In Praise of Taki

Somebody please pinch me. The great Taki Theodoracopulos claims The Monarchist, along with four other top drawer choices, among his favorite blogs! (see proud tower).

For the ignoramuses who don't know of whom I'm talking about, I'm referring of course to the gentleman courtier who was a personal friend of the late Princess Diana, and who happens to be married to royalty in his own right. The worldly patrician who hails from the cradle of Western civilisation itself, much like that other elegant Greek of royal marriage, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Like His Royal Highness, Taki is blessed with a certain inclination towards Old World political incorrectness; a refreshing disposition compared to the universally accepted, morally poisonous pablum of the "garbage culture" (Taki's phrase). It is a statement of our times that such gentlemen and their pronouncements are considered even mildly controversial, while the squalid, numbskull mentality of the celebrity cult go unquestionably revered.

You can usually find the long-time High Life columnist at The Spec, or in the evening at the traditional London swank, Brooke's, no doubt getting lordly in his wine or whatever it is the high life bon vivant fancies drinking. As with Churchill, Taki has no distaste for pleasure. I hear both are defined in the English language under boon companion. My kind of elite.

More importantly, Taki is the polemicist of our times, the traditionalist crusader who wants to "shake up the stodgy world of so-called ‘conservative’ opinion", which he believes has been highjacked by neocon, pasty-faced kids in need of a wedgy. He co-founded The American Conservative magazine with Pat Buchanan to give voice to his iconoclast views. Taki is pro-American and anti-Iraq-War. A rare bird. He says he doesn't really hate the neocons, because the only man he ever hated was Hillary Clinton.

In terms of pure talent, he may not be at the level of, say, a Christopher Hitchens (both have written for Vanity Fair), because he is in fact at a higher level. Unlike the foul smelling, anti-monarchist, anti-Christian Trotskyite, Taki has noblesse - he would never consider attacking the Queen Mother or Mother Teresa, or anyone by virtue of their position or faith or lack of wealth, who could not defend themselves. We admire him because he admires the traditional values espoused by Burke, and because like all men who respect their heritage, he believes in the elevated spectacle of monarchy, "the Corinthian capital of polished society". Wouldn't we be better off if, instead of seeking to tear it down, this is the level to which we all aspired.