David Flint at Rorke's Drift

Whenever I think of Australia's David Flint and his valiant band of monarchists, I am reminded of Lieutenant Chard at Rorke's Drift, of intrepid action and intelligent leadership with a tactical instinct for self-preservation, the kind that is able to stare futility in the face and laugh.

The Battle of Rorke's Drift, January 22/23, 1879.
The Battle of Rorke's Drift is one of those irresistible stories that will amaze for generations to come. In what became known as one of history's finest defences, 139 British redcoats miraculously defended a small garrison in January 1879 against an intense and sustained assault by more than 4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven of those 139 soldiers went on to win the Victoria Cross, the most ever for a single action, including Lt. Chard for his role in commanding the defence of the mission outpost, and for his courageous leadership, intelligence and tenacity against overwhelming odds.

Rorke's Drift is analagous here because but for the unheralded work of A.C.M. and others, Australia's intelligentsia is almost uniformly republican, from its political class to its media, academic and social elite, and its other self-appointed guardians of the national interest. It's as if the brave monarchists Down Under, who are the true custodians of Australia's history, culture and institutions, are alone in their redoubt, ably protecting the nation's precious constitutional order against the chattering onslaught of republican inevitability.

The innovative political genius of Professor Flint - that Australia has a choice between a "crowned republic" (i.e., the status quo) or a "politician's republic" (a dangerous leap of faith) - calls to mind the survival instincts of Lt. Chard, who implicitly recognized the need to shorten his defensive perimeter against the approaching hordes, and facilitated a tactical retreat behind a bisected position.

In similar fashion, Dr. Flint is shortening the parameters of public debate by arguing that we are effectively already a republic, thereby avoiding the abstract (monarchy versus republic) and pseudo-nationalist (Queen versus Mate for Head of State) distractions that prevent us from focussing on the substantive issue (Crown versus politician) that confronts us, such as the vital role the Crown plays in providing a level of leadership above politics, and in safeguarding us from our own hubris on the virtues of popular democracy.

Retreating behind the walls of a "crowned republic" may be grating to the royalist, but there are circumstances when strategic retreats and partial evacuations are necessary, and when obstinancy no longer serves the public interest. The staunch royalist may shout from the rooftops that Australia is not a crowned republic, that it is an independent kingdom, a commonwealth realm and a constitutional monarchy, as evidenced by it having a Queen, but what good are semantic plumes when the country was long ago sapped of its royalist spirit?

Loyalty to our country, our Queen and our cherished system of government requires that we fight to defend these things in the political arena where the battle will be won or lost. It is vital that we preseve the constitutional arrangement whereby power rests with the people and authority rests with the Crown, so that ultimately the rights and liberties of the individual can be protected if those two things - power and authority - remain properly segregated.

Unfortunately the encroaching politician has done much to consolidate them, and the fate of the individual is becoming as vulnerable as the hapless patients in the garrison hospital at Rorke's Drift.

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The Last Fighting Tommy, R.I.P.

Harry Patch, the last soldier to fight in the trenches of the Great War, has died aged 111. Private Patch fought and was injured at the Battle of Passchendaele while serving in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

There are still three surviving veterans of the First World War - a Canadian, an American and a British Australian - but none of them saw action on the front lines. A national memorial service headed by Her Majesty The Queen will now be held to honour the Lost Generation, who now pass from memory into history.

Read "The Five Acts of Harry Patch", a poem by former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion in honour of the Last Fighting Tommy.

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"All up!" It's the Queen's Swan Upping

Swan Upping is the annual census of the swan population on stretches of the Thames. This historic ceremony dates from the twelfth century, when the Crown claimed ownership of all mute swans. At that time swans were regarded as a delicious dish at banquets and feasts.

Today, the Crown retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but The Queen only exercises her ownership on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries.

This ownership is shared with the Worshipful Company of Vintners and the Worshipful Company of Dyers, who were granted rights of ownership by the Crown in the fifteenth century. Nowadays, of course, the swans are no longer eaten.

In the Swan Upping ceremony, The Queen's Swan Marker, the Royal Swan Uppers and the Swan Uppers of the Vintners' and Dyers' livery companies use six traditional Thames rowing skiffs in their five-day journey up-river.

The Queen's Swan Uppers wear traditional scarlet uniforms and each boat flies appropriate flags and pennants.

When a brood of cygnets is sighted, a cry of "All up!" is given to signal that the boats should get into position. On passing Windsor Castle, the rowers stand to attention in their boat with oars raised and salute "Her Majesty The Queen, Seigneur of the Swans".

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Godspeed to H.M.S. Daring

HMS Daring, the Royal Navy's newest and most advanced warship, was formally commissioned into the fleet on Thursday in front of the ship's sponsor, Her Royal Highness the Countess of Wessex.

The Daring is the first of six new air defence destroyers, which the Royal Navy are calling their "most capable destroyers ever". The ship is almost twice as big as the older destroyers it is replacing but requires a smaller crew - 190 sailors, compared with 280 personnel on the older ships. The new Type 45s are replacing the Navy's ageing fleet of Type 42 destroyers, such as HMS Glasgow.

As a former naval officer and commissioning crew member of HMCS Regina, I understand what it is like to assume the challenges and trials of a brand new warship. So God bless Her Majesty's Ship Daring and all who sail in her. I bid her fair winds and following seas.

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The Soul of England

To the Public House!

I have always loved pubs. I don't mean the nasty roadside boozers hungover from the age of the commercial traveller, or the repellent "theme pubs" (main theme: vileness). In most towns there are harmless and characterful little pubs, and all around our countryside are our great gift to the world: the country pub. They are at the core of my sense of myself as an Englishman. As a child, I spent an inordinate amount of time with my father. In between his educating me in reading, history, church architecture, numismatics and various other necessary accomplishments, he also showed me the outside of a number of fine old English inns, some of which I still patronise to this day.

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A Letter from Burke's Peerage and Gentry

My dear Monarchist,

Thank you for your most welcome email and kind words.

The issue you raise has required formal consideration for some time. Unfortunately, as LB Pearson was the last Canadian to hold the OM and the powers-that-be at RH no doubt thought it unlikely that another Canadian would be appointed, the OM was not included in the modern/revised Order of Precedence. I suspect, however, that the official position of the Government would be that, post 1972, the CC outranks the OM.

Such a position, if it is ever formally expressed, will have been based upon wholly political and pseudo-nationalist considerations and would be as unconvincing and nonsensical as the decision to group all the grades of the Order of Canada together, ranking a lowly Member of the Order of Canada above Companions of the Order of Military Merit, the Order of Merit of the Police Forces and of the Royal Victorian Order.

It is my view that the OM, as an exclusive award in the personal gift of Her Majesty, clearly outranks the far less exclusive CC. The Government's agenda notwithstanding, I do not see how one can arrive at any other conclusion. The New Zealand Royal Honours System (which, after that of the UK, is the most finely crafted honours system in the Commonwealth) has ranked the OM correctly.

Kind regards,

Rafal (Rafe) Heydel-Mankoo
Editor
Burke's Peerage & Gentry:
World Orders of Knighthood and Merit
http://www.wokm.co.uk/

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An English Gentleman, 1907

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I'm sorry, but the Order of Merit takes precedence over the Order of Canada

The recent granting of the Order of Merit by the Queen to Jean Chretien has created a stir in monarchist ranks

Having pretty much completely abolished titular honours from the Canadian landscape (apart from the odd anomoly), it was surely the intent of the Government of Canada to ensure that the highest honour bestowed upon Canadians (save those rewarded for the most conspicuous acts of bravery) be the Order of Canada, whatever the rank. By refusing to resurrect the old knighthoods, the Order of Canada would never have to compete with the likes of the Garter, the Thistle or the Bath.

This is clear from the Governor General's website regarding the modern orders of precedence. All three ranks of the Order of Canada take precedence in the orders of wear after the Victoria Cross (V.C.) and the Cross of Valour (C.V.).

The problem is they forgot about the non-titular orders that are in the personal gift of the Sovereign, such as the highly prestigious Companions of Honour (1917) and the even more exclusive Order of Merit (1902), both of which rank ahead of the Order of Canada (1967) if bestowed prior to June 1, 1972. Presumably these honours are so rare, no room was ever made for them in the new Canadian honours system, though the Royal Victorian Order was, probably because it conveniently ranked after the Order of Canada.

If bestowed after June 1, 1972, the Governor General's site instructs that "Commonwealth orders, decorations and medals...are worn after the Canadian orders, decorations and medals..."

This would mean that the Order of Merit, the most exclusive non-titular honour the Queen can bestow upon Canadians (limited to 24 British and Commonwealth members), now ranks after the likes of the Alberta Centennial Medal, the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal and a whole slew of U.N. medals, which are handed out ad infinitum.

But that would be absurd. Let's read that section again:

"Commonwealth orders, decorations and medals, the award of which is approved by the Government of Canada, are worn after the Canadian orders, decorations and medals..."

Yes, but the Order of Merit is not approved by the Government of Canada, it is awarded and approved by the Sovereign. Thus, it stands to reason that the Order of Merit and the Order of the Companions of Honour still rank ahead of the Order of Canada, until such time as an official pronouncement is made definitively declaring otherwise.

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Kitchener's Last Volunteer, R.I.P.

Last Battle of Jutland survivor died at the age of 113 on July 18th

Henry Allingham who lived for 113 years and 42 days was Britain's oldest surviving volunteer of the Great War. Incredibly he fought on land, sea and in the air in that titanic struggle. He was the last founding member of the Royal Air Force and its precursor, the Royal Naval Air Service, and the last surviving veteran of the Battle of Jutland. He survived six monarchs, and 21 prime ministers during his long life, and was one of the last living links to the Victorian age. He was the world's oldest man and the oldest Englishman ever.

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Kind Hearts and Coronets

A classic was born 60 years ago this summer.
Hat tip: Gods of the Copybook Headings

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The Magic of Monarchy

So much for the theory that monarchists are dying off at an accelerating pace and the future belongs to some vague shiny republic. The fact of the matter is monarchists are born every minute, it is the futile task of every republican to indoctrinate them into some corrective educational program before they become the future. Judging from this photo, they might want to hurry!

The picture above was taken by Richard Hatherly at Newman College, Floreat, Perth, Australia on 18 October, 2006. Left to right are 7 years old Sebastian Faugno, 6 years old Harrison Delaporte, 6 years old Catherine Whitely and 6 years old Eloise Krikstolaitis, with the letter they received from Buckingham Palace.

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Penny-pinching miserly old republicans will not be happy until they get their President Scrooge

RE: The Queen costs us more than the Brits pay

Republicans can be a miserly, scrimy and niggardly lot, who have no comprehension of the difference between stinginess which is a vice, and frugality which is a virtue. What republicans don't seem to understand is that you can practice economy without being stingy, that you can be thrifty without being petty and ungenerous, that you can be frugal without being a skinny little grudging penny-pincher.

Personally, I am with Aristotle who said that on the quality of magnficence, a gentleman does not count the cost. We must nevertheless be mindful that taxpayers today rarely think as such, that people will always count the cost, even if it is the meagre per capita cost of supporting our Queen and vice-regal representatives.

The Queen of course exemplifies thriftiness, even though she is obviously rich and lives in palaces. That is because Her Majesty is an exemplar of prudence and good taste, in that she uses her wealth and that of taxpayers wisely and with care. She is not some money flaunting celebrity who likes to swill around town in a Lambrogini.

But that is not good enough for tightfisted, cheeseparing republicans who would do away with the monarchy for a lousy stick of gum. How scrimpy, selfish and uncharitable do you have to be to incessantly complain and whine about 69p if you're British and $1.53 if you're Canadian. Might we have another lump of coal for the Queen? Unfortunately we must resign ourselves to the meanspirited fact that these penny-pinching miserly old gits will not be happy until they get their President Scrooge.

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Her Majesty honours Jean Chrétien

I did my job as best I could and Her Majesty was gracious enough to recognize that.

— Former prime minister Jean Chrétien

The man who did more than any other prime minister to deny Canadians the right to receive honours from their Queen (he did his job as best he could), has been so honoured by Her Majesty. Haters of the Nickle Resolution will be a little bemused at Her Majesty's latest choice for the very prestigious and exclusive Order of Merit:

The Queen has appointed the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada, to the exclusive Order of Merit.

The honour is restricted to 24 living members and few foreigners. It puts Mr. Chrétien's name alongside such esteemed figures as Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.

Mr. Chrétien said he was surprised, honoured and grateful.

“What can I say?” he told The Canadian Press on Monday. “I take it as a great compliment and I accept it with some humility.

“I did my job as best I could and Her Majesty was gracious enough to recognize that.”

Mr. Chrétien, 75, is just the third Canadian named to the order, after former prime ministers MacKenzie King, at 21 years the longest-serving prime minister in the Commonwealth, and Lester Pearson, a Nobel laureate who brought universal health care, the flag and a federal pension plan to Canada.

All are Liberals.

The Queen's website calls the Order of Merit, founded in 1902 by King Edward VII, a “gift from the sovereign.”

It is given to people “of exceptional distinction in the arts, learning, sciences and other areas such as public service.”

You can take it from me that Jean Chrétien is no monarchist. He would have turned Canada into a republic had he seen the opportunity to do so.

Peter Donolo, who was the prime minister's director of communications back in the late 1990s, had frankly suggested the dumping of the monarchy as a worthwhile Canadian millenium project to the media. As soon as it was discovered that this little off the record tale was indeed going to be front page news in the morning press, Mr. Donolo went to the prime minister to apologize for causing an impending controversy for the government, to which the prime minister gladly directed his communication's director to see where it would lead with the public.

We also remember the lengths to which the former prime minister went to deny Lord Black his peerage, and how hot under the collar he became when he learned that two Canadians were going to be knighted by the Queen above his strenuous objections (because they were also British citizens, the prime minister was told by the British government to get stuffed.)

On the other hand, the Queen has known Jean Chrétien longer than any other current living prime minister, including Margaret Thatcher. Mr. Chrétien first became a Minister of the Crown in the early 1960s under Lester Pearson and he was Minister of Justice during the 1982 patriation of the Constitution under Trudeau, before his lengthy tenure of prime minister began in 1993 and ended in 2004. So the Queen has established a lengthy rapport with the former prime minister, unmatched in tenure by any other serving or former Commonwealth head of government at the present time.

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Edward Kenna, VC

Ted Kenna, who died on July 8 aged 90, was the last surviving Australian Victoria Cross recipient of the Second World War.

The citation for his VC was gazetted on 6 September 1945, and read:

War Office, 6th September, 1945.

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the VICTORIA CROSS to:-

No. VX. 102142 Private Edward KENNA, 2/4 Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Military Forces.

In the South West Pacific at Wewak on 15th May, 1945, during the attack on the Wirui Mission features, Private Kenna's company had the task of capturing certain enemy positions. The only position from which observation for supporting fire could be obtained was continuously swept by enemy heavy machine gun fire and it was not possible to bring Artillery or Mortars into action.

Private Kenna's platoon was ordered forward to deal with the enemy machine gun post, so that the company operation could proceed. His section moved as close as possible to the bunker in order to harass any enemy seen, so that the remainder of the platoon could attack from the flank. When the attacking sections came into view of the enemy they were immediately engaged at very close range by heavy automatic fire from a position not previously disclosed. Casualties were suffered and the attackers could not move further forward.

Private Kenna endeavoured to put his Bren gun into a position where he could engage the bunker, but was unable to do so because of the nature of the ground. On his own initiative and without orders Private Kenna immediately stood up in full view of the enemy less than fifty yards away and engaged the bunker, firing his Bren gun from the hip. The enemy machine gun immediately returned Private Kenna's fire and with such accuracy that bullets actually passed between his arms and his body. Undeterred, he remained completely exposed and continued to fire at the enemy until his magazine was exhausted. Still making a target of himself, Private Kenna discarded his Bren gun and called for a rifle. Despite the intense machine gun fire, he seized the rifle and, with amazing coolness, killed the gunner with his first round.

A second automatic opened fire on Private Kenna from a different position and another of the enemy immediately tried to move into position behind the first machine gun, but Private Kenna remained standing and killed him with his next round.

The result of Private Kenna's magnificent bravery in the face of concentrated fire, was that the bunker was captured without further loss, and the company attack proceeded to a successful conclusion, many enemy being killed and numerous automatic weapons captured.

There is no doubt that the success of the company attack would have been seriously endangered and many casualties sustained but for Private Kenna's magnificent courage and complete disregard for his own safety. His action was an outstanding example of the highest degree of bravery.

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The New Statesman foames at the mouth

The New Statesman is having a monarchy pile-on in their latest issue: "Why Ma'am Must Go". You will be amazed at the number of anti-monarchist articles devoted to it. What suddenly brought this on, you wonder? Here's a theory: they are mad as hell after seeing what the Prince of Wales was able to do recently against the modernist starchitects, and they are now foaming at the mouth. Ooh boy, are they mad. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Mourning the King of Pop

Life is a comedy to those who think, and a tragedy to those who feel.
- Horace Walpole, son of Britain's first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

How many days and weeks more will the media mourn the passing of Michael Jackson? There is an unwritten rule that funerals - even state funerals - take place within a week of the individual's passing. Churchill lay in state for three days, I believe, which is about the maximum that any emminent person (not that Michael Jackson is anything close to an emminent person) would or should be granted. Even Princess Diana's ceremonial funeral - which surely must have followed the most prolonged show of public mourning in modern history - was over in six days.

Michael Jackson's public outporing is now going on pretty near twice that, and the mainstream media continues to dedicate hours and hours, days and days without end. This is clearly ridiculous and undignified and is a clear symptom of how sickly comedic we have become as a civilisation. Yes, comedic, the night show host Jon Stewart should be all over this, but he won't because he would lose his ratings and even his entertainment business if he so much as pointed out the faux tragedy of all this. I freely admit that I may have emulated the moonwalk with my high school chums back in 1982 (I was not always the traditionalist I purport to be, that began to seep in a bit later), but the moonwalkers out there need to dethrill themselves and move on.

That's what happens when you deny society their role models and proper idols. When men are forbidden to honour a king, they honour false kings. Deny them food and they will gobble poison.

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Her Majesty Commands...

The ghost of Empire:

Britain took the first step towards seizing control of a number of Caribbean islands yesterday despite international criticism of a “return to colonialism”.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that the Governor of the Turks & Caicos Islands was appointing a series of experts to help him to run the territory and to prosecute its corrupt politicians.

The Governor Gordon Wetherell was expected to seize control of the islands last month after the planned publication of a final report into allegations of corruption. A navy frigate on patrol in the Caribbean, HMS Iron Duke, would have been on stand-by to offer support as British investigators, lawyers and administrators arrived to replace the elected Parliament.

In my more sarcastic moods I would be penning a letter to Her Majesty demanding she do the same for her Canadian realm. The stark fact is that Gordon Brown would be a far worse leader than Stephen Harper. Mother England, not what she used to be. The easy way out of our current mess - repealing theStatue of Westminster - being impractical and undesirable, what are our alternatives? Perhaps junking parliament? Just let the Queen appoint whomever she likes as ministers of the crown? To hell with responsible government, responsibility being old fashioned anyway. I doubt Her Majesty would be very keen. She has better things to do with her time than play the role of ward-healer / nanny that is the typical career path of a modern politician.

One of the salient advantages of a hereditary monarch is that the position is not something you can aspire to. Certainly the current holder had no desire to be crowned, praying as a little girl that her parents would produce a brother, thus knocking her down the line of succession. This helps explains the relative normality of the Royal Family, relative that is people of fame and accidental wealth. People desperate to be famous for the sake of being famous, or powerful for the sake of being powerful (politicians) are mentally ill. Pretty much anyone crazy enough to want to be Prime Minister, or President, is crazy and power mad enough that they should be ineligible for the job. There are exceptions. One can imagine Margaret Thatcher or Nigel Lawson doing a real job. Tony Blair or Gordon Brown? This was not always so.

For all their eccentricities Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone were sane and decent men - though Dizzy did cut an awful lot of corners. It was a cliche that the British Empire was run on a shoestring. Never exactly true, even before late imperial spectacles like the Delhi Durbar, but the British liked to keep overhead to a relative minimum. Government at home was much the same. Victorian Britain was the classic night watchman state. While Glad and Dizzy might have been the most powerful men of their age, their real power over the typical British subject was a lot less than a small town mayor today. As a rule sane men don't want great power over other men. Just enough power to get a specific task accomplished. When the state assumes the role of protector, educator, secular priest and dietitian, it naturally attracts men and women who enjoy wielding that sort of power over their fellow citizens. In other words crazy people.

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Who Were the Loyalists?

Over two hundred years ago the American Revolution shattered the British Empire in North America.

United Empire Loyalist statue and plaque in Hamilton, Ontario

Not all the inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies opposed Britain. The United Empire Loyalists were those colonists who remained faithful to the Crown and wished to continue living in the New World. Therefore, they left their homes to settle eventually in what remained of British North America.

The Loyalists came from every class and walk of life. Some depended on the Crown for their livelihood and status and had considerable wealth and property. Many were farmers and craftsmen. There were clerks and clergymen, lawyers and labourers, soldiers and slaves, Native Americans, college graduates, and people who could not write their own names. Recent immigrants from Europe also tended to support the Crown.

They had little in common but their opposition to the revolution. Their reasons for becoming Loyalists were as varied as their backgrounds. Some had strong ties with Britain: others had simply supported what turned out to be the losing side. Local incidents, fear of change, self-interest, political principles, emotional bonds – one or any combination of these influenced their decision to remain loyal to the Crown. The common thread that linked these diverse groups was a distrust of too much democracy which they believed resulted in mob rule and an accompanying breakdown of law and order. The Reverend Mather Byles mused, "Which is better – to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away or by three thousand tyrants one mile away?" Loyalists believed that the British connection guaranteed them a more secure and prosperous life than republicanism would.

A Short History of the United Empire Loyalists by Ann Mackenzie M.A. (PDF)

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The End of Responsible Government

Lord Durham must be turning in his grave. This is a truly appalling state of affairs. The future is being robbed by the present, and yet we fuss that the monarchy is costing us 69p. (Hat tip to Daniel Hannan)

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Family Key To Reproduction Of Nation

"Is The Royal Family a family? For they themselves refer to the collective of Royals as "the firm" and ever since the failure of three of the marriages of the Monarch's own offspring, there seems less and less of an effort to present this "model" of family life for the nation to emulate. It was not always thus."

"In the 1950s, under controlled media management, there was a concerted campaign to present The Royal Family as a model family. Post Office Savings Stamps were sold to children with pictures of a young Prince Charles and Princess Anne. The Queen and Prince Philip are typical of the post-war married couples who produced the baby boom generation: marriage was for life and the reproduction of the nation was best handled by the institution of the family."

"Public affection for King George VI and His Queen – who courageously lived in Buckingham Palace as bombs fell on London – was then transferred to the very young Queen Elizabeth II and Her dashing young naval officer Consort. After their marriage in 1947, the speedy birth of children, and the Accession to the Throne in 1952, their position as positive role models for the family seemed secure." Continue Denis MacShane's article for The Yorkshire Post via here.

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Anger Over Queen Crowning Son

Republicans in The Principality of Wales have marked the 40th anniversary of the Investiture of The Prince of Wales with a "protest" at Caernarfon Castle. Organisers of the event told the media that dozens of people were going to turn out to show their anger. In the event "nine members of the public" turned up.

Speaking to the nine people present, Adam Phillips, organiser of this event demanded that the Royal title 'The Prince of Wales' be abolished and called for Prince Charles to be the last ever Prince of Wales. Mr Phillips, who is also a chairman of a Welsh language and culture promotion group, added: "The people of Wales need to wake up and discover who they are. Years ago we had a royal family which was systematically destroyed by our neighbours. If the people of Wales want a monarchy, we should create one of our own. We have to ask ourselves 'do we want to be a Principality, a toy or plaything of The Prince of Wales, or a country in our own right?'" No doubt to cheers and loud applause from the nine strong group, Mr Phillips then said: "Prince William should never be Invested. It's an outdated concept. Why should the people of Wales have a foreigner (who was born English as opposed to born Welsh) as their liege?"

Full details about this protest were actually withheld from the local media so protesters could "make the most impact" as July 1st 1969 was remembered. The Evening Leader newspaper also reports that this group of nine even carried placards, put up signs and banners - and then quietly "spoke to passers-by about their demands". For pictures of their quite hilarious placards and banners just click here. For more about the protests click here. Colour film footage of the Investiture in 1969 has recently been put online for the very first time. Watch these new clips of the 1969 Investiture in colour via the link here. Last Monday a BBC poll found that 71% of people in Wales believed that the Monarchy should continue. When asked 29% said they wanted to see the Monarchy abolished.

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"Gentlemen: The Queen"

The 78th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment R.A., 1953.
Photographer: Ralph Crane. Hat tip, Dr. David Flint, ACM

Officers Dress Night at the mess of the 78th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment R.A. toasting the Queen. (Click photo to enlarge)

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The Old Chieftain

SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD, FATHER OF CANADIAN CONFEDERATION

The old Tory and flamboyant Scotchman who's greatest achievement was to unite the colonies of British North America into a single polity and become the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.

Memorable Quote: "A British subject I was born, a British subject I will die"

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UT INCEPIT FIDELIS SIC PERMANET?

Well, maybe not....

The monarchy is a bust with today's Canadians. When asked if they felt a stronger connection to the Queen or the Queen's representative, Governor-General Michaëlle Jean, 20 per cent named the Queen, 10 per cent said the G-G – and a remarkable 70 per cent said “ neither .”

And when asked to look beyond the relatively popular Queen, 65 per cent of Canadians thought the ties to the Crown should be severed once she passes. Only 35 per cent care to think of Prince Charles, who will visit here this fall, as a future king of Canada.

How do you spot a Canadian Republican? It's difficult. They don't advertise themselves. There is no passionate debate in Canada about the monarchy. Only the Australian Republicans were foolish enough to launch a full frontal assault on the Crown. Canadian Republicanism proceeds by stealth. How? Quite simply. There is essentially no mention of the monarchy in the schools, except in passing in history and civics courses. After two generations one of the most fervently monarchist societies on earth is now utterly apathetic about its head of state, and her symbolic import.

Having produced the effect, the Canadian Establishment now claims we must accept the inevitable. The ostensible reason for the fading to black of the monarchy is the Quebec Question, as a different generation would have put it. The French, or French-Canadians as that different generation would have called them, don't like the monarchy. The Exhibit A is the outbreak of a riot when the Queen visited Quebec City in 1964. For the sake of national unity it was best to keep the monarchy in mothballs. This was a cynical position. Those who opposed being subjects of the crown were not going to be reconciled to a Canadian Republic. The problem wasn't who the head of state was, but the state itself. Quebec nationalists have little interest in preserving a united Canada, whatever its constitutional trappings. What the slow undermining of the monarchy has done is remove a vital symbolic unifier, while signaling to Quebec nationalists our lack of will. If the ROC was wiling to all but junk a deeply held symbol, how hard will they fight for the country itself?

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The Maple Leaf Forever

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Proclamation

CANADA.

By His Excellency the Right Honorable Charles Stanley Viscount Monck, Baron Monck of Ballytrammon, in the County of Wexford, in the Peerage of Ireland, and Baron Monck of Ballytrammon, in the County of Wexford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Governor General of Canada, &c., &c., &c.

To all to whom these presents shall come, and whom they may in anywise concern—Greeting :

J. A. Macdonald,
Minister of Justice.WHEREAS by Royal Proclamation dated at Windsor Castle on the 22nd day of May, in the year of Our Lord 1867, Her Most Gracious Majesty did ordain, declare, and command, that on and after the 1st day of July, 1867, the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick should form and be one Dominion under the name of Canada ;

And Whereas the Anniversary of the formation of the Dominion of Canada falls upon Wednesday, the 1st day of July next ensuing ;

And Whereas it is meet and proper that the said Anniversary should be observed and kept ;

Now Know Ye, that I, Charles Stanley Viscount Monck, Governor General of Canada, do hereby proclaim and appoint WEDNESDAY, the FIRST day of JULY next, as the day on which the Anniversary of the formation of the Dominion a Canada be duly celebrated. And I do hereby enjoin and call upon all Her Majesty's loving subjects throughout Canada to join in the due and proper celebration of the said Anniversary on the said FIRST day of JULY next.

Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at the Government House, in the CITY of OTTAWA, in the said Dominion, this TWENTIETH day of JUNE, in the year of Our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and in the thirty-first year of her Majesty's Reign.

MONCK.

By Command,

HECTOR. L. L ANGEVIN,

Secretary of State.

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