Sixty Joyless De-Britished Uncrowned Commonpoor Years (1949-2009)

Elizabeth II Vice-Regal Saint: Remembering Paul Comtois (1895–1966), Lt.-Governor of Québec
Britannic Inheritance: Britain's proud legacy. What legacy will America leave?
English Debate: Daniel Hannan revels in making mince meat of Gordon Brown
Crazy Canucks: British MP banned from Canada on national security grounds
Happy St. Patrick's: Will Ireland ever return to the Commonwealth?
Voyage Through the Commonwealth: World cruise around the faded bits of pink.
No Queen for the Green: The Green Party of Canada votes to dispense with monarchy.
"Sir Edward Kennedy": The Queen has awarded the senator an honorary Knighthood.
President Obama: Hates Britain, but is keen to meet the Queen?
The Princess Royal: Princess Anne "outstanding" in Australia.
H.M.S. Victory: In 1744, 1000 sailors went down with a cargo of gold.
Queen's Commonwealth: Britain is letting the Commonwealth die.
Justice Kirby: His support for monarchy almost lost him appointment to High Court
Royal Military Academy: Sandhurst abolishes the Apostles' Creed.
Air Marshal Alec Maisner, R.I.P. Half Polish, half German and 100% British.
Cherie Blair: Not a vain, self regarding, shallow thinking viper after all.
Harry Potter: Celebrated rich kid thinks the Royals should not be celebrated
The Royal Jelly: A new king has been coronated, and his subjects are in a merry mood
Victoria Cross: Australian TROOPER MARK DONALDSON awarded the VC
Godless Buses: Royal Navy veteran, Ron Heather, refuses to drive his bus
Labour's Class War: To expunge those with the slightest pretensions to gentility
100 Top English Novels of All Time: The Essential Fictional Library
BIG BEN: Celebrating 150 Years of the Clock Tower

Tuesday 27 February 2007

Better a Knightless Realm than a Cavalier Republic

Well of course better a King and a Knight's Kingdom than any strange, watered down or half-assed concoction of same. But this being an imperfect world, we are sometimes required to ponder the consequences of unsatisfactory choices. So it was with a certain bemusement to discover Kiwi republicans who support the restoration of titular honours in New Zealand. I happen-chanced across it by way of one of those useful press releases that the republican movement keeps pumping out, which nobody ever bothers to read, yet miraculously gets caught by Google.

Hope springs half-empty or half-full, I suppose, depending on your outlook, though I do think the semi-monarchist meanderings of Dean Knight and David Farrar amount to half a giant leap for mankind. For republicans, these guys are as soft as they come, and one wonders whether these fine, if slightly twisted, gentlemen, who obviously support the trappings of monarchy, might be persuaded to support the continued presence of Her Majesty if it meant reinstatement of Kiwi honours.

It is a crime against honour that egalitarianist politicians in Canada, Australia and New Zealand have muzzled our Queen from granting knighthoods to her own subjects, whilst those citizens in America, Ireland and the rest of the world are permitted to regularly receive such honours. It would be an even greater crime, in this humble scribe's opinion, to relent to this creeping regicide by going down on bended knee before the reigning politician, as if somehow a worthy substitute. Because tradition and its trappings must be authentic, hold that magnificent sense of gravitas, especially where honour is concerned. You simply can't fake this stuff.

It is a fact born of our collective history that the inspiring power of the institutional honours, titles and rank associated with knighthoods has been fused indissolubly with the pomp & ceremony of the British Crown. If the Crown were to be removed and the Royal associations were to be alienated from these institutions, they would obviously cease to hold the same historical grandeur, meaning and force. That wisdom of British Columbia's wonderful motto is an appropriate call to arms here: Splendor Sine Occasu. Splendour without diminishment!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, was that last line meant to draw me out?

The Monarchist said...

Yes, as does the scribble permanently etched in the header

Anonymous said...

How about hereditizing the Senate? Are any Canadian senators the offspring of senators past?

The Monarchist said...

Much rather re-enfranchize the 600 or so hereditary peers from Great Britain, who are in need of a parliamentary chamber that is in need of them. I know it's a step down from the Lords, but so is turning Longleat and their other stately homes into revenue generating playgrounds and zoos.

Maybe then we could rebuild the old Tory Rideau Club and make a grand old time of it.

Swift said...

No, no, we need the Duke of Norfolk down here to chair our new Legislative Council, which I am plotting to set up. Perhaps we could come to some sort of time-share arrangement?