Beaverado

"Attack it immediately."

Churchill had asked for advice, he got it. The French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir was in danger of falling into German hands. On July 3rd, in an act as ruthless as it was necessary, Churchill ordered the destruction of the French Fleet. He is said to have wept on giving the order. His interlocutor was not so moved. The Minister of Aircraft Production had reasoned that the French fleet might be blackmailed by the Germans, perhaps by a threat to destroy Marseilles, into joining their weight to the Italian navy, tipping the balance against the Allies in the Mediterranean. The minister's strategic logic was sound. Churchill knew that. He had appointed him to cabinet over the howls of many members of his war-time coalition. In the vital summer of 1940 the RAF was desperately short of Spitfires and Hurricanes. Britain needed pilots and planes. The volunteers were not lacking, their tools were.

A production miracle was needed, Churchill turned to Max Aitken, 1st Baron of Beaverbrook. Max was an old friend. He was also the most powerful press baron in the Empire. His Daily Express sold 3.7 million copies, the largest circulation of any paper in the world. He also had an uncanny knack for finance, making him, his associates and investors very rich. In four months he produced 6400 aircraft for the British war effort. Quadrupling the rate of production. His critics charged he was exaggerating the number of aircraft. Probably. Max had a tendency to do that. He had cut his teeth in the business world selling bonds door to door in rural New Brunswick. The hyper-active salesman never left him. He often went too far in making promises, in saying things he shouldn't. Yet what he did deliver was nothing short of brilliant.

As part of a series of books on influential Canadians, under the guidance of former GG consort John Ralston Saul, the noted New Brunswick novelist David Adams Richards has produced a thin one volume biography of Lord Beaverbrook. Written in a chatty manner, that might be irritating to some, Richards provides what is really a longish personal essay, on arguably the most influential Canadian of the twentieth century. Another son of the Miramichi, Richards intersperses his chronological narrative with personal and family encounters with Beaverbrook. What emerges is a character somewhere between Horatio Alger and Duddy Kravitz, yet on a grand scale. A smooth operator with sharp elbows, always thinking several moves ahead of the opposition.



It was said of his contemporary, TE Lawrence, that he had a habit of backing into the limelight. So did Max, except he would usually bump into some famous personage of the day, or soon to be, as well. He ran R.B. Bennett's first election campaign, while he was not yet of voting age. He promised voters things that R.B. couldn't, or wouldn't deliver, which did not amuse the future Prime Minister. Yet when Bennett moved west, and ran for Parliament, there was Max with his impish grin and fast moving 5ft 5in frame. You could never quite stay mad at him. No matter how many times he committed adultery, or bent the facts just a wee bit too much, he usually got away with it. Because he could charm, yes. Because he was often right, even when he was wrong, yes. Above all, because people needed Max. He was smarter than they were.

He talked his way into a job with the powerful financier John F Stairs, who put the bright young lad - just in his twenties - to merging a smaller bank to Stairs' Union Bank, then to running Royal Securities. Soon Max was in Montreal, the centre of Canadian Edwardian capitalism. The venerable Sir Sanford Fleming was in distress. His interests in concrete were threatening the pioneering engineer with bankruptcy and disgrace. Lead by the President of the Bank of Montreal, and assisted by the Who's Who that was then the board of the CPR, the great and good of Canadian business asked that Max Aitken figure something out. It was a trap. The fast rising Aitken was a threat, and one with a slippery reputation. The collapse of Fleming's interests in concrete seemed ordained. Best that the blame might be placed on the pushy cad from nowhere New Brunswick. Max had the last laugh. He saved Fleming's fortune, introduced a sweeping consolidation of the Canadian concrete industry - which had been crippled in the wake of the Panic of 1907 - and made his own fortune into the bargain. Yet the whole thing has been just a bit too slick. There were rumours. Max, now a millionaire (pounds not dollars) while not yet thirty, headed for the epicentre of power and finance, London.

Arriving with his beautiful wife - daughter of a Major-General - in England, he set up in great country estate - his neighbour and new friend was Rudyard Kipling. Marital bliss was fleeting. Richards argues that Beaverbrook was chasing love most of life, in the arms of this lovely and that, in the respect of a series of father figures. Among the most influential of the latter, was a fellow Canadian, Andrew Bonar Law. A prominent Conservative, Law was engineered into the leadership of the party by Beaverbrook, a newly minted MP, in 1912. Aitken revered Law, deciding that his friend must become Prime Minister. The Liberals, under H.H. Asquith. were weak. An expected election in 1914 or 1915 would topple them. Sarajevo intervened.

Another one of Aitken's new friends, Winston Churchill, had wanted an Liberal-Tory coalition to fight the war. The Liberals refused. Yet the government's popularity waned. Asquith was to be overthrown through a parliamentary coup in late 1916, among whose leading plotters was Aitken. Law was denied the premiership, instead made number two to another new friend of Max's, David Lloyd George. Though their politics were rarely compatible, they were both in a sense actors. Lloyd George, however, was a professional and Aitken just starting. Dropping hints of a cabinet position, as Minister of Trade, Lloyd George secured Aitken's support.

In expectation of office, Aitken resigned his seat and started campaigning for re-election - as was required by British law at the time. Lloyd George, through Law, instructed Aitken not to run again, allowing the seat to go to "a Georgian" loyalist who would be made Minister of Trade. As consolation Aitken was raised to the peerage. According to legend, Kipling talked him out of becoming Lord Miramichi, on the grounds that Englishmen would be unable to pronounced it. The new Lord Beaverbrook had to console himself with PR work. First promoting the job Canadian soldiers were doing on the Western Front, then as Minister of Information in the war-time cabinet. Dreams of revenged never left him. From the end of the war in 1918 until 1922, Beaverbrook plotted again, to remove Lloyd George and replace him with Law. He succeeded only to have Law resign shortly after from throat cancer.

In the midst of the intrigues surrounding Asquith's fall, Beaverbrook had acquired control of a failing paper called the Daily Express. Lord Northcliffe had told him he would lose his fortune keeping it afloat. Instead he revolutionized the industry. He introduced the first women's section and crossword. No expense was spared on photography and layout. The modern tabloid was born. As the paper grew in importance, Beaverbrook's reputation as a pushy cad never left him. The Establishment found his enthusiasm and energy aggravating. The mixture of envy and hatred that is directed from old money to new money. From self-made men to the scions of great names. Being a colonial didn't help. The British elite were not completely averse to outsiders, the Empire would never have lasted without the ruling classes talent for co-opting rising stars. Disraeli had been Prime Minister the year Beaverbrook was born. Dizzy, however, was a witty novelist and insanely charming dinner guest. The Maritime accent, and manners, hung too closely to the backwoods baron.

They hated him, but they needed him. Nor was the hatred expressed in ordinary terms. That great worshipper of the upper classes, Evelyn Waugh, mocked his former employer as Lord Copper in Scoop. My own personal suspicion for years has been that Rex Mottram, the amoral materialist from Canada in Brideshead Revisited, was another dig at Beaverbrook. Isolated again, he sought out more women and more business ventures. The lure of politics remained. In a quixotic gesture he founded the short-lived Empire Party in 1930. Disgusted with the defeat of the Tories under Stanley Baldwin, who had succeed Law as leader and PM. Never an admirer of the famously pragmatic Baldwin, the Empire Party was a political blunt weapon to be used to take down Baldwinite Tories. The ideas was dropped, but not the party platform. Since coming to England, Beaverbrook had been a highly vocal advocate of Imperial Preference, a free trade zone within the Empire. This was a first step toward some kind of greater imperial unity, which he never defined.

Imperial Preference faded, after a brief vogue during the Ottawa Conference of 1932. Like many middle aged men, Beaverbrook's world view had frozen in his youth. Then the idea of some kind of imperial federation was widely discussed in the first decade of the twentieth century. The idea of empire, however, was fading. The colonial boy made good found himself, so to speak, being more royalist than the king. The centre had no interest in holding. If his views didn't always carry the day in the councils of state, his dominance of the press was unquestioned. He almost single handedly kept news of Edward VIII's relationship to Wallace Simpson secret - in Britain - for much of 1936. Eventually the Daily Express did break the story, once it was clear Edward was set on abdication. If he couldn't prevent a constitutional crisis in the 1930s, he could at least give a platform to his old friend, Churchill, to warn of the gathering storm. Few in late 1930s Britain were interested in what Churchill had to say. The Times and the BBC effectively banned him for long stretches of time. When war came, and in time his appointment as PM, Churchill remember Beaverbrook's aid and comfort.

The post-war world proved disappointing to Beaverbrook. He had resigned from the cabinet in 1942 when Attlee was made Deputy PM. The age of socialism and decolonization was alien to Max. He made a few attempts to resettle in New Brunswick, but England was now his home. In all this he found time to write books. Richards describes his writing style as "Beaverado."So was his life. In his last public appearance, an interviewer asked him if he was disappointed in the ultimate failure of imperial preference. The old man replied quietly: "I was unworthy." Yet again he was exaggerating. Not from hubris, but undeserved humility.

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Republicans Put Foot in Mouth

Some people's desperation to defame the monarchy knows no bounds:

Prince Philip reportedly made one of his notorious gaffes by joking with a British-Indian business leader about his name. During a reception at Buckingham Palace for 400 influential British Indians, Prince Philip, pictured, greeted Atul Patel by glancing at his name tag and saying, "There's a lot of your family in tonight."

My guess is that the Duke had probably greeted several Patels by that point in the evening, thus the joke. How on earth is that even remotely racist? Patel is an extremely common Indians surname. It's a small talk joke. He could easily have made the same one about people named Smith. The gentleman in question was not offended. Being modern Britain others are offended on his behalf. We used to call these people busybodies. Naturally, the usual suspects are trying to get as much mileage out of this as possible.

But Republic, a group campaigning to abolish the monarchy, said it was "deeply embarrassing." "Making a joke about people called Patel is deeply embarrassing.... At best it's a comment that shows he's out of touch and out of date," said its spokesman, Graham Smith.

Sorry. Not buying it. Embarrassing it is not. What is embarrassing is the existence, in Britain, of a group that makes political hay out of small talk. It's not the sort of thing gentlemen and ladies do, distorting chat into character assassination. In the unlikely event that Graham Smith is interested in how actual ladies and gentlemen conduct themselves, we ask that Mr Smith pay attention to the life and manners of Her Majesty and her consort. At times I wonder what the Duke makes of all this. A sailor from the days when so much of the world was still pink. Decency and sense, England hath need of thee.

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Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports

On 14 August 1946 King George conferred upon Sir Winston Churchill the ancient honor of appointment as Lord Warden and Admiral of the Cinque Ports. Above Churchill inspects a line of soldiers at his installation ceremony as the new Lord Warden and Constable of Dover Castle at Dover Kent.

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"I am writing a very beautiful book..."

Knowing Waugh, he was probably being a wee bit ironic. Yet he did write "a very beautiful book."

On March 13, 1944, Evelyn Waugh informed his friend Lady Dorothy Lygon: “I am writing a very beautiful book, to bring tears, about very rich people, beautiful, high born people who live in palaces and have no troubles except what they make themselves and those are mainly the demons of sex and drink which after all are easy to bear as troubles go nowadays”. This book would be published the following year as Brideshead Revisited, and would portray a family not unlike the Lygons of Madresfield Court in Worcestershire, who were indeed rich, (mostly) beautiful, high born and had more than their fair share of troubles with sex and drink, which they in fact found quite hard to bear. Paula Byrne’s object in writing Mad World was “to find the hidden key to Waugh’s great novel, to unlock for the first time the full extent to which Brideshead encodes and subtly transforms the author’s own experience”.

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Wither the Lords

Ten years ago today, the House of Lords passed the abominable House of Lords Act 1999, altering the upper chamber beyond recognition. The Act provides firstly that "No-one shall be a member of the House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage."

There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited; only ninety-two are now permitted (surely a temporary measure) to sit in the House of Lords, although this reduction has been challenged in the — ahem — European Court of Human Rights.

Hat tip: Wilson Revolution Unplugged.

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Don't Forget Your Old Shipmates

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As the Good Lordship Put It...

The recent Head of State nonsense, in what was once known as the Elder Dominion, has smoked Canadian republicans out of the wood work. There are not many Canadian republicans, they are a small and rather predictable breed whose central criticism is that the monarchy is old and British derived. So are habeas corpus and free speech, the latter of which allows many republicans - who are overwhelmingly journalists - to earn a living. Even if only a scribblers living. While reading one of these screeds I was mentally preparing a rebuttal, then I struck gold. The author pointed to a recently declassified report by Lord Moran, Britain's High Commissioner to Ottawa in the early 1980s. The reference is a ham fisted attempt to portray Lord Moran, whose father was Winston Churchill's personal physician, as a condescending British toff.

Back in 1982 when I was the Star's bureau chief in Ottawa, I met Lord Moran, who then was the British high commissioner to Canada.

Our meeting was cordial, but I got the distinct impression that Lord Moran, whose real name is John Wilson, was completely bored with our session, as well as with Ottawa, Canada and Canadians as a whole.

From his pompous attitude, which stuffy Brits like Lord Moran carry off so well, it was clear he saw most Canadians as inferior colonials with limited talents and even less curiosity.

Turns out my first impression was right, as evidenced by a 1984 dispatch that Lord Moran, who was high commissioner from 1981 to 1984, sent to London on his departure from Ottawa.

The letter, obtained by the BBC from the British Foreign Office under Freedom of Information legislation and made public earlier this week, trashes Canadians in general, our politicians, especially the late Pierre Trudeau, our writers, actors and even our skiers.

Reading the six-page letter, titled "Final Impressions of Canada," reminded me of that meeting with Lord Moran.

It also made me wonder why, if top British diplomats like him hold us in such low esteem, Canada continues to cling to its British colonial roots, complete with having us acknowledge Queen Elizabeth as "the Queen of Canada."

Heavens. I wouldn't be surprised that Lord Moran was bored stiff talking to Bob Hepburn (which I guess is not his full name). I've never met his lordship, he might very well be a pompous toff, though I rather doubt it. After nearly four decades in the British Foreign Service, it's unlikely anyone lacking in tact and some measure of humility would have been posted to some of the most sensitive areas of world, notably Africa in the wake of decolonisation. Britishers often come off as condescending and superior by virtue of their accent and bearing. Posture is still insisted upon in the betters schools (Moran attended Eton), so is the Queen's English. Victims of our proletarianized North America culture - not that Britain is so far behind now - might very well mistake manners and education as pomposity. Bobby Hepburn (since we are not to stand on formality and call him Robert) goes to some trouble to destroy the monarchy on the basis of one meeting.

I'm exaggerating only slightly. I'm sure anything involving hierarchy, formality and restraint are an anathema to Bobby. Which is why the living embodiment of such traits is obnoxious to him. The victim of this drive-by smearing, Lord Moran, has not commented and is unlikely to do so. The article does perform one invaluable service, it points us to the former High Commissioner's report. Rather than being condescending, it is a frank and honest assessment of Canada's virtues and faults. I've read very few professional hand-wringers of Canadian identity, a modestly profitable cottage industry here, that capture Canada so well as Lord Moran. Thin skinned nationalists can complain, the honest patriot should make time to review the report here. Ironically the report describes Bobby Hepburn without citing him.

One of Lord Moran's complaints, though he does not say it explicitly, is that Canadians are quite provincial in their attitudes. One of the symptoms of provincialism is overacting to criticism from the metropolis. The Big Time calls you Small Time and you jump up and down about how Big Time you really are. There's a reason people like Michael Ignatieff, whom I do not like, spent so much of their career in London. The former Imperial Capital is a much bigger stage than Toronto or Montreal. An honest man can admit that, a pompous old scribbler will find it harder.

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Men of Harlech

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Have you news of my Boy Jack?

“Have you news of my boy Jack?”
Not this tide.
“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Has any one else had word of him?”
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind —
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

Hat tip: The Gods of the Copybook Headings

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Anglican Catholic Reconciliation? Old Fat King Henry must be rolling in his enormous grave

So this is how long schisms last. It's the 500th anniversary of King Henry's accession to the throne (1509-2009), and Pope Benedict is saying all is forgiven.

Forgetting for just a moment the troubles the Church of England is currently embroiled (lack of leadership, lack of unity, lack of orthodoxy), here are three historical reasons why traditional Anglicans might welcome His Holiness's extremely generous "a church within a church" offering of Anglo-Catholic reunification:

1. The chronically adulterous wife-murderer Henry VIII has never been a very compelling religious leader;

2. Parliament's illegal dethroning of James II for his Catholicism and religious tolerance was a shabby pretext for a so-called 'Glorious Revolution', and;

3. Anglicanism has been more a measure of well-placed cultural faith in the English-speaking upper classes, institutions and work ethic, than a worldly portal to the kingdom of God.

Lord Black, a once nominal Anglican, explains why he finally became a Catholic:

I had always had some problems with Henry VIII as a religious leader. That he apostacised to facilitate marriage with a woman whom he soon beheaded on false charges of adultery, seized the monasteries to finance his wars in France, and required his puppet parliament to give him back the title "Defender of the Faith", (still on the Canadian coinage in honour of the present Queen), that the pope had given him in recognition of a canonical paper Erasmus had ghost-written for him, never filled me with confidence in the legitimacy of the Church of England. More and Wolsey were more morally compelling figures than the Henricians, and many of Britain's great pre-Wren Anglican churches were seized from Rome.

Nor was I convinced that the replacement of the Stuarts with the House of Orange was the "Glorious Revolution" that MacAulay and the Trevelyans and other talented Whig myth-makers have claimed. James II was a blundering monarch, but his Toleration Act, promising religious freedom for Jews, Roman Catholics, disestablished Protestants and non-believers, was not subversive or ignoble, and was a shabby pretext for a revolution.

The Anglicans, as Newman had written, had an impressive lower clergy, but it seemed more (to me) a measure of well-placed cultural and ethnic faith in the British and American upper classes and institutions, and a contingent, sectarian insurance policy, than the earthly portal to the kingdom of God. The Anglicans have never really decided whether they are Protestant or Catholic, only that they "don't Pope", though even that wavers from time to time.

Yes, my Lord, how true. That "we-don't-Pope" thing is wavering yet again today.

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Britain's new Supreme Court? My grandmother had better looking china than this

Here is the crest of the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, a circular floral emblem that looks more like a decorative dinner plate, than the usual royal coat of arms represented in courts across the country.



So this is suppose to imbue people with a sense of awe and terror over the might, justice and antiquity of The Law. You call this heraldry?

Even the court's own formal logo, which carries an image of the royal crown, has been relegated to the front entrance and official documents and communications.

Instead a less formal emblem, which only contains national flowers and vegetables representing each of the home nations, features throughout the building and in the three court rooms – in a bid to be more accessible to the public.

Officials at the court, which began work on Monday, insisted the move "in now way" undermines the relationship with the Crown and the presence of the royal crown and coat of arms emphasised that the Monarch is the source of the court's authority.

It is the latest in a series of rows over the down grading of royal symbols and allegiance under Labour.

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Queen awards Chrétien Order of Merit

Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, accompanied by Mrs. Chretien, is presented with the Order of Merit by The Queen at Buckingham Palace, 20 October 2009. "It is a big honour because there are very few of us — 24, including Prince Philip and Prince Charles — and very few people from political background," Chrétien told CBC News.


The honour, created by King Edward VII in 1902 and awarded in the sole gift of the Sovereign, is bestowed on "individuals of exceptional distinction in the arts, learning, sciences and other areas such as public service". Above is the Insignia of the Order of Merit awarded by The Queen to the former Canadian Prime Minister today at an audience at Buckingham Palace.

Photos © Press Association

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Thoughts on the Human Development Index

I have long admired the Scandinavian kingdoms of Norway and Sweden for being both constitutional monarchies and socialist, two things I think every country should be. Doubtlessly, you fine gentlemen-scholars reading this are gasping with shock and amazement at my positive comment on socialism. Surely someone who goes by the name of that grand old Classical Liberal William Gladstone would not make a positive comment on STATISM of all things.

Well, you're right, because I'm not making a positive comment on statism. However, we must remember that one can be socialist without being statist. Statism, as I understand it, is a system in which the Government controls most or all aspects of a person's life. Fascism is statist, as are most models of communism. I wholeheartedy disapprove of such stuff. Social democracy, on the other hand, in combination with constitutional monarchy, that I wholeheartedly approve of, and with good reason.

Consider the Human Development Index, which I have recently been reading over. For the uninitiated, the HDI is an index of countries, listed from 1 to 182, based on various statistics such as life expectancy, education, literacy, GDP, and other factors. The number 1 spot, according to this index, is the best place in the world to live in. That place is Norway, a fact I'm rather proud of, considering my Grandfather's Norwegian heritage. As you may or may not know, Norway is a notably socialist country, using the highly successful Scandinavian welfare model. With it's constitutional monarchy, Norway maintains continuity and the glorious traditions of the past. And with it's various social programs, Norway has improved the lives of King Harald's citizens in the areas of healthcare, education and social security to the point where Norway is now considered the best country in the world to live in. Not only that, but Norway is also the richest country in the world , and in this ongoing financial crisis, the Norwegian krone is one of the most solid and dependable currencies in the world.

Norway and Sweden (both in the top 10 of the HDI's list, Norway of course at 1, Sweden at 7) represent the great success that a country can enjoy when constitutional monarchy is combined with democratic socialism. Canada and Australia, both social democracies as well, also enjoy high rankings on the HDI. Canada, I'm proud to say, sits at 4, while Australia is at 2. The whole purpose for a country's existence is to provide a better life for the people that live within it. Clearly something is working well in the combination of constitutional monarchy and social democracy.

So, I know the opinions on socialism here at The Monarchist are quite complex, so I would like to open the comments section of this post for discussion: What do you fine gentlemen think of socialism when combined with constitutional monarchy, such as the Norwegians have?

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Lord Clark of Civilisation

Old Kenneth Clark was such a towering intellect and man of basic decency and conviction, I weep at the thought and realisation that men like him are now gone. Here are Lord Clark's first ("The Skin of Our Teeth") and final ("Heroic Materialism") episodes of his superb 1969 BBC documentary, Civilisation.



Above, Kenneth Clark opens Civilisation with a quote from Ruskin, who said that the manuscript of a nation is found in a book of their deeds, a book of their words and a book of their art, but mostly in a book of their art. We may not be able to define civilisation in abstract terms, but we sure in the heck know what it is when we see it. The great man explains how European civilisation got through by the skin of its teeth.



In the final episode, Lord Clark re-emphasises his central theme of why civilisations require confidence to survive, and how cynicism and disillusion can do us in as easily as bombs and barbarism. We are not at the end, but we are in trouble because there is no longer a (Christian) Center holding it all together. Heroic materialism is no substitute for the moral and intellectual failure of Marxism. "One may be optimistic, but one can't exactly be joyful at the prospect before us."

A big hat tip to Sunlit Uplands.

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The Lord's Day (Feast of St Luke the Evangelist)

As oft as thou fallest through frailty repent and come again and thou art safe and welcome, as thou mayest see by the similitude of the riotous son (Luke 15). If thou be lopen out of sanctuary come in again. If thou be fallen from the way of truth come thereto again and thou art safe, if thou be gone astray come to the fold again and the shepherd Christ shall save thee, yea and the angels of heaven shall rejoice at thy coming, so far it is off that any man shall beat thee or chide thee."

— From The Obedience of a Christian Man, William Tyndale

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The Rogue's March

Spin is the porn of politics. Dave, you and your useless Tories are headed for a presidential superstate with His Tonyness the Emperor soon calling the shots unless you unequivocally act now. If you are not the Heir to Blair, then bloody well prove it. No less than the sovereignty of Her Majesty's Kingdom is at stake.



And all for what? This? So Blair can pretend he's a superpower and smile alongside Obama as equals. Humility has never been one of Tony's core strengths, the man will stop at nothing, even attempting to make a Blairite out of the Pope, so aggressive is the charlatan's certainty. Only you have the power to stop him, Dave, and to give the people what they want. In the name of God, do the King's duty here, or we'll play The Rogue's March and drum you out of the regiment.

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The Gentleman's Motor Car

Anyone who has visited or lived in Los Angeles or Toronto, the two most hideously sprawling megaloposis's in North America (where car ownership exceeds 600 per 1000 people), will agree with Russell Kirk that the automobile is a village destroying mechanical Jacobin.

I don't own one myself (they don't make me happy), because I find it more convenient to rent. However, if I were in the market to buy, I would keep my eye open for a vintage marques, something Morgan, Bentley or Aston Martin, not so much a car as a frame of mind.

Worthy of a Monarch's telegram, the Morgan Motor Company is celebrating its hundredth birthday this year, incredibly still running as a family-owned business by Mr. Morgan himself, whose paternal grandfather founded the company in 1909. The company employs only 163 people, still assembles their cars by hand, and fills orders on a two year waiting list.

Incidentally, the Royal Automobile Club, which received its royal patronage by King Edward VII (Old Bertie was a motor car enthusiast), is arguably the grandest of all the gentlemen clubs in London. With Victorian Turkish baths, Italian marble swimming pools, I think I will stop by next time I'm in old Londontown.

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I am a British subject

My apologies to the Gods for stealing their Quote of the Day:

As the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say, Civis Romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen], so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him from injustice and wrong.

— Lord Palmerston, 1850

(Speaking in the House of Lords on the Don Pacifico Affair).

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Save the Dukes

Only Gerald Warner could write this:

The now extra-Parliamentary hereditary peerage should be returned to the exclusive jurisdiction of Her Majesty the Queen, as the Orders of the Garter and the Thistle have been. In future, instead of awarding a Most Noble Marquess who has done sterling service in the community a Knighthood of the Garter, the Queen should consider offering him promotion to a dukedom. None of this should have anything to do with the Prime Minister of the day: let him hand out life peerages to any scallywags he wishes; but the hereditary peerage should continue as a body of true nobility under the Queen. Dukes and other hereditary peers are living heritage: we should be more concerned to conserve them than nasty creatures such as the Natterjack toad.

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Her Majesty as Commander-in-Chief

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh leave St Paul's Cathedral following a service to mark the end of combat operations in Iraq which was attended by Iraq veterans, bereaved families, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former PM Tony Blair and senior military leaders, 9 October 2009.

The service was also attended by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William, The Earl and Countess of Wessex, The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence.


Photos © Press Association

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The Death of Marie Antoinette, October 16th, 1793.

Two-hundred and sixteen years ago to the hour (I hope), the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was murdered by Jacobin criminals in the Place de la Revolution.

Vive la Reine!

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Don't confuse a dandy with a metrosexual

I have long believed that there is a strong symbiosis between monarchy and manners. It is why when one looks at the prevailing negative attitude towards the monarchy in contemporary society, one notices a corresponding lack of gentlemanly virtue and refinement.

Portrait of a Dandy: Considered an outstanding conductor and interpreter of the music of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt, Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922) knew a thing or two about classical and masculine refinement.

Consider the difference between the dandy of yesterday and the metrosexual of today:

Today, metrosexual is used to describe an urban heterosexual male in touch with his inner Carrie Bradshaw. But don't confuse him with a dandy. Created by advertising execs, consumed by consumption, he is a gay stereotype trapped in a straight cliché, sipping crantinis in between shopping, the gym, and laser hair-removal appointments. Contrary to popular belief, not all gay men were born with the Manolo-detection gene any more than all straight men were born scratching their crotches.

Once upon a time, after the fops and before the metrosexuals, dandy referred to a well-mannered fellow who dressed with flair and knew a thing or two about art, literature, gentlemanly sports, and the finer things in life. He was just as likely to fancy the ladies as the lads. The dandy did not follow trends; he set standards. The metrosexual is his flickering holograph.

At a cocktail party, you'd be well-advised to skirt around the metrosexual and sidle up to the dandy, if you can find one. The metrosexual would be the clotheshorse checking out his freshly dermabraded complexion in the mirror over the mantelpiece. A dandy never consults the looking glass in public because he is confident. This frees him up to show off the dandy's must-have accessory: a keen, sly wit.

"Dandy isn't a fashion slave but a well-dressed philosopher. I don't think too many metrosexuals can quote Alexander Pope." Read on about the difference between dandies and metrosexuals.

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"The Head of State Debate"

Is the Governor General the head of state? Well, Slick Willy must be the new Canadian viceroy because according to Rideau Hall, it depends on what the definition of is is.

Needless to say, the Dominion Chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada and the Governor General are no longer working on the same team. Robert Finch says he doesn't have a choice, he's gotta tell it like it is:

The significance of last week, though, is not the fact that our Governor General referred to herself as head of state. Nor is it the fact that Rideau Hall so foolishly tried to justify using the term... And, nor is it the fact that the Prime Minister issued a rare public rebuke.

Rather, the importance of last week is that years of constitutional vandalism was suddenly exposed. Last week, the general public learned what many of us reluctantly suspected was on the agenda: a carefully calculated plan to elevate the office of the Governor General, to purposely downplay the role of The Queen herself, to "Canadianize" the Crown into a monarchy without a monarch.

Finally, the story was being told. The head-of-stateism-by-stealth campaign was blown wide open for all to see. Yes, that's what is important...

I believe that years from now we will look back and realise that last week was indeed a turning point. The hidden agenda to turn the Governor General into the head of state now public and causing tremendous backlash, the steps are now being taken to reverse the trend and to restore the vice-regal office to what it truly should be: a representative of our Queen, a woman who has dutifully and selflessly served us for almost 60 years.

Here is only a sampling of articles from the mainstream media on the whole "Head of State Debate":


Queen is our head of state, Prime Minister reminds GG
The Gazette (Montreal) - Randy Boswell - ‎Oct 13, 2009‎
Stephen Harper has sent a clear message to Michaelle Jean, the Governor-General, that she should not ...

Governor General's new website adds fuel to head-of-state debate
The Gazette (Montreal) - Randy Boswell - ‎Oct 13, 2009‎
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General Michaelle Jean in the senate chambers in Ottawa. ...

Queen keeps distance from 'head of state' flap
National Post - ‎Oct 13, 2009‎
Andy Clark/Reuters Queen Elizabeth II during a visit to an RCMP training facility in Ottawa on Oct. 14, 2002. News of Canada's "head of state" uproar has ...

1 or 24: Which comes first?
Ottawa Citizen - Randy Boswell - ‎Oct 13, 2009‎
Ottawa's two most prestigious addresses are locked in a polite -- but firm -- battle over exactly who is the head of state, writes Randy Boswell. ...

A viceroy is a viceroy
Globe and Mail - ‎Oct 12, 2009‎
Governor-General Michaelle Jean is inspects the Ceremonial Guard at Rideau Hall on June 18, 2009. The Canadian Press From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published ...

Citizenship and the Governor-General
The Suburban - Jim Wilson - ‎12 hours ago‎
We all know that on one side of Canadian coinage is an image that we recognize as the Queen, who is the country's head of state. ...

L. Ian MacDonald: Uneasy lies the Governor General that wears the crown
National Post - ‎10 hours ago‎

A hot debate about head of state
The Globe and Mail - Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 12:19AM EDT

Douglas Bell: Steve and Betty
The Globe and Mail - Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 02:35PM EDT

Norman Spector: Fixing a constitutional grey area
The Globe and Mail - Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 08:55AM EDT

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Referendum on the way?

Her Majesty the Queen of New Zealand (and some other places)

Green MP Keith Locke's Head of State Referenda Bill has been drawn from today's members ballot. If New Zealand's Parliament passes the bill into law, it would trigger a referendum on the monarchy, with three options:

1. The status quo, with Her Majesty continuing as Head of State

2. A directly elected President

3. A President appointed by a three quarters vote in Parliament.


If the majority voted for a change, then the two most popular options would have a run-off.

We are inspired to remark on a couple of things.

First, we hope that this Bill will spark some useful constitutional debate about our nationhood and constitutional arrangements.

But there is, that we can see, no appetite for change in our constitution, and there is no appetite for a republic.

There might be one among the elite and the politicians (some of whom have always resented the Monarchy as a colonial overhang), and there are republicans of conviction as well — Mr. Locke is from a well-known socialist family, and doubtless he is one such.

But where are the pressing reasons for change?

We are not opposed to debate on the constitution, and we think that if the monarchy was put to a vote, the status quo would win.

But we are suspicious of the idea that a republic is "inevitable" which is what our politicians and opinion-makers say. And we are opposed to the seeming Australian (and Irish) idea which is "ask until you get the answer you want, (and then, we're betting, never ask again)"

A republic is not the inevitable outcome of constitutional and national maturity (like our constitution needs an extra decade or two on top of the eight hundred we've had already). The march of Progress (dear, outdated, Victorian idea) does not necessarily lead to dreary Presidential democracy.

We think Constitutional reform should not come from a push by the snarkerati, however legitimate it is to put in a private member's Bill. It should come from a substantial public groundswell, leading to popular pressure, and backed by public support.

So here's the question:

Where is it?

Where are the mobs demanding a republic?

Where's the Republican Movement with a hundred thousand members? (In fact, like its Monarchist counterpart, the Movement is fairly small)

Where are the petitions calling for change?

The demands for a New Zealand Head of State?

What is it that necessitates Mr. Locke's referendum?

Where's the fire?

Of course, we would vote No. And, as we said, we think New Zealand would join us.

But why should Parliament indulge one Green MP's excercise in vanity, on his say-so alone?

Here's Hayley Westenra:



Hat Tip: Kiwiblog

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Handel's Messiah

"George Frideric Handel was in his person fat and slovenly, gluttonous, bowlegged, bovine of expression, often to be seen lurching about the streets of London muttering to himself in German like some rummy ship-jumper. He was generally perceived to be mad in some degree; modern observers note evidence of manic depression, one sympton of which was his bizarre creative frenzies. All the same, by the end of a career of extravagant ups and precipitous downs, he had come to represent to his own time just about what he represents to ours: one of those angel-smitten geniuses who are the glories of our species."



"Then as now, that reputation was founded primarily on a single work of unprecedented popularity, Messiah. So magnificent and nearly ubiquitous is this oratoria that it has long threatened to crowd the rest of his work out of the public ear. That masterpiece was no fluke, however, but simply the most consistently inspired work of an artist who depended more than most on the inspiration of his muse. His contemporary, Bach, was the period's great architect in sound; Handel was its great improviser."

— Jan Swafford

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Republican rigour in the face of appalling apathy and constitutional ignorance

Here: "If you do all the head-of-state stuff, aren’t you the head of state?"

I don't know, John, if a man squats on your property, isn't it his property?

Dan Gardner (somebody sane) takes a decidedly less casual view:

But then John, and others, point to the fact that the GG has taken over more and more roles of the head of state. Doesn't that prove that she is, in fact, the head of state? No, it doesn't. What it proves is that we critics were right to worry about this stuff when we did.

Remember how Adrienne Clarkson stopped Ralph Klein from having the Queen personally sign legislation? The GG said it was contrary to the policy of "Canadianization." At the time, those who got upset were told this was too trivial to worry about. It meant nothing! Then Clarkson had foreign diplomats stop addressing their letters of introduction to the Queen and address them to her instead. Again, this annoyed some of us but, hey, it's meaningless, right? Wrong. As I and others said, Rideau Hall was attempting to build up precedents which would turn the monarch into a constitutional dead letter. Then, when they felt their position was strong enough, they would seek to formally elevate the GG to head of state.

And look what's happening now: Rideau Hall is attempting to elevate the GG to head of state, and it's making its case by pointing to those "trivial" precedents. And suddenly, John Geddes and others find those precedents to be not so trivial. Suddenly, they're compelling evidence.

Look, I know most people think this is all about toasts at Rideau Hall and whose face goes on the coins. But it's much more than that. This is about Canadian history and heritage, yes, but fundamentally it's about the constitution: The Crown is the cornerstone of our legal order and the head of state is its guarantor, possessing emergency powers in the event of impasse or breakdown. Even the staunchest republican should agree that it is absurd that these changes can be made without the slightest popular discussion or consent.

If Michaelle Jean wants to be Queen, let her say so and put it to a vote. That at least would have the virtue of honesty, which is considerably better than what she is doing now.

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The Harmonious Blacksmith

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"De facto head of state"

Your Excellency,

Having just vigorously denied that we have a "head of state", I would like to now beat up on "de facto". Feel free to chime in, Piddingworth.

I know, Madam, that you are fond of insisting that "As the representative of the Crown in Canada, the Governor General carries out the duties of head of state, and therefore is de facto head of state."

But I'm afraid that is not what Letters Patent 1947, in fact, state or intend. So far as I can tell, you are lawfully authorized and empowered to carry out certain duties as representative of the Queen in right of Canada, that is it. It is simply a delegation of duties and responsibilities to the governor general, not a transfer of the monarch's authority or sovereignty. De jure or de facto nothing.

Madam, "de facto head of state" would mean that "for all intents and purposes", you are, in practice or actuality, head of state, as you have deliberately pretended in recent days, weeks, months and years. By doing so, you and your modern predecessors have thus managed to reduce Her Majesty — the Queen of Canada, after all — to a mere technicality.

Ah, I see. Her Majesty, that bothersome nuisance, may technically be the Queen, but really, effectively, truthfully — loyally! — it is the Governor General. Honestly, now.

Let us not split hairs, Madam, look at what the papers are saying about your office. The Ottawa Citizen on your self-promotion:

Carrying out the Queen's duties -- on the Queen's behalf, and in her absence -- does not turn the Governor General into a Queen herself. It's true that the Governor General performs more duties now than did governors general in the past, but that doesn't change the fact that she derives her power from the Crown. There can only be one head of state. Canada's Constitution Act is pretty clear about who that is: The Queen.

It is embarrassing that the prime minister as head of government should feel the need to clarify such a fundamental constitutional fact as: "The Governor General represents the Crown in Canada." As the editorial begins, "this is akin to issuing a statement reminding everyone that the sky is blue. The Queen's position as head of state is fact."

Not de facto fact, your Excellency, fact fact.

I have the honour to be Her Majesty's humble and obedient servant.

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"Head of State"?

The head of Her Majesty's Canadian government reminds the Governor General of who really is the boss:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sent a clear message to Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean that she should not call herself Canada's head of state.

"Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of Canada and Head of State," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement issued to Canwest News Service on Thursday. "The Governor General represents the Crown in Canada."

The extraordinary reminder from the country's head of government to its top viceregal representative follows an uproar over Jean's use of the phrase "head of state" when referring to herself during a speech in Paris on Monday.

Twice during the Governor General's address at an executive meeting of UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — she called herself Canada's head of state.

I was rather surprised by the comment myself, the current Canadian GG has generally done a good job. A more correct description is that the Governor General carries out most of the tasks of the Head of State, without actually being Head of State.

A Rideau Hall spokesperson had stated Wednesday that Jean's reference to being head of state was justified: "As the representative of the Crown in Canada, the Governor General carries out the duties of head of state, and therefore is de facto head of state."

Rideau Hall had also said the "head of state" reference was acceptable because of a 1947 agreement in which the "letters patent of King George VI" — Queen Elizabeth's father — "transferred all the duties of head of state of Canada to the Governor General."

But the assertion that the Governor General can be correctly described as Canada's head of state directly contradicts some of the federal government's own published references to the position.

In A Crown of Maples, an online guide to Canada's constitutional monarchy published by the Department of Canadian Heritage, a section titled "The Queen as head of state: Personifying the Country" states: "As Queen of Canada, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is our head of state and a powerful symbol of Canada and Canadian sovereignty."

The link to A Crown of Maples can be found here.

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"The GG's self-promotion"

The Ottawa Citizen is onto Rideau Hall. Like Tommy Paine, the little American Taylor taking a measure of the Crown for his own head, the vice-regal's taylors in Canada have been hard at work for more than 40 years.

Gilray's Rights of Man, 1791

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The Crown and Beaver

If I were a proud owner of an English public house, that, gentlemen, would be its name. In obeyance to King Richard II, who enacted in 1393 legislation stating "Whosoever shall brew ale in the town with intention of selling it must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale", I would happily hang my heart and soul, The Crown and Beaver.

The Dominion Coat of Arms, 1908
The pub is a central part of English-speaking life and culture, and one of the glories of good living with good food and drink and a jovial social atmosphere. Regulars at my pub would regularly toast the Queen, test the loyalty of new visitors and expose clandestine republicans through jokes, puns, teasing, wit, banter and backchat. They would quickly learn how to celebrate the Crown in the spirit of a good time was had by all.

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The Prince of Paradox

I believe what really
happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid.

— G.K. Chesterton

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Her Majesty "appalled"

A report this morning, and not for the first time, that Her Majesty the Queen is "appalled" at the current direction of the Church of England.

Inasmuch as most people with functional cerebral cortexes are appalled at the current direction of the Church of England (downwards in a death spiral), this should be a suprise to no-one.

However, it remains to be seen whether Her Majesty will exert her considerable personal influence over the Church in order to halt said spiral.

We recommend the apocryphal words of the first Elizabeth, to the bishop of Ely:

Proud Prelate, you know what you were before I made you what you are. Comply with my request, or I'll unfrock you, by God!

Cross posted at Kiwi Examiner.

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Her Majesty reflects on the Monarchy

From the 1970's documentary Elizabeth R, Her Majesty talks for a rare ten minutes about her own conception of Monarchy: what it is for, and her job.

Shining through is the woman; decent, conservative with a small c, impartial and conscientious — Our Sovereign continues to rock my socks.

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Westminster Abbey Choir

Anglican boys in their ruffled necks sing the Old Testament words to Psalm 67: May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make his face shine upon us.

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Handel's Sarabande

One of the earliest compositions of monarchy's favourite friend, George Frideric Handel, is the solo Keyboard suite in D minor (harpsichord), which was created between 1703 and 1706 and first published in 1733. Below is an orchestrated version adapted for Stanley Kubrick's 1975 feature film, Barry Lyndon.

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