Ahead of Diamond Jubilee: The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall met 28 living VCs and GCs

As the world prepares for the Diamond Jubilee, all 28 living holders of the Victoria Cross or the George Cross – the highest accolades for bravery in the Commonwealth – have been invited to London as guests of honour.

The Prince of Wales, President of The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, and The Duchess of Cornwall attended a Victoria Cross and George Cross Association tea party at the In & Out, 4 St James's Square, London.

Pictured with Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla are:
BACK ROW Barry Johnson GC – critically injured after tackling a set of mortar bombs next to a hospital in Derry in October 1989.
Michael Pratt GC – police duty, Melbourne Australia, 1976.
Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith VC – the Australian became the association’s newest member after fighting off heavily armed insurgents in Afghanistan in 2006.
Kim Hughes GC – defused seven improvised explosive devices, three with his bare hands, in Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC – twice saved the lives of countless colleagues while under fire in 2004.
Lance Corporal Matt Croucher GC – threw himself on an exploding grenade to save his comrades in Afghanistan in 2008.
Jack Bamford GC – rescued brothers from a fire at the age of 15 in 1952.
Alfred Lowe GC – Royal Navy, 1948.

MIDDLE ROW Bill Speakman VC – fought off enemy fire in the Korean War in 1951 by throwing stones, shoes and beer bottles.
Henry Flintoff GC – rescued a farmer from a bull at the age of 13 in 1944.
Jim MacDonald – representing the Royal Ulster Constabulary (GC).
Awang Anak Raweng GC – Army scout, Malaya 1951.
Keith Payne VC – saved the lives of soldiers under his command in Vietnam in 1969.
Margaret Purves GC – rescued scout and leader from the sea at the age of 14 in South Wales in 1949. Joseph Zammit Tabona – representing Malta (GC)

FRONT ROW Stuart Archer – bomb disposal, South Wales, 1940.
Henry Stevens GC – police duty, Kent, 1958.
James Beaton – royal protection officer who foiled attempted kidnap of Princess Anne, 1974.
Captain Rambahadur Limbu VC – Gurkha, Indonesia 1965.
Tony Gledhill GC – police duty, London, 1966.
Major Peter Norton GC – supervised a major bomb disposal operation in Iraq in 2005 despite having suffered dreadful injuries.

SAS Trooper Mark Donaldson (to the left of the Queen) received the Victoria Cross in 2009, but was not present at Prince Charles' receiption. The photo shows Michael Pratt GC, Mark Donaldson VC and Keith Payne VC, at a reception for the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association on 10th November 2010.

 Australian Keith Payne VC, who won his VC in Vietnam in 1969, accepted the Diamond Jubilee medal from Prince Charles.

Read More

The Queen bestows a rare honour on Wootton Bassett

The war in Afghanistan may be controversial, especially when one keeps in mind that the wish of the Afghan delegates of the Loya Jirga to restore the Monarchy was ignored by the Western powers, but the soldiers who fight, are injured or, sadly, die there deserve everyone's respect. Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, UK, has gained fame as its residents stood quietly showing respect for fallen servicemen as their bodies passed through the town.

The BBC reported two days ago:

Wootton Bassett has been officially renamed with the prefix "Royal" in a ceremony in the Wiltshire town.

Thousands of people gathered for the ceremony, during which the Princess Royal presented the Letters Patent on behalf of the Queen.

The move recognises the role the town played during the repatriation of UK military personnel killed in war.

The Princess Royal, accompanied by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, at the commemoration event in Royal Wootton Bassett.

Speaking at the ceremony Princess Anne paid tribute to the residents and said the community had come together in a most extraordinary way.

"I am privileged to be allowed to add my thanks to those of Her Majesty the Queen and the whole country for the example you set in responding with dignity and respect to the losses that this country, operational responsibilities have forced upon us," she said.

The Princess Royal and the Mayor of Royal Wootton Bassett, Councillor Paul Heaphy, unveil the Letters Patent at the commemoration event marking the town's new 'Royal' title, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, 16th October 2011.

Earlier the Princess was received by the Lord Lieutenant, John Bush, before touring an exhibition in the town's library and watching a parade through the town's High Street.

The decision to rename it Royal Wootton Bassett was taken by the Queen following a petition from the prime minister.

The last town to be given royal status was Tunbridge Wells in Kent, in 1909.

The first repatriation service took place in Wootton Bassett in April 2007 when the bodies of military personnel began arriving at the nearby RAF base at Lyneham.

Since then thousands of people have turned out to pay their respects to servicemen killed in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The last cortege passed through the town in August, after which RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire became the landing site for planes returning from conflict zones.

Read More

Jubilee Woods for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

With HRH The Princess Royal as Patron, the Jubilee Woods project is set to create hundreds of new woods, transforming our landscape in a generation and making a real and meaningful difference for many years to come.

Together, communities, schools, companies and landowners will plant a total of 6 million trees, creating hundreds of Jubilee Woods and copses.

What's more, 60 very special Diamond Woods of at least 60 acres will also be planted – each representing a year of Her Majesty's reign.

We hope friends, neighbours and families will come together to plant thousands of individual trees in their gardens or backyards, too – each taking the chance to mark this moment in history in a way that will stay with them forever.

The Woodland Trust can offer landowners help and advice every step of the way.

A living, breathing legacy and the ultimate tribute to Her Majesty, each Diamond Wood will support our best-loved birds and wildlife and feature in a beautiful commemorative booklet, which the Woodland Trust will present to The Queen at the completion of the project.
Sites should ideally be around 60 acres and planting will commence from autumn 2011 until the close of 2012.

Unfortunately this project appeals to British landowners only, however, the idea is fascinating and should be adopted in Australia. This continents needs more trees.

Read More

A critic's view

Sometimes you have to wonder, if incompetence is a precondition to become a film or TV critic. Should you work for the Fairfax media, this alone would not qualify you for the job. A critic must be a raging republican with the ability to abuse the Australian Monarchy at every moment.

Take for example Louise Schwarzkoff, who gave her “critic’s view” on the new SBS series on the Danish Royal Family The Kingdom: Behind the Scenes (to be seen on SBS Two every Friday evening at 8 pm). "The British royal family could never allow a camera crew such access inside its palaces."

Nothing could be more wrong than her opening sentence. After having watched part one of the Danish documentary on 25th February one is reminded of the British series A Year with the Royal Family, shown in Australia in February 2008 on Channel Nine. The style was very similar. The cameras got very close access to Prince Philip who took the TV crew on a ride. The microphones caught very funny statements from Princess Anne and Prince Edward on how they feel when they are “on royal duty”. Not to mention the very impressive testimony of The Duke of Gloucester, who - as son of an Australian Governor-General - spent a couple of years in Australia.

On the first evening A Year with the Royal Family attracted 1.33 million viewers across the nation. This led the more serious programmes, Borderline with 0.989 viewers, Top Gear with 0.799 and the return of Kerry O' Brien to the 7.30 Report, with 0.657 viewers.

Louise Schwartzkoff was obviously not among the 1.33 Australians who watched the British documentary. May be she was appalled by her colleague Tim Elliott’s cranky sausage remarks in The Age on 4th February 2008:

Any program on the English monarchy is bound to be of interest, if only because you sit watching, hoping against hope, to spot a visible panty line or hear, perhaps, HRH inquiring of her Guard at Arms where one might find the crapper. For more than a year, the makers of this six-part documentary were granted "intimate access" to the workings of the British royal family, with tonight's opener focusing on a state visit to the US.

You can hardly expect Big Brother but hopes of any insights are fast extinguished, smothered by Cate Blanchett's fawning narration and an impenetrable blanket of cliches: we hear how hard the White House flower arranger has worked and get some meaningless waffle from Dale Haney, the presidential dog walker.

The Queen, meanwhile, comes across as a cranky old sausage, bored with the ceaseless sycophancy and pointless appointments. "I can't be everywhere," she says, with a dyspeptic smirk. "I can't do everything."

Their Fairfax colleague Larry Schwartz, however, actually watched the documentary and admitted: “You don’t need to be a monarchist to be impressed by this six-part series that tonight sets out to show “what it means to sit on a 20th-century-throne”. (The Age, 18th February 2008).

And another quote from the Melbourne newspaper: A BBC series, recently aired on Channel Nine, Monarchy: the Royal Family at work gives an unprecedented peek into the life and work of Queen Elizabeth and her family over the course of a year. (The Sunday Age, March 2008).

Agreed, you cannot watch everything, but before a critic hits out (Louise Schwartzkoff: “The personable Scandinavians could teach the scandal-plagued House of Windsor a thing or two.”) a journalist's duty must be to consult the own newspaper's archive. Or is the knowledge of how to keep an archive in the times of Google and Wikipedia already lost? Fairfax journalism reached a new low point.

Read More

The Princess Royal at 60

The Princess Royal, the second child and only daughter of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, was born at Clarence House, London, on 15 August 1950, when her mother was Princess Elizabeth, heir presumptive to the throne. She was baptised Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise at Buckingham Palace on 21 October 1950.

She received the title Princess Royal from The Queen in June 1987; she was previously known as Princess Anne. Her Royal Highness is the seventh holder of the title.

The Princess Royal has a wide range of public roles, and a very busy working schedule.

The Princess began to undertake public engagements alone when she was 18 and had left school. She first flew her personal standard in 1969 when she opened an educational and training centre in Shropshire. Her first State Visit was in May the same year, when she accompanied The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh to Austria.

The Save the Children Fund, of which she has been chair since 1970, was the first major charity with which she became closely associated. It has given her great insight into the needs of children worldwide, and an understanding of the issues affecting developing countries.

In her work for the organisation, the Princess has visited Save the Children projects in many countries, including Indonesia, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Malawi, Botswana and Madagascar.

Her Royal Highness is associated with over 200 charities and organisations in an official capacity, to all of which she devotes a large part of her working life. Search these in our charities and patronages database.

The Princess has been closely involved with the creation of several charities, notably The Princess Royal's Trust for Carers, Transaid and Riders for Health.

The Princess Royal's Trust for Carers provides support for the millions of individuals in the UK who are responsible for caring for someone.


The Princess Royal at the Melbourne memorial service for the bushfire victimes in February 2009.

Read More

The Queen will meet Her Victorian Premier in October

On 5th October Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, will receive Her Victorian Premier at Buckingham Palace. Acting Premier, Attorney-General Rob Hulls, could not hide his pride. On Channel 7 he said: “I think it’s a coup for the Premier. I don’t think there has been too many premiers that had a personal audience with the, er, with the Queen.” It must have been difficult to say the Q-word, because he mumbled it and needed two attempts to say it. But he managed, he really managed well to announce that Victorian Premier John Brumby will meet the Sovereign on 5th October.

Channel 9 had this to say: “This is the first time an Australian Premier has been invited to a rare audience with the Queen. Buckingham Palace has contacted the government to request he visit her while in the U.K. next week.

“The Queen has taken great interest in the Black Saturday bush fires.

“She received daily updates throughout February and March and made a personal donation to the bush fire appeal.”

Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, was equally praised. Channel 7: “Princess Anne won fans visiting Melbourne for the National Day of Mourning.” And the Victorian Environment Minister Gavin Jennings added: “They were chuffed that in fact she was there. It made quite a big difference at that time of adversity.”

Even The Age printed a short notice on the forthcoming royal audience for the Victorian Premier.

Read More

The Queen's portrait unveiled in Canberra's National Museum of Australia
Comment of an Age reader this morning: “It is so nice to open the newspaper and find a pleasant photo.” Sir William Dargie’s portrait "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second 1954“ was on page 3 of today’s Age.

The photo of the stunning portrait was a very pleasant surprise, but what about the accompanying article? Oh well, it kept its usual tone, however The Age could control its republicanism for a day: "AAAH, the golden, olden 1950s when a beautiful queen reigned and hundreds of thousands filled the streets to see her passing by when she made her astonishingly successful visit to Australia in 1954.

"A portrait of the young Queen by Australian artist[Sir] William Dargie painted that year at Buckingham Palace captured her sunny calm and authority. The image of the Queen in the famous 'Wattle dress' she had worn during that tour was lovingly reproduced for thousands of scout halls, government offices and citizenship certificates.

"Sir William waited for the first portrait to land safely [in Canberra] before sending off a second version he had painted at the same time as the first. On the back of the canvas he scrawled his explanation that "at least one version" would make it safely home if disaster struck.

"This second version went on to tour Australia before [Sir William] gave it to Lady Mary Hamilton Fairley, his host in London while he worked on the portraits.

"Now that painting is in Canberra's National Museum of Australia, which bought it this month for $146,400 from a Melbourne auction house acting for Fairley's descendants.
The museum's senior curator, Guy Hansen, who unveiled the work yesterday, admitted the appeal of the painting lies almost as much in what is jotted on the back of the canvas as in what is painted on its front.

"'We possibly would have bought it even without that story but the inscription is a lovely add-on,' Mr Hansen said.

"Although the first version of the painting can be seen in the Parliament House collection, it is on permanent display and cannot be loaned. The National Museum intends to tour its painting to show it as an important example of Australian social history.

"'It's hard for people under 60 to imagine the impact the Queen's visit had in 1954,' said Mr Hansen, 45. 'This was a definitive moment in Australia and this was incredibly important as the most memorable and ubiquitous image of the Queen's visit.'"

Although being under 60, I can imagine the impact of Her Majesty's visit. And so do republicans. That is the reason, why they do not want any member of our Royal Family coming to Australia. The success of Princess Anne's visit to the Victorian bushfires in February demonstrated the bond between the Australians and their Royal Family "and scared the living daylight out of the politicians" added the delighted reader of The Age.

Read More

When a republican tries to come to the rescue of another republican

After Guy Rundle used last week's Sunday Age to spread gossip and wishful thinking concerning “a” Australian republic, this Sunday’s edition published a letter to the editor written by Barry Everingham – according to The Age "a Melbourne commentator and a republican".

While it is always heart warming to see that the good old-fashioned solidarity still works for republicans, what Barry Everingham wrote, is simply wrong.

Here is his letter and I put my comments in brackets:

"GUY Rundle hit the nail on the head — the yawning indifference to the royals both here and in England is an indication that things are moving, slowly but surely. [When I find “yawning indifference", then it is one for “a” republic, as John Warhurst, himself a leading Australian republican, admitted.]

"A few weeks ago, we got a lesson from Princess Anne, no less, as to how royal visits, if they do occur [they only occur, when the Australian government sends out an invitation, something our arch-republican politicians very rarely do, but that is not the fault of our Royal Family, as Barry Everingham must know], need to be conducted.

"Representing her mum, our head of state — who already has eight representatives here, but that's a story for another day [may we remind Mr. Everingham that some of Her Majesty’s representatives in Australia are actually not following their Oath of Allegiance and work against the symbol they should well and truly represent?] — Anne flew in, went to Government House, freshened up, showed up at the Day of Mourning service, made a great speech [at least, he admits that it was “a great speech”], mingled with the volunteers and firefighters and then took off to the ravaged areas and, throwing protocol to the wind, gave succour to the suffering and next day was on a plane home. [So what? Did not the Australian Governor-General and the Australian Prime Minister fly in as well? None of them stayed even a whole day and they did not take up residence in a tent or caravan in Marysville.]

"The days of waving kids and blue-rinsed grannies getting all excited when an ethnic German foreigner pops in [that racist remark is unworthy for any Melbourne commentator and even for a republican. Should we follow Barry Everingham’s definition for a family that settled in Britain in 1714 still to be considered “an ethnic German foreign”, then less than one percent of the people of Australia could be considered anything else then “foreign ethnics”. A detailed refusal of this outrageous remark can be found here] are thankfully over for ever [how does he know? Her Majesty’s last visit does not prove his wishful think being more than just that: Republican wishful thinking.]

"Even the most rabid monarchists would admit royal tours today just don't take place. [Yes, but because the pollies don’t like the fact that the attention of the public turns away from them towards the Royal Family, therefore they do not send out invitations.] The Poms themselves aren't too enamoured by the shenanigans of the younger royals either. [How does he know? Did the most reliable source for royal news, Guy Rundle, tell him that? To how many British did he speak or is he relying on the Murdoch media, which very often appear to be the main source for Everingham's articles.]

"Rundle didn't find any interest in the London unveiling of the Queen Mum's statue and here we couldn't have cared less. [I could not find any proof for Guy Rundle’s statement. However, I saw photos of the unveiling of the Queen Mother’s statue. One, which is published here, shows the Earl and the Countess of Wessex . Take a look at the media mob in the background. Photographers galore, I’d say. The unveiling was reported all over the world - excluding Australia, I might add, but we know the reason why - and when I set a link to the German political magazine Focus, then despite knowing how Barry Everingham could find this to be a justification for his above mentioned racist remark.] "It is a case of bring on the republic as soon as possible." [The conclusion is complete nonsense and even Barry Everingham himself cannot wish Australia becoming a politicians’ republic. What else would this Melbourne commentator and republican write on, if not on our Royal Family? Or have you read anything else from him?]

[Her Majesty obviously enjoyed the unveiling of a statue commemorating Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, to repeat her official title, since Guy Rundle keeps insisting, that she was called Queen Mary, something even Barry Everingham could not support. There is hope, after all, that the truth may prevail.]

Read More