The Monarchist 2.0

Canada's high commissioner to the UK described the Queen's tribute in London as a touching moment. “It was extremely moving watching the names scroll down very slowly ... there was absolute silence,”

The Queen honoured Canada's war dead from the Great War today as a high-tech vigil paying tribute to some 68,000 fallen Canadians flickered onto a wall in London's celebrated Trafalgar Square.

The Duke of Edinburgh was also among those who gathered to watch the international debut of Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil, a Canadian-made dusk-to-dawn tribute that features a nightly display of the names of the fallen veterans.

The ceremony began with darkness falling on London amid the piercing notes of The Last Post, played by a lone bugler.

“Long may we all remember the multitude of Canadians, and indeed all of those who laid down their lives to defend the lives of others,” the Queen, a maple leaf brooch on her coat, told the crowd gathered at Canada House.

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What's that old metaphor, that monarchy is akin to a political game of chess. Kings and Queens are like chess pieces, known not for the power they represent but the power they deny others. I quite like the way the Pons, Bishops, Knights and Horses swallow the enemy in this match. Enjoy!

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Republicanism would destroy the regimental heritage and traditional esprit-de-corps of our armed forces. We must not let that happen.

Military Sphere: Her Majesty as "Commander-in-Chief"
Relevant Quote: "But what are kings, when regiment is gone, But perfect shadows in a sunshine day?" - Christopher Marlowe
Related Concepts: The Queen's Regiments, Her Majesty's Ships, King and Country

WE SHALL FIGHT THEM ON THE BEACHES. What's honestly better, the Tasmanian Republican Guard or the Royal Australian Regiment? 'Soldiers Canada' or the famed Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry? Numbered British battalions of the European Rapid Reaction Force or the King’s Royal Hussars and the Prince of Wales Royal Lancers? How about Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles in New Zealand, the Royal Canadian Dragoons, the Queen's York Rangers and the Duke of Connaught's Own? Is it really goodbye to the Blues and Royals, the Royal Horse Artillery, the King's Own Calgary Regiment and the Queensland Mounted Infantry?... Get real, republicanos, regiment is family sacred to the serving soldier. Our royal heritage and regimental system is the whole basis and backbone of military pride and morale.

Removing the Crown from the armed forces may seem like a simple enough task, so long as you don't give a flying fig about military morale. So long as you don't give one piddle whiff for the esprit-de-corps of our fighting men and women, sure go ahead and dispense with the Queen's commission, decommission Her Majesty's Ships, retire the Queen's colours and surrender every regiment's battle honours. Don't worry that some regiments go back hundreds of years, they won't mind the blow torch, good soldiers will always do what they are told.

Many regiments do have very long histories, often going back for centuries; the oldest British regiment still in existence is the Honourable Artillery Company, established in 1537. The Royal Scots, formed in 1633, was the oldest infantry regiment until just recently when it was folded into the Royal Regiment of Scotland, now the Black Watch and all of the historical Highland regiments are combined under one amalgamated family. Talk about a terrible, terrible blow to regimental pride. Mind you, that's probably a relatively minor reform compared to what waits in store if the republicans ever get hold of the keys to the local armouries.

Commonwealth-style regiments have proven their worth throughout history in war and through lengthy and difficult policing missions. Regiments recruited from areas of political ferment (such as Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Quebec, India, etc.), tend to perform particularly well because of the loyalty their members exhibit to the regiments.

It is worth noting that in countries where regimental loyalty thrives - the core Anglosphere nations predominantly - those nations have never suffered a military coup, or even seriously faced the prospect of one, which can be attributed in part to the "tribal" nature of the regimental system, which makes it nearly impossible for a charismatic leader to command the loyalty of the entire army. History shows it is healthier to develop soldiers' loyalty to their regiment, than to the military in general. It is usually Her Majesty's position as regimental colonel-in-chief that engenders the closest loyalty, rather than the Queen's high station as overall commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

So hands off our regiments. OUT OF OUR COLD DEAD HANDS.

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A respected historian of Loyalists, Mr. Robert L. Dallison is the author of the book Hope Restored: The American Revolution and the Founding of New Brunswick and the creator of the museum Loyalist exhibition Hope Restored. Mr. Dallison has now created the exhibition Fredericton's Loyalists, hosted by the York Sunbury Museum in Fredericton, New Brunswick in Her Majesty's Kingdom of Canada.

Mr. Dallison’s Fredericton Loyalists exhibit tells the story of the Loyalist experience from the American Revolution, their struggle to survive the conflict, defeat, exile and settlement in Fredericton, New Brunswick. About 100,000 people fled the United States and about 14,000 found themselves in New Brunswick.

Mr. Dallison took a closer look at two families in Fredericton. The first being the Ingraham family whose experiences were recorded in their teenage daughter’s personal diary and was the focus of a National Film Board film, “The World Turned Upside Down.” The second is the Robinson family whose Fredericton home was situated across the Saint John River from the Governor's House in Fredericton. Dallison's exhibit includes some of the archaeological findings from the Robinson home since it no longer exists.

The exhibit features a replica Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers uniform (courtesy of Marion Fleming, Shelburne NS) that guests can try on and have their picture taken next to two life sized soldier cut outs from the Maryland Loyalists (courtesy of re-enactors Robert and Brendon Dobyns).

Mr. Dallison also included a Union Flag. The Union Flag was carried by the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. This flag is easily confused with the Union Jack of the United Kingdom adopted in 1801 when the red cross of St. Patrick was incorporated.

Still in progress is the computer work station that is going to be in the centre of the room. It will include an interactive quiz game and a copy of the Atlantic Canada Virtual Archives Loyalist website.

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On the shores of Lake Erie, in the Niagara Region of the Province of Ontario, lies the small town of Port Colborne.

In a ceremony this upcoming Saturday afternoon, a cemetery in Port Colborne will be officially designated a Loyalist cemetery.

Writes Derek Swartz of the Welland Tribune:

[Jerry Fisher's] poking around will also lead to the designation of a Loyalist cemetery in Port Colborne on Saturday afternoon, the first such designated cemetery in the city. Steele Cemetery on Concession 2 is the final resting place of Aaron Doan, who resisted the independence-minded American colonists during the Revolutionary War and took up arms against them in the War of 1812.

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For anyone who cherishes the principles that led Britain to reject Hitler's offer to safeguard the Empire and in the end voluntarily sacrifice it to finally go to war, the idea of China's communists using this year's Olympics as a huge propaganda victory must cause dismay. Nineteen years after students were mowed down by the People's Liquidation Army in the centre of the city awarded the honour of hosting the Games, the country still remains a fascist, totalitarian regime that aims missiles at democratic Taiwan to blackmail them, brutally occupies Tibet, ignores any idea of a rule of law to steal land from peasants whilst making their air unbreathable and water undrinkable, throws the elderly out of their houses to have them demolished for skyscrapers and Olympic stadia, subsidises Sudanese genocide and Mugabe's dictatorship and prevents my students from simply logging into Wikipedia or the BBC news.
Such is the regime that Churchill's latest successor visited last week where he seemed more interested in getting the Chinese to import pig trotters from Old Blighty than bothering to make the merest reference to human rights. In fact he jumped at the chance to accept the invitation to the Games' opening ceremony. There he will join other world leaders.

But he won't be joined by the Prince of Wales.

In a letter to the Free Tibet Campaign, Charles' deputy private secretary Clive Alderton wrote

As you know, His Royal Highness has long taken a close interest in Tibet and indeed has been pleased to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama on several occasions.
You asked if the Prince of Wales would be attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. His Royal Highness will not be attending the ceremony.

The Prince has long been known to be a champion for Tibet and an admirer of the Dalai Lama, forced into exile since 1959. At Clarence House six years ago he received two nuns who had been tortured in the Drapchi prison in Lhasa, so one can understand his support.
Many here will remember Charles' reported antipathy to the regime leaders, whom he referred to in his leaked diaries written during the Hong Kong handover as "appalling old waxworks". And yet this is a man who at the same time actively works through his Prince's Trust-type charities with the Chinese on urban regeneration projects. I myself have seen how they improve the lives of the particularly vulnerable, such as the old forced to live in traditional hutongs heated by coal, with poor insulation and erratic water supply, forced to walk a block to the communal toilets which are little more than holes in the ground without even a partition between stalls in many.
A man who refuses to accommodate injustice while still showing a willingness to engage. Qualities few of our politicians have shown an interest in displaying for some time.

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BY TRADITIONAL, I mean that Prince William is not going to depart from what princes and heirs to the throne historically do, which is to serve in the armed forces and prepare for duty as King and future Commander-in-Chief. This is significant because such a career path can no longer be taken as a given; what was obvious and true for generations past is no longer thus. Although the actual fighting in theatre in places like Iraq and Afghanistan has attracted increased interest to the profession-of-arms in recent times, the universal prestige of serving in the military is still not what it used to be - young people nowadays are just as content at the prospect of becoming an investment banker or management consultant, as they are a fighter pilot or a cavalry officer. Why should it be any different for royals?

Certainly the lack of distinction of our Commonwealth vice-regals (notwthstanding Australia's Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery) has done nothing to overcome our poverty in role models. The last men of true distinction in Canada were Governor General Georges Vanier and Lieutenant Governor of B.C. George Pearkes, VC, both of whom served during the 1960s. Unfortunately the military ethos of our grandparent's generation gave way to the politics of the social revolution, which in turn gave way to the politics of affirmative action. Indeed the current local "Commander-in-Chief" has done nothing particularly noteworthy in her formative life except read the news on Quebec television; suddenly pinning a row of unearned medals on her appointment looks forced and out of place. That this reality has not yet permeated and tainted the royal establishment is due to one reason and one reason only: politicians do not appoint royals. And because they don't, the maintenance of role models representing the old values of honour, duty and service have a fighting chance at survival.

Prince William has said that flying in the RAF and serving in the navy would be the culmination of a lifelong ambition. How many politicians today would ever say that?

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Prince Edward joined veterans of the Falklands War as he laid a wreath in Fitzroy to pay tribute to 55 servicemen, mostly Welsh Guards who were killed by Argentine jets attacking the Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram.

Refreshingly, Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram who is now in the Falklands left the Argentinians in no doubt that despite being entangled in Iraq and Afghanistan, the UK remains committed to defending the Falkland Islands and have the power to do so.

Yesterday Baroness Thatcher issued a rallying call to Falkland Islanders and UK forces, By declaring that "Fortune does, in the end, favour the brave."

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According to reports, Prince Harry is in training at at the British Army Training Unit Suffield, about 100 miles southeast of Calgary to prepare for possible deployment to Afghanistan after having flown to Canada from Heathrow on Wednesday. Unlike his previous plan to serve in Basra, a posting in the turbulent southern province of Helmand would be harder for Taliban rebels to determine his location.

It's in Alberta where the Prince is expected to practice "fire and manoeuvre" operations at Suffield, the largest training area available for British armoured vehicles, according to the Sunday Mirror.

"All the armoured live firing training is done at Suffield. It points towards a posting in Helmand. That kind of role is less in demand now in Iraq," a military source told the tabloid.
The British Army's website says: "This area is one of the largest our army trains on and it provides a highly realistic environment."

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