powerful, not because he is a successful politician, not because he belongs to a particular creed or to a national group. He is King because he is born. And in choosing to leave the selection of their head of state to this most common denominator in the world - the accident of birth - Canadians implicitly proclaim their faith in human equality; their hope for the triumph of nature over political manoeuvre, over social and financial interest; for the victory of the human person.” - Jacques Monet, Canadian historian.

“It is helpful when the personality of the head of state is not disputed or contested periodically. The monarch is the incarnation of popular hope and the repository of national legitimacy.” - Henri, Comte de Paris (1908-1999).

“Have a care over my people. You have my people - do you that which I ought to do. They are my people. Every man oppresseth and spoileth them without mercy. They cannot revenge their quarrel, nor help themselves. See unto them - see unto them, for they are my charge. I charge you, even as God hath charged me. I care not for myself; my life is not dear to me. My care is for my people. I pray God, whoever succeedeth me, be as careful of them as I am.” - Queen Elizabeth I, addressing her judges, 1559.

“(Europe’s monarchs are) all there to listen to the voice of the people and, without influencing politics, to protect the nation. Their example gives some credibility to those who think that restoration of King Michael of Romania might help heal recent wounds. Does the monarchy have a future? It’s a very definite reality in today’s Europe, and without it Europe would be a very different place.” - Jean-Yves Masson, Eurostar Magazine, Autumn 2000

“No practising politician could possibly hope to be more deeply and widely informed about domestic, Commonwealth and international affairs than The Queen. She has sources of information available to nobody else.” - James Callaghan, British Prime Minister 1976-79.

“Not to be a republican at 20 shows lack of heart. To be one at 30 shows lack of head.” - Francois Guizot, French statesman 1787-1874.

“The hereditary head of state is like the senior member of a larger household, representing the national family and its ancestral inheritance while standing above its internal disputes and intervening only if a major emergency threatens its survival.” - Wade Smith, letter to The Daily Telegraph, 16th November 1999.

“The value of a constitutional monarchy is to provide a figurehead to embody a sense of nationhood beyond the divisions of temporal political argument. Republicans, who choose to give the impression that the British enjoy as much power as French peasants in the reign of Louis XVI, believe that in a democracy just about everything that moves has to be elected. This callow approach would result in a polarised and unpleasant society, of which the prime example is the United States.” - Melanie Phillips, The Sunday Times, 7th November 1999.

“Most Australians - contrary to what is constantly claimed - are not yet republicans. The Queen, touring the country with dignity at this slightly touchy time, says that she sees herself as the servant of the Australian Constitution and of the people. It is fair to suggest that many of Australia’s republican leaders do not quite see themselves as so answerable.” - Geoffrey Blainey, The Age, March 2000.

“I had been told the Queen is not interested in anything political and speaks only on social issues. On the contrary, the Queen is very well informed on a number of international issues and on security matters.” - Vladimir Putin, Russian president-elect, 18th April 2000

“Q is for the Queen who, in half a century, hasn’t put a foot wrong once. Her accumulated wisdom is extraordinary. Her charm is infinite. She is duty personified.” - The Duke of Devonshire, The Sunday Telegraph, 23rd April 2000.

“All of us who come here [to the UK] do so because the notion of Britishness is far more than merely ethnic - or at least we think it is. You may not go on about it as much as Americans do, but you also have a set of ideas attached to your national identity, and we admire them. We most admire, in fact, those bits of your national identity which you seem most keen on discarding: not just boring old political liberty and economic freedom, which we could get in America or lots of other places, but history, tradition, centuries of stability, tolerance of eccentricity, cars which drive on the wrong side of the road, flat green lawns and, above all, a Queen, together with her Heirs and Successors. After spending the first part of my life being a mere citizen, I am delighted to find myself a subject as well.” - Anne Applebaum (on becoming a British subject), The Spectator, 6th May 2000.

“I don’t think I really came to appreciate what royalty meant to you Brits until I came to Wimbledon, with all its pomp and circumstance. It is tradition, it is such an important factor here and you start thinking it’s not bad when you see the effect it has on people. I suppose the monarchy is a bit like grass at Wimbledon. How long will it last? My guess is that they will both go on for many, many years to come.” - John McEnroe, The Sunday Telegraph, 2nd July 2000.

“I have previously observed that British republicans seem to have a blind spot about the family: they do not grasp that the Royal Family touches some chord in most of us linked with family feeling. Even as an Irishwoman, I feel a warm sense of maternal protectiveness when I pass Buckingham Palace and see the Royal Standard flying. The Queen is at home, and a benign matriarchal wisdom prevails over the land.” - Mary Kenny, The Daily Telegraph, 1st July 2000.

“(Kaiser Franz Josef) was especially noted for his exceptional attitude to Jewish soldiers serving in the Austrian army, concerning himself over the availability of kosher food of the highest standard, assuring them of access to the necessary religious articles and ensuring unhindered Sabbath observance. .... Many of the world’s Jews referred to him as “The King of Jerusalem.”” - Menachem Gerlitz, The Heavenly City p.210, published 1979.

“They tell us that all Kings are bad; that God never made a King; and that all Kings are very expensive. But, that all Kings are bad cannot be true: because God himself is one of them; he calls himself King of Kings; which not only shows us he is a King, but he has other Kings under him: he is never called King of Republics. The Scripture calls Kings, the Lord’s Anointed; but who ever heard of an anointed Republic?” - Association Papers, London, 1793.

“Britain’s constitutional monarchy is one of its greatest strengths as well as one of its greatest attractions. The monarch is detached from party politics in a way no president could be. For years, the existence of a monarchy was the guarantee that no would-be dictator could stage a coup by deploying troops, as the monarch controls the armed services. No latter-day Cromwell could win power by force. We have had no civil war since Cromwell’s and much of that is due to having had a constitutional monarchy as a focus of loyalty.” - Ann Widdecombe MP, BBC History Magazine, September 2000.

"A Monarchy which above all, values the liberty of its subjects" - Marcus Aurelius (Stoic Philosopher and Emporer)

"A King's lot: to do good and be damned." - Antisthenes (philosopher)]]>
“In fact, after having abolished the monarchy, the best of all governments, [the French Revolution] had transferred all the public power to the people — the people... ever easy to deceive and to lead into every excess…” - Pope Pius VI, Pourquoi Notre Voix, 17th June 1793

“Monarchy is the one system of government where power is exercised for the good of all.” - Aristotle, 322-384 BC.

“I write by the light of two eternal truths: religion and monarchy, those twin essentials affirmed by contemporary events, and towards which every intelligent author should seek to direct our country.” - Honore de Balzac, 1842.

“I am a true servant of my King and country, not only as a dutiful subject but because I am a convinced monarchist, politically and intellectually. I mean by that, quite apart from myself and my relationship to my Bavarian and German fatherland, I believe monarchy to be the most successful form of government that the history of mankind has known.” - Adolf von Harnier, on trial for treason, Germany 1938.

“If the Allies at the peace table at Versailles had allowed a Hohenzollern, a Wittelsbach and a Habsburg to return to their thrones, there would have been no Hitler. A democratic basis of society might have been preserved by a crowned Weimar in contact with the victorious Allies.” - Winston Churchill, 26th April 1946.

“In Italy they are already speaking about a republic, but keep in mind that there is nothing less suited to Italians...... The Italians are individualists and a republic will become the cause of confusion and disorder. Certainly of corruption. I have no doubt of it. When all this comes to pass who will profit from it?” - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, 10th April 1944.

“Remember that life is made up of loyalty: loyalty to your friends; loyalty to things beautiful and good; loyalty to the country in which you live; loyalty to your King; and above all, for this holds all other loyalties together, loyalty to God.” -
Queen Mary, Buckingham Palace, 23rd March 1923.

“Politicians debating the future of our monarchy resemble a poachers’ convention deliberating on the future role of the gamekeeper.” - Malcolm Winram, The Times, 9th March 1996.

“I devote all my attentions to improving the welfare of my subjects, since I wish to save my soul and go to Heaven.” - King Charles III of Spain, 1750.

“(King George VI) represented, for us, a model of character and deportment for those in high places. Our respect for him as an inspirational force was equalled by our affection for him as a gentle human being.” - General Dwight D Eisenhower, 7th February 1952.

“Impartiality and continuity are important aspects of government, and it is doubtful whether any form of democratic government yet discovered provides these to any greater extent than does constitutional monarchy.” - Sydney D Bailey, British Parliamentary Democracy, Harrap, 1959.

“This war would never have come unless, under American and modernising pressure, we had driven the Habsburgs out of Austria and the Hohenzollerns out of Germany. By making these vacuums we gave the opening for the Hitlerite monster to crawl out of its sewer on to the vacant thrones. No doubt these views are very unfashionable....” - Winston Churchill, 8th April 1945.

“The public are sick and tired of politics, they are sick and tired of the machinations of elected office in a media age, and I think it’s quite good having a Head of State that’s completely to one side of that.” - Simon Upton, New Zealand Environment Minister, March 1994.

“I notice that the constitutional monarchies are the most democratic countries of Europe. I can’t understand how there could be any debate about it.” - Jack Lang, French Minister of Culture, October 1993.

“If constitutional monarchy were to come to an end in Britain, parliamentary democracy would probably not survive it. It is, after all, through the monarchy that parliamentary control over the armed forces is mediated and maintained.” - Conor Cruise O’Brien, The Independent, 25th June 1993.

“If a nation does not want a monarchy, change the nation’s mind. If a nation does not need a monarchy, change the nation’s needs.” - Jan Christian Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa 1939-1948.

“I am personally still convinced that there are safeguards in the constitutional monarchy that an elected head of state just would not possess.” - Roger Stott MP, The Independent on Sunday, 7th September 1997.

“The Prince of Wales, as so often, has demonstrated his common sense in the words he spoke on Wednesday (during his visit to southern Africa). His demeanour is a perfect illustration of the benefits of a constitutional monarchy. In the heat of euphoria, in the midst of all the blather about a “new” this and a “new” that, his is a message of modernisation and wisdom. We would do well to heed it.” =
Kwasi Kwarteng, The Daily Telegraph, 31st October 1997.

“Anyone who fears that by becoming a republic we would condemn ourselves to a presidency held by a perpetual succession of superannuated politicians - at the moment presumably a choice between Heath, Kinnock, Thatcher and Major - is an optimist.
The alternative nightmare scenario looks not to the European model but to the American, where the essentials for election to the presidency appear to be ruthless ambition, access to vast wealth, reckless promises of patronage and preferment, effective control of a big slice of the media and a plausible TV manner.
We don’t know when we are well off.” - Gordon Medcalf, The Independent, 10th September 1997.

“The Queen Mother is one who knows how to be Queen, how to preserve mystery and yet be accessible, one who knows how to epitomise the higher aspirations of a people, yet retain both humanity and humour.” - Sir Roy Strong, January 1998.

“Being a nation of hypocrites, we have for years looked to the Royal Family to embody the values we’re not prepared to embody ourselves.” - Serena Mackesy, The Independent, 10th December 1996.

“The Queen’s appearances abroad do more in a day to gain goodwill for Britain than all the politicians and diplomats lumped together could achieve in years.” - Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Prime Minister 1963-64).

“I owe no allegiance to the Provisional Government established by a minority of the foreign population .... nor to anyone save the will of my people and the welfare of my country.” - Queen Liliuokalani of Hawai’i after the overthrow of the monarchy by US Marines in 1893.

“The Tarquins, meanwhile, had taken refuge at the court of Lars Porsena, the King of Clusium. By every means in their power they tried to win his support, now begging him not to allow fellow Etruscans, men of the same blood as himself, to continue living in penniless exile, now warning him of the dangerous consequences of letting republicanism go unavenged. The expulsion of kings they urged, once it had begun, might well become common practice; liberty was an attractive idea, and unless reigning monarchs defended their thrones as vigorously as states now seemed to be trying to destroy them, all order and subordination would collapse; nothing would be left in any country but flat equality; greatness and eminence would be gone for ever. Monarchy, the noblest thing in heaven or on earth, was nearing its end.” - Livy, The History of Rome from its Foundation, Book II.

“Those who imagine that a politician would make a better figurehead than a hereditary monarch might perhaps make the acquaintance of more politicians.” - Baroness Thatcher, November 1995.

“Why has destiny willed the downfall of this Sovereign? He is endowed with every kingly quality; he is courageous, generous, and magnanimous; he has a fine intellect and a well-balanced mind; and his name bears the tradition of a thousand years of history. Who better than he to symbolise the unity of the country, and act as supreme moderator in party strife?” - Aldo Castellani, Physician to Umberto II of Italy, June 1946.

“Thus the young royals are reproached for setting a bad example and failing to keep their marriages together by journalists who themselves lead Casanova-like lives.” - Richard Ingrams, The Observer, 31st March 1996.

“Canadians should realise when they are well off under the Monarchy. For the vast majority of Canadians, being a Monarchy is probably the only form of government acceptable to them. I have always been for parliamentary democracy and I think the institution of Monarchy with the Queen heading it all has served Canada well.” - Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, 1973.

“If to be a Republican is to hold, as a matter of theory at least, that is the best government for a free and intelligent people in which merit is to be preferred to birth, then I hold it an honour to be associated with nearly all the greatest thinkers of the country and to be a Republican. But if a Republican is one who would thrust aside the opinion and affront the sentiment of a huge majority of the nation, merely to carry to a logical conclusion an abstract theory, then I am far from being a Republican as any man can be.” - Rt Hon Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) in 1875.

“The State functions more easily if it can be personified. An elected President who has stepped out of politics, like the French President, is no substitute for a King who has stepped in by right of inheritance. Still less is an active politician, like the President of the United States, a substitute. We can damn the Government and cheer the King.” - W Ivor Jennings, The British Constitution, 1943.

“Modern monarchs neither have nor need executive power. Integrity and continuity are their stock in trade. These qualities are becoming more precious when European political parties, many of them in power for a decade or more, are increasingly judged arrogant or corrupt or both. Politicians could with profit learn not to treat modesty as merely a royal prerogative.” - Editorial, The Times, 2nd August 1993.

“To be a King is dedication, patience and moderation, self-denial, statesmanship, national unity and, above all, having faith in one’s people.” - HM King Simeon II of the Bulgarians, October 1968.

“The monarchy is a political referee, not a political player, and there is a lot of sense in choosing the referee by a different principle from the players. It lessens the danger that the referee might try to start playing.” - Earl Russell, The Spectator, 11th January 1997.

“Monarchy is first proved to be the true and rightful form of government. Men’s objects are best attained during universal peace: this is possible only under a monarch. And as he is the image of the divine unity, so man is through him made one, and brought most near to God. There must, in every system of forces, be a ‘primum mobile’; to be perfect, every organisation must have a centre, into which all is gathered, by which all is controlled. Justice is best secured by a supreme arbiter of disputes, himself untempted by ambition, since his dominion is already bounded only by ocean. Man is best and happiest when he is most free; to be free is to exist for one’s own sake. To this noblest end does the monarch and he alone guide us; other forms of government are perverted, and exist for the benefit of some class; he seeks the good of all alike, being to that very end appointed.” - James Bryce’s summary of Dante’s De Monarchia.

“I think it is a misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn’t. It exists in the interests of the people.” - HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1969.

“The fact that the Monarchy can unify in this way - can comfort and exhilarate and embrace - remains, as Cameron (James Cameron, republican journalist) put it, its great ‘gesture to all the forces of logic’, the power before which the neat rationality of republicanism wilts.” - Robert Harris, Mail on Sunday, 7th September 1997.

“For any country it is better to have a monarch than an elected president of the republic ..... monarchies provide the continuity of states, while prime ministers come and go. Elections are all very well for the designation of the prime minister or of the party which should take power, but not for the Head of State, who should be above party.
(Unlike a president) in all probability the monarch who succeeds to the throne has been trained for this exalted post by having spent many years by the side of his predecessor.
A monarch, however, cannot declare that he is ready to throw in his hand. The personal conveniences of sovereigns are of little importance. What is important is that Great Britain needs them.” - George Brown (Foreign Secretary in the Wilson government), Daily Mail, November 1969.

“Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. Yet even if they desire mere equality they cannot reach it. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.” - C S Lewis.

“The Royal tour (of South Africa) gives reassurance that when it comes to flying the flag nobody does it quite as well as the Queen.” - The Guardian, 22nd March 1995.

“A priest who is not a monarchist is not worthy to stand at the altar table. The priest who is a republican is always a man of poor faith. God himself anoints the monarch to be head of the kingdom, while the president is elected by the pride of the people. The king stays in power by implementing God’s commandments, while the president does so by pleasing those who rule. The king brings his faithful subjects to God, while the president takes them away from God.” - Neomartyr Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev, tortured and killed by Bolsheviks on 7th February 1918.

“The Queen was helpful, lively, fascinating to talk to, and very, very funny. The idea that she is out of touch is nonsense.” - Robert Wraith, painter of Her Majesty’s portrait, May 1998.

“The monarchical principle is laughed at by vulgar and foolish people in all the suburbs of Europe. It is hated in all the gutters of the world. The reason is simple. It enshrines with a fitting dignity and elaboration the principle of authority as something independent of this or that politician. It places it above attack. It symbolises and consecrates an attitude of mind essential to the happiness of peoples.” - D’Alvarez, Storm Over Europe, by Douglas Jerrold (1930), Chapter XII.

“The British love their Queen, their Queen Mother, Prince Charles, and the comforting security of their hereditary constitutional monarchy, an institution of which the characters are beyond the manipulation of man, an institution guaranteeing continuity, overriding the dissensions of politics. The best governments are constitutional monarchies, and we may yet see some restored in eastern Europe.” - Lord Menuhin, The Daily Telegraph, 2nd July 1998.

“In republics there is not a respect for authority, but a fear of power.” - Dr Samuel Johnson (Boswell’s Life, p 464).

“The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other.” - Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, 1867.

“I think the family has got to streamline itself but the core members have a brand personality that a business would die for. You might say they’re the brand identity of Britain: ask any American what they’d give to have a Royal Family.” - Jack Stevens, advertising agent, The Independent, 30th June 1998.

“Above the ebb and flow of party strife, the rise and fall of ministries, and individuals, the changes of public opinion or public fortune, the British Monarchy presides, ancient, calm and supreme within its function, over all the treasures that have been saved from the past and all the glories we write in the annals of our country.” - Sir Winston Churchill.

“To be a king and wear a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is a pleasure to them that bear it.” - Queen Elizabeth I.

“Parliaments and Ministers pass, but she abides in lifelong duty, and she is to them as the oak in the forest is to the annual harvest in the field.” - William Gladstone, writing about Queen Victoria.

“Russia under Nicholas II, with all the survivals of feudalism, had opposition political parties, independent trade unions and newspapers, a rather radical parliament and a modern legal system. Its agriculture was on the level of the USA, with industry rapidly approaching the West European level.
In the USSR there was total tyranny, no political liberties and practically no human rights. Its economy was not viable; agriculture was destroyed. The terror against the population reached a scope unprecedented in history.
No wonder many Russians look back at Tsarist Russia as a paradise lost.” - Oleg Gordievsky, letter to The Independent, 21st July 1998.

“Americans also seem to believe that the monarchy is a kind of mediaeval hangover, encumbered by premodern notions of decorum; the reality is that the British monarchy, for good or ill, is a modern political institution - perhaps the first modern political institution.” - Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, September 29th 1997.

“There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.” - Queen Elizabeth I, in 1564.

“I consider tolerance as one of the ruler’s first duties. I have always tried to be tolerant and to respect and treat with consideration all kinds of religious beliefs. In this respect the ruler must not permit any discrimination. During my long reign in Bulgaria there was no persecution of those belonging to another faith, of Mohammedans or Jews. Had there been any I would have punished those responsible with the greatest severity.” - Ferdinand I, King of the Bulgarians (Abdicated 1918), 1931.

“Be the person in relation to whom .... all things in your Kingdom are ordered; the person in whom your people perceive their own nationhood; the person by whose existence and dignity the national unity is upheld.” - General de Gaulle in a speech addressed to Queen Elizabeth II.

“We should all bear carefully in mind the constitutional safeguards inherent in the monarchy: While the Queen occupies the highest office of state, no one can take over the government. While she is head of the law, no politician can take over the courts. While she is ultimately in command of the Armed Forces, no would-be dictator can take over the Army.
The Queen’s only power, in short, is to deny power to anyone else. Any attempt to tamper with the royal prerogative must be firmly resisted.” - D G O Hughes, letter to The Daily Telegraph, 1st September 1998.

“Of all people on the face of the earth, the people of England are a King-loving and aristocracy-loving generation. However men may indulge in republican reveries in the closet, there is no permanent object of human sympathy but human beings, that is, no political doctrine’s constitution can retain a lasting grasp on the affections of the mass of mankind - save as they are identified with individuals.” - The Times, September 9th 1831, on the occasion of William IV’s Coronation.

“I have always been vaguely comforted by the sense that the Crown, and therefore the nation, endures like weathered granite through whatever turpitude and buffoonery may pass in Parliament. There is also something re-assuring in the knowledge that every Prime Minister, every week, has a confidential and not necessarily comfortable conversation with a monarch: that is to say with someone who is not their dependant, not their sycophant, who has no political affiliation beyond patriotism and who has seen governments rise and fall over decades. This sense of continuity, of a nation mature enough to be able to make electoral mistakes and later recant without risk of losing its identity, is profoundly useful.” - Libby Purves, The Times, 8th September 1998.

“A Republic of Great Britain Bill would dominate the lifetime of a parliament to the detriment of all other economic and social affairs, and if passed would change virtually every facet of British life beyond recognition. From postage stamps to the names of warships, every area of political, social, economic, financial, religious and civil life would be transformed, and potentially unleash political forces beyond our control or comprehension.” - Paul Richards, in the Fabian Society pamphlet “Long to reign over us?” August 1996.

“There is no doubt that of all the institutions which have grown up among us over the centuries or sprung into being in our lifetime, the Constitutional Monarchy is the most deeply founded and dearly cherished.
In the present generation it has acquired a meaning incomparably more powerful than anyone had dreamed possible in former times. The Crown has become the mysterious link, may I say the magic link, which unites our loosely bound but strongly interwoven Commonwealth of Nations, states and races. People who would never tolerate the assertions of a written Constitution which implies any diminution of their independence are the foremost to be proud of their loyalty to the Crown.” - Winston Churchill, February 1952.

“It is the merit of hereditary Royalty that its virtue as a moral force does not depend on the varying qualities of its representatives; but what a heaven-sent boon it is when those who are born into the Purple have gifts as truly royal as Prince Charles’s. Under a relentless scrutiny which gives no scope for fraud or fabrication, he has come across as what the British (no doubt with the overtones of apologetic self-parody which fashion requires) still call “a jolly good chap.” He is, to use another outmoded phrase, “a good all-rounder.” He flies, plays polo, took a creditable university degree, speaks impromptu with fluency, charm and wit, serves his country not only steadfastly but with lightness of touch and a disarming capacity for occasional uncalculated indiscretion, and he bears himself towards all who meet him with manly humility.” - Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, July 1981.

“Royalty is a Government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a Government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting things.” - Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution.

“The most odious and repressive regimes in the 20th century have ‘people’s’ or ‘democratic’ in their names, and that is no accident. The theoretical basis for democracy, egalitarianism, was responsible for the worst excesses of the French revolution; little blood was shed in support of liberty and fraternity. Had the hereditary principle been upheld in places as diverse as Libya, Greece, Albania, even Russia, had those monarchies not been overthrown and replaced by monstrous peoples’ regimes, the very lives, never mind prosperity, of those peoples would have been saved.
It is not necessary to try to prove the superiority of the hereditary principle over mass democracy, nor to spend much time over democracy’s supposed greatest achievement - the US.” - Peter Scanlan, letter to Country Life, 4th February 1999.

“Monarchy is often criticised for being a lottery, but so is an elected presidency. Britain last had to play the regal lottery in 1952, when it won handsomely. It has not had to gamble again since then. In the past 45 years Ireland has had to vote in seven presidents, few of them memorable, most of them just grazing.
We have had just one head of state, who has performed her duties superbly. Throughout a time of immense social change, indeed revolution, the centre of the British system has remained calm and outside party politics. That is an incalculable asset which no republic can come close to matching.” - William Shawcross, the article ‘The Irish case for monarchy’, The Daily Telegraph, 30th October 1997.

“Kings have advantages over democratic politicians. Although they must remain popular ..... they do not have to grub for votes. Unlike American senators, they are not obliged to start raising money for their re-election campaign days after the electorate has voted them in. Inheritance has its privileges, for both rulers and the ruled......For politicians in democracies, the business of government is all too often a great game, a chance to strut and posture their little moment on the stage, before retiring to directorships and lecture tours. No such retreat is possible for monarchs, so they are less likely to mess with the dodgy loan, or fool around with the intern. - Editorial, The Spectator, 13th February 1999.

“The monarchy’s most important constitutional function is simply to be there: by occupying the constitutional high ground, it denies access to more sinister forces; to a partisan or corrupt president, divisive of the nation; or even to a dictator. The Queen’s powers are a vital safeguard of democracy and liberty.” - Sir Michael Forsyth, speech 26th January, 1999.

“This country suffered greatly as a result of the abolition of the monarchy in 1970. We support it, because it is an institution the country needs, for its unity and its development.
There is a Cambodian proverb which says “While you are eating fruit, don’t forget who planted it”. We must not forget our King and his vital role in securing a victory for democracy in our country. If he had not remained here during the elections, or if he had not personally appealed to our citizens to vote, the population would without doubt have been afraid to participate and we would not have achieved the 90% turn out that we did. And perhaps the international observers would not have agreed to come.” - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, July 1998.

“For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free.” - Anatole France, first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1921.

“A sovereign must constantly heed the will of his people and at the same time care for the poor and humble; he is the servant of the law, and the mainstay of social peace and security.” - King Albert I of the Belgians, 1909.
“My grandfather was of peasant stock and I am prouder of that than of my throne. Crowns are lost, but the pure blood of those who have loved the earth does not die.” - King Peter I of Serbia.

“Parliamentary monarchy fulfils a role which an elected president never can. It formally limits the politicians’ thirst for power because with it the supreme office of the state is occupied once and for all.” - Max Weber, German economist.

“Anyone who has walked through the deserted Palaces of Versailles or Vienna realise how much a part of the life of a nation is lost when a monarchy is abolished. If Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle were transformed into museums, if one politician competed against another for the position of President of the Republic, Britain would be a sadder and less interesting place. Our politicians are not men such as could challenge more than a thousand years of history!” - William Rees-Mogg, former Editor of The Times.

“[A] king is a king, not because he is rich and powerful, not because he is a successful politician, not because he belongs to a particular creed or to a national group. He is King because he is born. And in choosing to leave the selection of their head of state to this most common denominator in the world - the accident of birth - Canadians implicitly proclaim their faith in human equality; their hope for the triumph of nature over political manoeuvre, over social and financial interest; for the victory of the human person.” - Jacques Monet, Canadian historian.

“It is helpful when the personality of the head of state is not disputed or contested periodically. The monarch is the incarnation of popular hope and the repository of national legitimacy.” - Henri, Comte de Paris (1908-1999).

“Have a care over my people. You have my people - do you that which I ought to do. They are my people. Every man oppresseth and spoileth them without mercy. They cannot revenge their quarrel, nor help themselves. See unto them - see unto them, for they are my charge. I charge you, even as God hath charged me. I care not for myself; my life is not dear to me. My care is for my people. I pray God, whoever succeedeth me, be as careful of them as I am.” - Queen Elizabeth I, addressing her judges, 1559.

“(Europe’s monarchs are) all there to listen to the voice of the people and, without influencing politics, to protect the nation. Their example gives some credibility to those who think that restoration of King Michael of Romania might help heal recent wounds. Does the monarchy have a future? It’s a very definite reality in today’s Europe, and without it Europe would be a very different place.” - Jean-Yves Masson, Eurostar Magazine, Autumn 2000

“No practising politician could possibly hope to be more deeply and widely informed about domestic, Commonwealth and international affairs than The Queen. She has sources of information available to nobody else.” - James Callaghan, British Prime Minister 1976-79.

“Not to be a republican at 20 shows lack of heart. To be one at 30 shows lack of head.” - Francois Guizot, French statesman 1787-1874.

“The hereditary head of state is like the senior member of a larger household, representing the national family and its ancestral inheritance while standing above its internal disputes and intervening only if a major emergency threatens its survival.” - Wade Smith, letter to The Daily Telegraph, 16th November 1999.

“The value of a constitutional monarchy is to provide a figurehead to embody a sense of nationhood beyond the divisions of temporal political argument. Republicans, who choose to give the impression that the British enjoy as much power as French peasants in the reign of Louis XVI, believe that in a democracy just about everything that moves has to be elected. This callow approach would result in a polarised and unpleasant society, of which the prime example is the United States.” - Melanie Phillips, The Sunday Times, 7th November 1999.

“Most Australians - contrary to what is constantly claimed - are not yet republicans. The Queen, touring the country with dignity at this slightly touchy time, says that she sees herself as the servant of the Australian Constitution and of the people. It is fair to suggest that many of Australia’s republican leaders do not quite see themselves as so answerable.” - Geoffrey Blainey, The Age, March 2000.

“I had been told the Queen is not interested in anything political and speaks only on social issues. On the contrary, the Queen is very well informed on a number of international issues and on security matters.” - Vladimir Putin, Russian president-elect, 18th April 2000

“Q is for the Queen who, in half a century, hasn’t put a foot wrong once. Her accumulated wisdom is extraordinary. Her charm is infinite. She is duty personified.” - The Duke of Devonshire, The Sunday Telegraph, 23rd April 2000.

“All of us who come here [to the UK] do so because the notion of Britishness is far more than merely ethnic - or at least we think it is. You may not go on about it as much as Americans do, but you also have a set of ideas attached to your national identity, and we admire them. We most admire, in fact, those bits of your national identity which you seem most keen on discarding: not just boring old political liberty and economic freedom, which we could get in America or lots of other places, but history, tradition, centuries of stability, tolerance of eccentricity, cars which drive on the wrong side of the road, flat green lawns and, above all, a Queen, together with her Heirs and Successors. After spending the first part of my life being a mere citizen, I am delighted to find myself a subject as well.” - Anne Applebaum (on becoming a British subject), The Spectator, 6th May 2000.

“I don’t think I really came to appreciate what royalty meant to you Brits until I came to Wimbledon, with all its pomp and circumstance. It is tradition, it is such an important factor here and you start thinking it’s not bad when you see the effect it has on people. I suppose the monarchy is a bit like grass at Wimbledon. How long will it last? My guess is that they will both go on for many, many years to come.” - John McEnroe, The Sunday Telegraph, 2nd July 2000.

“I have previously observed that British republicans seem to have a blind spot about the family: they do not grasp that the Royal Family touches some chord in most of us linked with family feeling. Even as an Irishwoman, I feel a warm sense of maternal protectiveness when I pass Buckingham Palace and see the Royal Standard flying. The Queen is at home, and a benign matriarchal wisdom prevails over the land.” - Mary Kenny, The Daily Telegraph, 1st July 2000.

“(Kaiser Franz Josef) was especially noted for his exceptional attitude to Jewish soldiers serving in the Austrian army, concerning himself over the availability of kosher food of the highest standard, assuring them of access to the necessary religious articles and ensuring unhindered Sabbath observance. .... Many of the world’s Jews referred to him as “The King of Jerusalem.”” - Menachem Gerlitz, The Heavenly City p.210, published 1979.

“They tell us that all Kings are bad; that God never made a King; and that all Kings are very expensive. But, that all Kings are bad cannot be true: because God himself is one of them; he calls himself King of Kings; which not only shows us he is a King, but he has other Kings under him: he is never called King of Republics. The Scripture calls Kings, the Lord’s Anointed; but who ever heard of an anointed Republic?” - Association Papers, London, 1793.

“Britain’s constitutional monarchy is one of its greatest strengths as well as one of its greatest attractions. The monarch is detached from party politics in a way no president could be. For years, the existence of a monarchy was the guarantee that no would-be dictator could stage a coup by deploying troops, as the monarch controls the armed services. No latter-day Cromwell could win power by force. We have had no civil war since Cromwell’s and much of that is due to having had a constitutional monarchy as a focus of loyalty.” - Ann Widdecombe MP, BBC History Magazine, September 2000.

"A Monarchy which above all, values the liberty of its subjects" - Marcus Aurelius (Stoic Philosopher and Emporer)

"A King's lot: to do good and be damned." - Antisthenes (philosopher)]]> <![CDATA[The Monarchist Manifesto]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=4 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:07:50 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=4 MMVIII
by Caleb T. Thomas

Preamble
Aristotle said over three hundred years before Christ, "Monarchy is the one system of government where power is exercised for the good of all." Why then have monarchies been abolished? Why are monarchies still being abolished today? The answer is not one that is clear, but it can be broken down into basic concepts:

I. The common man has tasted power for himself and will take it and withhold it from those fit to rule and keep it for himself in order to attain his own means at the cost of society.

II. The world has fallen victim to the evil forces of rebellion, communism, anarchism, and liberalism.

III. The educated have been taught by democratic governments that monarchy is a poor philosophy and that monarchies ought to be abolished.

It is in this time of desperation that the philosophy of monarchy and the political beliefs of monarchists should be compiled into a single manifesto to guide monarchist philosophy and unify monarchists.

Definition
Monarchy is not a black-and-white philosophy, nor is it easy to define. The dictionary definition of a monarchy is "government by a monarch." A 1914 edition of Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines monarchy as "the government which is ruled (really or theoretically) by one man, who is wholly set apart from all other members of the state (called his subjects)."

Most monarchists will disagree on exact aspects of the ideal or perfect monarchy because monarchism can be such a vague school of thought. However, monarchists can usually be divided into two categories: Absolutists and Constitutionalists. One might say that absolutists are the only true monarchists, as constitutionalists advocate only a monarch with very little or no political power while absolutists are in favour of a monarch with real political power who actually rules over his people. This manifesto will focus primarily on true, or absolute monarchy, mentioning constitutionalism only briefly.

Constitutionalism
A constitutional monarch is subject to a constitution, which limits his power often to the point of reducing him to a mere figurehead. The constitutional monarch serves as a symbol of the nation, while political decisions are made by elected officials in his name. Supporters of constitutional monarchy support the tradition of monarchy, but retain political interest in democracy.

Absolutism
Absolute monarchs wield true political power. He is the autocrat; the sole ruler of his people. While there may be some laws in place to prevent tyranny and to guide the monarch, there is no constitution and no legal document or law that is above his will or word. Historic examples of this form of government include France under Louis XIV and Tsarist Russia.

Benefits of Monarchy
Monarchy has stood the test of time. It is one of the oldest and longest lasting forms of government in existence. It has worked for thousands of years all over the world. Why then has monarchy begun to decline in modern times? Many liberal "modernisers" claim that monarchy is outdated, corrupt, expensive, and undemocratic. These things can all be easily disproved if we only look at the whole picture.

To start with, monarchy is certainly not outdated. Many perfectly modern countries such as Denmark, Great Britain, Spain, and Canada have all embraced monarchy. The monarchy has changed and adapted to the times over the years and still serves an important role to this day.
In 2007, the Kingdom of Denmark, according to Transparency International, was the least corrupt government in the world with a corruption index of 9.4. Compare that to the United States, considered the ‘pargon’ of democracy, which was only the twentieth least corrupt government with an index of 7.2. In fact, of the top ten least corrupt governments in the world, 60% were monarchies while the most corrupt government, Somalia, is a republic.

Many will declare that monarchy is an unnecessary expense. However in 2003 Queen Elizabeth II’s funds totalled only £36.2 million, a 59% reduction since 1991-1992. It is estimated that the British monarchy costs taxpayers only 61 pence per person. However in 2000, the Queen gave the entire private profit of the Crown Estate, £132.9 million, to the Exchequer for the benefit of tax payers. This far exceeds the total cost of monarchy.

Monarchy is considered an excellent complement to democracy and in some cases can be far more democratic than a republic. A monarch works for the benefit of all the people, having no political alliances, partisan, or loyalty to a certain sect. A monarch is completely impartial and can focus on the benefit of the nation, rather than being reelected.

A monarch is a constant, lasting symbol of a nation that patriotism and unity can rally behind. A monarch is not only a symbol of a nation within it’s own boarders, but is a recognisable personification of the nation around the world.

A monarch is an impartial arbiter. Having no allegiance to political factions and divides, a monarch can act on behalf of his people as a whole, not on behalf of politicians, self-gain, or parties or interest groups. People of all ends of the political spectrum can unite behind a monarch while an elected head of state would only divide them.

Monarchy is a very stable government while republic is not. John Adams said, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." John Quincy Adams said "Of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short lived." A monarch reigns sometimes for decades. An elected head of state serves only a short term. The constant change of leaders in republican governments leaves too much instability; too many vulnerabilities. In a monarchy, heads of state change far less often, providing far more stability than ever possible in republican governments.

A monarch makes a good role-model. When one’s leader is well-mannered, well-educated, and well-bred, as a monarch is, one is presented with someone to mimic and look up to. C.S. Lewis once said, "Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison."

Divine Right of Kings
One important pillar of monarchism is the doctrine of the divine right of kings. In brief, it states that Kings are appointed by God and thus derive their power from him. Because of the divine nature of their appointment, they owe loyalty to none but God, and they must rule by His word.
Ancient Catholic philosophy regards a monarch as God’s viceregent on earth and subject to no inferior power. In the New Testament of the Bible, St. Peter commanded all Christians to honour the Roman Emperor (1 Peter 2:13-17). Jesus Christ himself proclaims in the gospel of Matthew that one should "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s," or in other words, to offer obedience to God’s divinely appointed rulers on earth (Matthew 22:21).

In Eastern religions, the divine right of kings is represented by the traditional Chinese doctrine called the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven states that heaven would bless the authority of a noble ruler. The Mandate was first used to legitimize the rule of kings during the Zhou Dynasty and later Chinese dynasties.

In the coronation ceremony of British monarchs, the monarch is anointed with holy oils and ordained as God-given monarch. This is further evidence of the divine appointment of kings.
In 1793, the Association Papers in London wrote, "They tell us that all Kings are bad; that God never made a King; and that all Kings are very expensive. But, that all Kings are bad cannot be true: because God himself is one of them; he calls himself King of Kings; which not only shows us he is a King, but he has other Kings under him: he is never called King of Republics. The Scripture calls Kings, the Lord’s Anointed; but who ever heard of an anointed Republic?"
Neomartyr Vladimir, the Metropolitan Bishop of Kiev in 1918, who was tortured and killed by the Bolsheviks, once said, "A priest who is not a monarchist is not worthy to stand at the altar table. The priest who is a republican is always a man of poor faith. God himself anoints the monarch to be head of the kingdom, while the president is elected by the pride of the people. The king stays in power by implementing God’s commandments, while the president does so by pleasing those who rule. The king brings his faithful subjects to God, while the president takes them away from God."

Rebuttal of Republicanism
Winston Churchill, arguably one of the greatest Prime Ministers Britain has ever seen, once said, "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
In 2007, according to Transparency International, 80% of the top ten most corrupt governments in the world were republics.
Doctor Samuel Johnson wrote, "In republics there is not a respect for authority, but a fear of power."

In a republic, the leader is elected only by those who vote for him, thus he owes his loyalty only to those who vote for him. He is partisan and supports only a portion of the population. He is corrupt, accepting money from businesses, interest groups, politicians, etc. to fund his campaign and becomes bound to their will by debt.

The cost of a republic is no less than that of a monarchy. It is quite likely, in fact, that republics cost more. Australians for Constitutional Monarchy estimate that the total cost of abolishing their monarchy and establishing a republic would be around $2.5 billion. In a republic, politicians must have their salaries paid, and previous presidents and their families would continue to receive payment from the state.

Republics are unstable. The constant change in leaders leaves far too many opportunities for revolt, corruption, or usurpation. During the periods in which the president is being changed the nation is left without a leader. This happens far more often in a republic where leaders hold such short terms.

In a republic, leaders often have little experience. In a monarchy, the leader is raised to rule from birth and has been bred for the purpose. Many will say that monarchy supports an unfair class system, but republic does the same, though more discreetly. It would be nearly impossible for a common man to be elected to head a nation. He would not have the funds to run a good campaign. Look at the Democratic Republic of the United States. It can easily be noted that most presidents come from families with means and very few come from humble origins. Republic is not always based on merit. If it was, then the republics of the world would not be in the trouble they are in today. A republic is a system of government in which the people are lied to by their fellow nationals for the sake of power.

Look to history as an example of the horrors of republicanism. For example, the French revolution. Never was there a more violent period in the history of France than the usurpation of the French monarchy and the establishment of a republic. Hundreds were murders and religion was declared an enemy of the state. Another example is the Russian revolution. Though Communism is not considered a republican government, it is still a government by the people. In the Russian revolution, thousands of innocents were violently murdered. Take the children of the Tsar for example. They were shot, though the daughters did not die straight away because their gem-encrusted corsets hindered the impact of the bullets. The executioners stabbed them to death with bayonets to hurry the process along. Their bodies were burned with acid and thrown down a mine shaft. All this to innocent children. The church in revolutionary Russia, as in revolutionary France, was persecuted as were its innocent adherents. In a letter to The Independent in 1998, Oleg Gordievsky wrote:

Russia under Nicholas II, with all the survivals of feudalism, had opposition political parties, independent trade unions and newspapers, a rather radical parliament and a modern legal system. Its agriculture was on the level of the USA, with industry rapidly approaching the West European level. In the USSR there was total tyranny, no political liberties and practically no human rights. Its economy was not viable; agriculture was destroyed. The terror against the population reached a scope unprecedented in history. No wonder many Russians look back at Tsarist Russia as a paradise lost.

Winston Churchill was of the opinion that World War II may have never come about if the monarchies of Europe had remained intact. He said in 1946, "If the Allies at the peace table at Versailles had allowed a Hohenzollern, a Wittelsbach and a Habsburg to return to their thrones, there would have been no Hitler. A democratic basis of society might have been preserved by a crowned Weimar in contact with the victorious Allies."
In 1945 he wrote:

This war would never have come unless, under American and modernising pressure, we had driven the Habsburgs out of Austria and the Hohenzollerns out of Germany. By making these vacuums we gave the opening for the Hitlerite monster to crawl out of its sewer on to the vacant thrones. No doubt these views are very unfashionable....

Imperial Rights
A King, in accordance with the divine right of kings, is inferior to no one but God and must obey and heed no one but God. A king has the birth right to rule and the responsibility to upkeep the nation based on the needs of the people and the word of God and morality. There are certain powers, rights, and abilities that, in an ideal situation, a monarch should undoubtedly possess.
With the exception of theocratic monarchies, such as the papacy, in which celibacy is a requirement, a monarch should have the right to produce legitimate offspring and pass on his crown to his heir upon his death or abdication.

The sovereign should have the right to abdicate from the throne and pass his crown to his heir. He should have the right to abdicate in the name of his heir also, but only if the heir is not of legal age to choose himself.

The king should also have amongst his arsenal of royal prerogatives the right to appoint and dismiss ministers, including his Prime Minister if such a position must exist. He should have the right to dissolve parliament and call elections if elections are to be permitted at all. He should have the right to grant Clemency, to award honours, to declare war, and to mint coinage. He should have the right to declare a state of emergency, grant charters of incorporation, issue and revoke passports, expel foreign nationals, create common law courts, and found new universities. He should have the right to publish statutes, legislative instruments, and Orders-in-Council. He should have the right to exercise jurisdiction over Royal foundations of any kind and to appoint a number of Royal Commissions and Officers for various purposes.

The King must be permitted Sovereign Immunity and all legal cases of public importance must be tried in his name. It must also be the right of the king to negotiate treaties and accredit diplomats. He may also order a subject not to leave the realm.

Most importantly, a king must have, without question, the right to approve all legislature with his own signature. He must have the right to veto any legislature by withholding his signature. He must also have the right to overturn any decision made by one of his own courts.

Imperial Duties
A monarch’s duties as set down by King James I of England and VI of Scotland in the Trew Law of Free Monarchies is as such:

And therefore in the Coronation of our owne Kings, as well as of euery Christian Monarche, they giue their Oath, first to maintaine the Religion presently professed within their countrie, according to their lawes, whereby it is established, and to punish all those that should presse to alter, or disturbe the profession thereof; And next to maintaine all the lowable and good Lawes made by their predecessours: to see them put in execution, and the breakers and violaters thereof, to be punished, according to the tenour of the same: And lastly, to maintaine the whole countrey, and euery state therein, in all their ancient Priuiledges and Liberties, as well against all forreine enemies, as among themselues: And shortly to procure the weale and flourishing of his people, not onely in maintaining and putting to execution the olde lowable lawes of the countrey, and by establishing of new (as necessitie and euill maners will require) but by all other meanes possible to fore-see and preuent all dangers, that are likely to fall vpon them, and to maintaine concord, wealth, and ciuilitie among them, as a louing Father, and careful watchman, caring for them more then for himselfe, knowing himselfe to be ordained for them, and they not for him; and therefore countable to that great God, who placed him as his lieutenant ouer them, vpon the perill of his soule to procure the weale of both soules and bodies, as farre as in him lieth, of all them that are committed to his charge. And this oath in the Coronation is the clearest, ciuill, and fundamentall Law, whereby the Kings office is properly defined.

The King must be firstly and foremostly responsible to God, his divine ordainer. He must rule in accordance with the will of God. Elizabeth I of England said in her address to her last parliament in 1601:

To be a King, and wear a Crown, is a thing more glorious to them that see it, than it is pleasant to them that bear it: for my self, I never was so much inticed with the glorious name of a King, or the royal authority of a Queen, as delighted that God hath made me His Instrument to maintain His Truth and Glory, and to defend this kingdom from dishonour, damage, tyranny, and oppression. But should I ascribe any of these things unto my self, or my sexly weakness, I were not worthy to live, and of all most unworthy of the mercies I have received at God’s hands, but to God only and wholly all is given and ascribed.

A king must also, if it is in accordance with God’s will, be loyal to his people and be aware and informed of their needs and desires. He must put his people before himself and strive towards their benefit and not his own.

The King must be non-partisan. He must be above politics and unbiased. He can be on God’s side only. He must not vote in any elections of any kind. His political government is beneath him and he must not lower himself to the level of argumentative politicians.

He must guard his people against the malicious politicians. He must hinder the passage of laws that would bring woe to his people. He must not allow his elected government to take advantage of their power or to take advantage of his subjects.

He must open parliament, providing there should be such a body as a parliament. He must dissolve parliament when necessary. He must call elections and appoint ministers. He must form a government, mint coinage, head the military, create courts, and other things which are expected of kings depending upon the customs of the region in question.

The Monarchist Imperative
If monarchy is going to continue in our world today, it is imperative that we monarchists unite. We must take action! We must stop existing monarchies from being abolished! We must help historic monarchies to be reestablished! We must promote new monarchies! Nothing will change without a united front of monarchists.

It is absolutely necessary for more pro-monarchy media to be published and every monarchist must do his or her part. Whether it be an article in a newspaper or magazine, a book or documentary, or even a letter to the editor of a local newspaper, anyone who calls himself a monarchist must educated the world. We must teach the political philosophies of our ancestors to the new generation that has not had the opportunity to learn them. We must combat the anti-monarchy media and do all in our power to promote monarchy to the people of the world.
We must defend the remaining ancient dynasties of the world that are holding on today. Even at the risk of our own lives we must stop the kingdoms, empires, duchies, and tsardoms of this earth from being overthrown against the will of God. We must vote pro-monarchy in referendums and any election where it is an option. Use the republican concepts to defeat republicanism: vote for the monarchy!

We must strive to help restore old, abolished monarchies. Monarchy has a tendency to reestablish itself even centuries after it has been abolished. It is never too late to undo what has been done. As long as there is one overturned monarchy it must be our charge to restore it at any means necessary.

We must establish new monarchies in the place of other less desirable governments by any means. Whether it be through political movements, propagating in favour of monarchy, refuting republicanism, educating on the benefits of monarchic government, etc., action must be taken. We must stand up to argument, rejection, and prejudice in the name of our divine Creator, the King of Kings, for the global establishment and preservation of monarchic governments.
Remember the words of Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

© Caleb T. Thomas]]> MMVIII
by Caleb T. Thomas

Preamble
Aristotle said over three hundred years before Christ, "Monarchy is the one system of government where power is exercised for the good of all." Why then have monarchies been abolished? Why are monarchies still being abolished today? The answer is not one that is clear, but it can be broken down into basic concepts:

I. The common man has tasted power for himself and will take it and withhold it from those fit to rule and keep it for himself in order to attain his own means at the cost of society.

II. The world has fallen victim to the evil forces of rebellion, communism, anarchism, and liberalism.

III. The educated have been taught by democratic governments that monarchy is a poor philosophy and that monarchies ought to be abolished.

It is in this time of desperation that the philosophy of monarchy and the political beliefs of monarchists should be compiled into a single manifesto to guide monarchist philosophy and unify monarchists.

Definition
Monarchy is not a black-and-white philosophy, nor is it easy to define. The dictionary definition of a monarchy is "government by a monarch." A 1914 edition of Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines monarchy as "the government which is ruled (really or theoretically) by one man, who is wholly set apart from all other members of the state (called his subjects)."

Most monarchists will disagree on exact aspects of the ideal or perfect monarchy because monarchism can be such a vague school of thought. However, monarchists can usually be divided into two categories: Absolutists and Constitutionalists. One might say that absolutists are the only true monarchists, as constitutionalists advocate only a monarch with very little or no political power while absolutists are in favour of a monarch with real political power who actually rules over his people. This manifesto will focus primarily on true, or absolute monarchy, mentioning constitutionalism only briefly.

Constitutionalism
A constitutional monarch is subject to a constitution, which limits his power often to the point of reducing him to a mere figurehead. The constitutional monarch serves as a symbol of the nation, while political decisions are made by elected officials in his name. Supporters of constitutional monarchy support the tradition of monarchy, but retain political interest in democracy.

Absolutism
Absolute monarchs wield true political power. He is the autocrat; the sole ruler of his people. While there may be some laws in place to prevent tyranny and to guide the monarch, there is no constitution and no legal document or law that is above his will or word. Historic examples of this form of government include France under Louis XIV and Tsarist Russia.

Benefits of Monarchy
Monarchy has stood the test of time. It is one of the oldest and longest lasting forms of government in existence. It has worked for thousands of years all over the world. Why then has monarchy begun to decline in modern times? Many liberal "modernisers" claim that monarchy is outdated, corrupt, expensive, and undemocratic. These things can all be easily disproved if we only look at the whole picture.

To start with, monarchy is certainly not outdated. Many perfectly modern countries such as Denmark, Great Britain, Spain, and Canada have all embraced monarchy. The monarchy has changed and adapted to the times over the years and still serves an important role to this day.
In 2007, the Kingdom of Denmark, according to Transparency International, was the least corrupt government in the world with a corruption index of 9.4. Compare that to the United States, considered the ‘pargon’ of democracy, which was only the twentieth least corrupt government with an index of 7.2. In fact, of the top ten least corrupt governments in the world, 60% were monarchies while the most corrupt government, Somalia, is a republic.

Many will declare that monarchy is an unnecessary expense. However in 2003 Queen Elizabeth II’s funds totalled only £36.2 million, a 59% reduction since 1991-1992. It is estimated that the British monarchy costs taxpayers only 61 pence per person. However in 2000, the Queen gave the entire private profit of the Crown Estate, £132.9 million, to the Exchequer for the benefit of tax payers. This far exceeds the total cost of monarchy.

Monarchy is considered an excellent complement to democracy and in some cases can be far more democratic than a republic. A monarch works for the benefit of all the people, having no political alliances, partisan, or loyalty to a certain sect. A monarch is completely impartial and can focus on the benefit of the nation, rather than being reelected.

A monarch is a constant, lasting symbol of a nation that patriotism and unity can rally behind. A monarch is not only a symbol of a nation within it’s own boarders, but is a recognisable personification of the nation around the world.

A monarch is an impartial arbiter. Having no allegiance to political factions and divides, a monarch can act on behalf of his people as a whole, not on behalf of politicians, self-gain, or parties or interest groups. People of all ends of the political spectrum can unite behind a monarch while an elected head of state would only divide them.

Monarchy is a very stable government while republic is not. John Adams said, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." John Quincy Adams said "Of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short lived." A monarch reigns sometimes for decades. An elected head of state serves only a short term. The constant change of leaders in republican governments leaves too much instability; too many vulnerabilities. In a monarchy, heads of state change far less often, providing far more stability than ever possible in republican governments.

A monarch makes a good role-model. When one’s leader is well-mannered, well-educated, and well-bred, as a monarch is, one is presented with someone to mimic and look up to. C.S. Lewis once said, "Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison."

Divine Right of Kings
One important pillar of monarchism is the doctrine of the divine right of kings. In brief, it states that Kings are appointed by God and thus derive their power from him. Because of the divine nature of their appointment, they owe loyalty to none but God, and they must rule by His word.
Ancient Catholic philosophy regards a monarch as God’s viceregent on earth and subject to no inferior power. In the New Testament of the Bible, St. Peter commanded all Christians to honour the Roman Emperor (1 Peter 2:13-17). Jesus Christ himself proclaims in the gospel of Matthew that one should "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s," or in other words, to offer obedience to God’s divinely appointed rulers on earth (Matthew 22:21).

In Eastern religions, the divine right of kings is represented by the traditional Chinese doctrine called the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven states that heaven would bless the authority of a noble ruler. The Mandate was first used to legitimize the rule of kings during the Zhou Dynasty and later Chinese dynasties.

In the coronation ceremony of British monarchs, the monarch is anointed with holy oils and ordained as God-given monarch. This is further evidence of the divine appointment of kings.
In 1793, the Association Papers in London wrote, "They tell us that all Kings are bad; that God never made a King; and that all Kings are very expensive. But, that all Kings are bad cannot be true: because God himself is one of them; he calls himself King of Kings; which not only shows us he is a King, but he has other Kings under him: he is never called King of Republics. The Scripture calls Kings, the Lord’s Anointed; but who ever heard of an anointed Republic?"
Neomartyr Vladimir, the Metropolitan Bishop of Kiev in 1918, who was tortured and killed by the Bolsheviks, once said, "A priest who is not a monarchist is not worthy to stand at the altar table. The priest who is a republican is always a man of poor faith. God himself anoints the monarch to be head of the kingdom, while the president is elected by the pride of the people. The king stays in power by implementing God’s commandments, while the president does so by pleasing those who rule. The king brings his faithful subjects to God, while the president takes them away from God."

Rebuttal of Republicanism
Winston Churchill, arguably one of the greatest Prime Ministers Britain has ever seen, once said, "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
In 2007, according to Transparency International, 80% of the top ten most corrupt governments in the world were republics.
Doctor Samuel Johnson wrote, "In republics there is not a respect for authority, but a fear of power."

In a republic, the leader is elected only by those who vote for him, thus he owes his loyalty only to those who vote for him. He is partisan and supports only a portion of the population. He is corrupt, accepting money from businesses, interest groups, politicians, etc. to fund his campaign and becomes bound to their will by debt.

The cost of a republic is no less than that of a monarchy. It is quite likely, in fact, that republics cost more. Australians for Constitutional Monarchy estimate that the total cost of abolishing their monarchy and establishing a republic would be around $2.5 billion. In a republic, politicians must have their salaries paid, and previous presidents and their families would continue to receive payment from the state.

Republics are unstable. The constant change in leaders leaves far too many opportunities for revolt, corruption, or usurpation. During the periods in which the president is being changed the nation is left without a leader. This happens far more often in a republic where leaders hold such short terms.

In a republic, leaders often have little experience. In a monarchy, the leader is raised to rule from birth and has been bred for the purpose. Many will say that monarchy supports an unfair class system, but republic does the same, though more discreetly. It would be nearly impossible for a common man to be elected to head a nation. He would not have the funds to run a good campaign. Look at the Democratic Republic of the United States. It can easily be noted that most presidents come from families with means and very few come from humble origins. Republic is not always based on merit. If it was, then the republics of the world would not be in the trouble they are in today. A republic is a system of government in which the people are lied to by their fellow nationals for the sake of power.

Look to history as an example of the horrors of republicanism. For example, the French revolution. Never was there a more violent period in the history of France than the usurpation of the French monarchy and the establishment of a republic. Hundreds were murders and religion was declared an enemy of the state. Another example is the Russian revolution. Though Communism is not considered a republican government, it is still a government by the people. In the Russian revolution, thousands of innocents were violently murdered. Take the children of the Tsar for example. They were shot, though the daughters did not die straight away because their gem-encrusted corsets hindered the impact of the bullets. The executioners stabbed them to death with bayonets to hurry the process along. Their bodies were burned with acid and thrown down a mine shaft. All this to innocent children. The church in revolutionary Russia, as in revolutionary France, was persecuted as were its innocent adherents. In a letter to The Independent in 1998, Oleg Gordievsky wrote:

Russia under Nicholas II, with all the survivals of feudalism, had opposition political parties, independent trade unions and newspapers, a rather radical parliament and a modern legal system. Its agriculture was on the level of the USA, with industry rapidly approaching the West European level. In the USSR there was total tyranny, no political liberties and practically no human rights. Its economy was not viable; agriculture was destroyed. The terror against the population reached a scope unprecedented in history. No wonder many Russians look back at Tsarist Russia as a paradise lost.

Winston Churchill was of the opinion that World War II may have never come about if the monarchies of Europe had remained intact. He said in 1946, "If the Allies at the peace table at Versailles had allowed a Hohenzollern, a Wittelsbach and a Habsburg to return to their thrones, there would have been no Hitler. A democratic basis of society might have been preserved by a crowned Weimar in contact with the victorious Allies."
In 1945 he wrote:

This war would never have come unless, under American and modernising pressure, we had driven the Habsburgs out of Austria and the Hohenzollerns out of Germany. By making these vacuums we gave the opening for the Hitlerite monster to crawl out of its sewer on to the vacant thrones. No doubt these views are very unfashionable....

Imperial Rights
A King, in accordance with the divine right of kings, is inferior to no one but God and must obey and heed no one but God. A king has the birth right to rule and the responsibility to upkeep the nation based on the needs of the people and the word of God and morality. There are certain powers, rights, and abilities that, in an ideal situation, a monarch should undoubtedly possess.
With the exception of theocratic monarchies, such as the papacy, in which celibacy is a requirement, a monarch should have the right to produce legitimate offspring and pass on his crown to his heir upon his death or abdication.

The sovereign should have the right to abdicate from the throne and pass his crown to his heir. He should have the right to abdicate in the name of his heir also, but only if the heir is not of legal age to choose himself.

The king should also have amongst his arsenal of royal prerogatives the right to appoint and dismiss ministers, including his Prime Minister if such a position must exist. He should have the right to dissolve parliament and call elections if elections are to be permitted at all. He should have the right to grant Clemency, to award honours, to declare war, and to mint coinage. He should have the right to declare a state of emergency, grant charters of incorporation, issue and revoke passports, expel foreign nationals, create common law courts, and found new universities. He should have the right to publish statutes, legislative instruments, and Orders-in-Council. He should have the right to exercise jurisdiction over Royal foundations of any kind and to appoint a number of Royal Commissions and Officers for various purposes.

The King must be permitted Sovereign Immunity and all legal cases of public importance must be tried in his name. It must also be the right of the king to negotiate treaties and accredit diplomats. He may also order a subject not to leave the realm.

Most importantly, a king must have, without question, the right to approve all legislature with his own signature. He must have the right to veto any legislature by withholding his signature. He must also have the right to overturn any decision made by one of his own courts.

Imperial Duties
A monarch’s duties as set down by King James I of England and VI of Scotland in the Trew Law of Free Monarchies is as such:

And therefore in the Coronation of our owne Kings, as well as of euery Christian Monarche, they giue their Oath, first to maintaine the Religion presently professed within their countrie, according to their lawes, whereby it is established, and to punish all those that should presse to alter, or disturbe the profession thereof; And next to maintaine all the lowable and good Lawes made by their predecessours: to see them put in execution, and the breakers and violaters thereof, to be punished, according to the tenour of the same: And lastly, to maintaine the whole countrey, and euery state therein, in all their ancient Priuiledges and Liberties, as well against all forreine enemies, as among themselues: And shortly to procure the weale and flourishing of his people, not onely in maintaining and putting to execution the olde lowable lawes of the countrey, and by establishing of new (as necessitie and euill maners will require) but by all other meanes possible to fore-see and preuent all dangers, that are likely to fall vpon them, and to maintaine concord, wealth, and ciuilitie among them, as a louing Father, and careful watchman, caring for them more then for himselfe, knowing himselfe to be ordained for them, and they not for him; and therefore countable to that great God, who placed him as his lieutenant ouer them, vpon the perill of his soule to procure the weale of both soules and bodies, as farre as in him lieth, of all them that are committed to his charge. And this oath in the Coronation is the clearest, ciuill, and fundamentall Law, whereby the Kings office is properly defined.

The King must be firstly and foremostly responsible to God, his divine ordainer. He must rule in accordance with the will of God. Elizabeth I of England said in her address to her last parliament in 1601:

To be a King, and wear a Crown, is a thing more glorious to them that see it, than it is pleasant to them that bear it: for my self, I never was so much inticed with the glorious name of a King, or the royal authority of a Queen, as delighted that God hath made me His Instrument to maintain His Truth and Glory, and to defend this kingdom from dishonour, damage, tyranny, and oppression. But should I ascribe any of these things unto my self, or my sexly weakness, I were not worthy to live, and of all most unworthy of the mercies I have received at God’s hands, but to God only and wholly all is given and ascribed.

A king must also, if it is in accordance with God’s will, be loyal to his people and be aware and informed of their needs and desires. He must put his people before himself and strive towards their benefit and not his own.

The King must be non-partisan. He must be above politics and unbiased. He can be on God’s side only. He must not vote in any elections of any kind. His political government is beneath him and he must not lower himself to the level of argumentative politicians.

He must guard his people against the malicious politicians. He must hinder the passage of laws that would bring woe to his people. He must not allow his elected government to take advantage of their power or to take advantage of his subjects.

He must open parliament, providing there should be such a body as a parliament. He must dissolve parliament when necessary. He must call elections and appoint ministers. He must form a government, mint coinage, head the military, create courts, and other things which are expected of kings depending upon the customs of the region in question.

The Monarchist Imperative
If monarchy is going to continue in our world today, it is imperative that we monarchists unite. We must take action! We must stop existing monarchies from being abolished! We must help historic monarchies to be reestablished! We must promote new monarchies! Nothing will change without a united front of monarchists.

It is absolutely necessary for more pro-monarchy media to be published and every monarchist must do his or her part. Whether it be an article in a newspaper or magazine, a book or documentary, or even a letter to the editor of a local newspaper, anyone who calls himself a monarchist must educated the world. We must teach the political philosophies of our ancestors to the new generation that has not had the opportunity to learn them. We must combat the anti-monarchy media and do all in our power to promote monarchy to the people of the world.
We must defend the remaining ancient dynasties of the world that are holding on today. Even at the risk of our own lives we must stop the kingdoms, empires, duchies, and tsardoms of this earth from being overthrown against the will of God. We must vote pro-monarchy in referendums and any election where it is an option. Use the republican concepts to defeat republicanism: vote for the monarchy!

We must strive to help restore old, abolished monarchies. Monarchy has a tendency to reestablish itself even centuries after it has been abolished. It is never too late to undo what has been done. As long as there is one overturned monarchy it must be our charge to restore it at any means necessary.

We must establish new monarchies in the place of other less desirable governments by any means. Whether it be through political movements, propagating in favour of monarchy, refuting republicanism, educating on the benefits of monarchic government, etc., action must be taken. We must stand up to argument, rejection, and prejudice in the name of our divine Creator, the King of Kings, for the global establishment and preservation of monarchic governments.
Remember the words of Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

© Caleb T. Thomas]]> <![CDATA[Monarchist Humour]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=3 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:00:02 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=3 ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[Petition to Revoke the Independence of the United States of America]]> http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=2 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:56:05 -0700 http://theophanydesigns.com/monarchists/showthread.php?tid=2 http://britainandamerica.typepad.com/bri...o_rev.html

To the citizens of the United States of America, in the light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories.

Except Utah, which she does not fancy.

Your new Prime Minister (The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP, for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a Minister for America without the need for further elections.

The House of Representatives and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium." Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour'; skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters.

You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise."

You will learn that the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to re-spell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation.

Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up “vocabulary." Using the same thirty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "uhh", "like", and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

Look up "interspersed."

There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn't have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary, then you won't have to use bad language as often.

2. There is no such thing as "US English." We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of "-ize."

3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier).

You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents --- Scottish dramas such as "Taggart" will no longer be broadcast with subtitles.

While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon." If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.

4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters.

British sit-coms such as "Men Behaving Badly" or "Red Dwarf" will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness. Popular British films such as the Italian Job and the Wicker Man should never be remade.

5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.

6. You should stop playing American "football." There are other types of football such as Rugby, Aussie Rules & Gaelic football. However proper football - which will no longer be known as soccer, is the best known, most loved and most popular. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game.

The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.

Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies).

We are hoping to get together at least a US Rugby sevens side by 2008.

You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of North America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders," which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.

7. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

8. The 4th of July is no longer a public holiday. The 2nd of November will be a new national holiday, but only in Britain. It will be called "Indecisive Day."

9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap, and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call 'French fries' are not real chips. Fries aren't even French, they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat.

Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

11. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself.

12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling "beer" is not actually beer at all, it is lager . From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer," and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as "Lager." The substances formerly known as "American Beer" will henceforth be referred to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine," with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as "Weak Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine." This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in the Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.

13. From the 10th of November the UK will harmonise petrol (or "gasoline," as you will be permitted to keep calling it until the 1st of April) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon -- get used to it).

14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

16. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation.

God Save the Queen!]]> http://britainandamerica.typepad.com/bri...o_rev.html

To the citizens of the United States of America, in the light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories.

Except Utah, which she does not fancy.

Your new Prime Minister (The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP, for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a Minister for America without the need for further elections.

The House of Representatives and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium." Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour'; skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters.

You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise."

You will learn that the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to re-spell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation.

Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up “vocabulary." Using the same thirty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "uhh", "like", and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

Look up "interspersed."

There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn't have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary, then you won't have to use bad language as often.

2. There is no such thing as "US English." We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of "-ize."

3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier).

You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents --- Scottish dramas such as "Taggart" will no longer be broadcast with subtitles.

While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon." If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.

4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters.

British sit-coms such as "Men Behaving Badly" or "Red Dwarf" will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness. Popular British films such as the Italian Job and the Wicker Man should never be remade.

5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.

6. You should stop playing American "football." There are other types of football such as Rugby, Aussie Rules & Gaelic football. However proper football - which will no longer be known as soccer, is the best known, most loved and most popular. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game.

The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.

Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies).

We are hoping to get together at least a US Rugby sevens side by 2008.

You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of North America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders," which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.

7. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

8. The 4th of July is no longer a public holiday. The 2nd of November will be a new national holiday, but only in Britain. It will be called "Indecisive Day."

9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap, and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call 'French fries' are not real chips. Fries aren't even French, they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat.

Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

11. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself.

12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling "beer" is not actually beer at all, it is lager . From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer," and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as "Lager." The substances formerly known as "American Beer" will henceforth be referred to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine," with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as "Weak Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine." This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in the Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.

13. From the 10th of November the UK will harmonise petrol (or "gasoline," as you will be permitted to keep calling it until the 1st of April) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon -- get used to it).

14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

16. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation.

God Save the Queen!]]>