Young Fogey Alert!

Ah, the Young Fogeys. There are a few of us still around you know, the slightly old fashioned; grasping for authenticity, fully disdaining mass contemporary society and modern "ideals", if we can call it that. It's always a good day when I discover a new one.

I don't know if Rafal Heydel-Mankoo (surely a British Empire appellation, if there ever was one) wears heavy tweeds or antique dinner jackets when he walks around London, or if he enjoys fine wines or smokes a pipe. But I do know his scholarly and intellectual cultural pursuits to be impeccable, along with his flawless discipline for proper punctuation, grammar and syntax, even demonstrating a particular fondness for the word, "whilst". Young Fogey indeed. All fogeys, young and old, are highly encouraged to read his weekly blog.

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Rafal Heydel-Mankoo is the Editor and co-author of Burke’s Peerage & Gentry: World Orders of Knighthood and Merit, a 2,000 page reference work which has been hailed as “the definitive study” and “a classic…unlikely to be replaced for at least a century”. Born in the UK and educated in Canada, Rafal now lives in London. Rafal is one of Canada’s principal royal commentators and pundits. He has provided live television commentary for events including the Golden Jubilee of HM The Queen, the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the marriage of HRH The Prince of Wales.

A former director of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, former Director of the International Churchill Society and a past Ottawa branch Chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada, Rafal is a Trustee of the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust, a Commissioner for the International Commission for Orders of Chivalry and a Council Member of the Royal Stuart Society. In 2002 Rafal was decorated by the Canadian Crown in recognition of his work educating Canadians about the monarchy. Rafal is a Knight of Merit of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George, a Knight Commander of the Order of the Crested Crane (Rwanda) and a Commander of the Order of the Lion (Ethiopia).