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

Monday 21 May 2007

Happy Empire Day

Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the late Majesty's birthday (May 24, 1819) continued to be celebrated as Empire Day until 1958, when it was changed to Commonwealth Day. In 1977 Commonwealth Day was moved to March, but Canada continued to reserve the closest Monday to May 24th as Victoria Day, a national holiday in honour of the late Empress and in honour of the official birthday of the reigning Sovereign.

Gregory Benton at Piddingworth gets it right:

"She was the first 'constitutional monarch' overseeing the development of British civilisation and enterprise in a quarter of the world at the time; parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, the progress of individual freedom all mingled with beaver pelt and tea. Pax Britannica.

As imperfect as the third British Empire was (being composed of the imperfections common to all power), compare the relative prosperity and quality of life of Victoria's 'children', aka, Great Britain & Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, et al, with most of the world's contemporary versions of life and culture; including those former colonies that, gaining independence from Westminster, chose Lenin, Stalin or some other murderous tyrant as their model instead...

A brief moment in spring for a loyal toast and a song for Britannia.

Land of Hope & Glory, indeed."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am really happy to see the Padre contributing here! I hope to see some more from you in the future!

Anonymous said...

Empire Day; when we try to remember the names of all those from the Sudbury area who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British.

Anonymous said...

ROTFL. Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. I love it!