Where are all those republican writers on Queen's Birthday Holiday?

I have to admit: I was wrong. I expected the united republican media hunt to have a field day on Queen’s Birthday Holiday. I was prepared to read the re-heated phrases from previous years, but the usual suspects, the famous “Melbourne commentators and republicans” must have been occupied elsewhere.

However, The Age fulfilled my expectations and printed an editorial in connection with the Queen’s Birthday’s honours list. “The one truly incongruous note about today's holiday is that officially it marks the Queen's birthday even though the monarch — whose real birth date is April 21 — has precious little to do these days with either the Australian awards system or Australia. The empire is long gone, and widely shared loyalties to the Queen with it; most Australians' allegiance is to the country they live in. Imperial honours were discarded in 1975, yet today's honours are still awarded on a day supposedly devoted to our head of state.”

The Imperial honours were dropped by politicians, not by popular demand of the people. France kept the "Légion d'honneur", which was established by the first consul, Napoléon Bonaparte, in 1802. The country went through many changes, but the honours list remained.

And why does The Age claim, Queen's Birthday were “a day supposedly devoted to our head of state”? It is republicans who have to accept a fact they dislike. This day IS devoted to our Queen.

“By all means retain a long holiday weekend, but … [t]his holiday requires an identity to match its place and purpose in a country that is already republican at heart.” Wishful thinking: This country’s media are republican oriented, but the country itself is still “Monarchist at heart.” The circles journalists and their employers mingle in are the ones who dream of a republic, but they cannot specify their dreams and tell us, what kind of republic they want.

This year The Age did not run a campaign like the one in 2008, when a “Kids Day” was high on their agenda. “Resurrection Day” might be an option, after a couple of republicans groups decided to resurrect in a newly formed Coalition of Australian Republicans (CAR) the day before Queen’s Birthday Holiday. Or could “CAR Day” be acceptable to our republican media?

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Republican revival meeting

May be the Aussie republicans should push for renaming Queen’s Birthday Holiday into Resurrection Day.

Why? Look, what they try to do according to The Brisbane Times, The Age's sister newspaper in Queensland : “Members of the newly formed Coalition of Australian Republicans (CAR) think there's no better time than the Queen's Birthday weekend to resurrect the battle against our ties to the British monarchy.”

Resurrected, that means arisen from the dead? And why British Monarchy instead of Australian Monarchy, as we actually have? While being dead, the republicans must have missed that the ties with the British Monarchy were cut on 2nd March 1986, the "Queen signed the Australia Bill, formally severing the last constitutional ties with Britain."

The Brisbane Times has more reveling news about the resurrected republicans: “Previously feuding anti-monarchists … have joined forces. … Others in the CAR group include Women for an Australian Republic, the Copernican Republicans, the Foundation for Constitutional Renewal, Patriots for the Australian Republic, Republic Now! and the Republican Party of Australia.”

I wonder what they stand for. “There was a lot of hostility and disunity among republicans last time so it's heart-warming to see we've mended our bridges and are working together for the future good of the country.” They give the impression that the revival meeting of Australian Republican Movement's Michael Keating and Real Republic's David Muir healed their discords. Well, aren’t revival meetings meant to save the sinners?

One thing is sure: The republicans are not short of lollies. The Brisbane Times: “Former Brisbane lord mayor Clem Jones left $2million for the republic campaign when he died in 2007. Mr Muir, a Brisbane solicitor, is chairman of the Clem Jones Foundation administering the funds.”I am sure solicitor Muir collects his fees from administering the funds and has a personal interest in keeping the republic question alive.

But think of of the good deeds that could be done with $2million, however, it all goes into a campaign that is doomed to fail – again.

The republicans will need many more revival meeting to resurrect their cause from the dead. Or is republicanism one of the undead cases that refuse to find eternal peace until a courageous person hammers a wooden stick into its heart?

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King Albert and Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, eldest son and heir of the Belgian Monarch.

75th Birthday of King Albert II of the Belgians

Better than I could ever praise King Albert II of the Belgians one of his loyal subjects did this on the Monarch's birthday. The blog The Cross of Laeken celebrates the 75th birthday of this very popular King.

Here are just two excepts:

"Today, Belgium's reigning monarch, H.M. King Albert II, celebrates his 75th birthday. He was born June 6, 1934, the second son and third child of King Leopold III and Queen Astrid of the Belgians. He was named after his illustrious grandfather, King Albert I, tragically deceased in a climbing accident only a few months before. At the age of 14 months, Prince Albert (titled "Prince of Liège") lost his mother, equally tragically, in a car crash. He would know no mother until his father's re-marriage, amidst World War II and Nazi occupation, with Lilian Baels, a lovely young Flemish commoner.

"The royal family's captivity in Germany and Austria from 1944-1945 was a terrible ordeal for Prince Albert. The lack of food caused him to develop hunger edema. A leg injury treated perfunctorily by an SS guard turned into gangrene, but, fortunately, Lilian's vehement insistence on obtaining proper medical attention saved the leg of the future King."

I do highly recommend to read the whole posting on The Cross of Laeken.

Happy birthday, Your Majesty!

Bon anniversaire, Sire!

Gelukkige verjaardag, Majesteit!

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Call to all Royalists - European Elections

Dear Madam, dear Sir,

Dear friends,
Alliance Royale is a political party created in 2001 to reintroduce the question of the monarchy into the political debates. Our sole objective is to use the election campaigns to make our fellow citizens understand that the royal principle is making a relevant and timely response to the difficulties our country has been facing for many years. We were therefore present in different local or national elections during the past few years.

As in 2004, Alliance Royale will present candidates in the forthcoming European elections. Wishing to stay out of conflicts that divide the French Royalist opinion, Alliance Royale has opted for neutrality in dynastic matters since its creation. It develops proposals that are primarily designed to meet the legitimate questions being asked by voters about the decision that a king and his councils could make in the current situation. We understand very well that other royalist movements can legitimately advocate an other political vision. These differences should not be a cause of division between us.

That is why we offer all of them to gather around the urgent and important issue : meeting the citizens of our respective countries to invite them to build their future by reviving the identity of European countries founded on christian monarchies.

We invite you to join our European campaign. This is not to set aside your own sensitivity or to give up your freedom of speech, but to align with us on what we share : the defense and promotion of the royal principle. You can do this in several ways :

- in providing institutional support to our lists, which would result in information to your members and supporters and in a mention that we would add to our campaign documents like "With the support of" followed by your logo,

- in calling your members and supporters to be on our list of candidates (especially women, to meet the requirements of parity), as did Italian and French Royalist movements.
There is no other engagement expected from movements or candidates beyond this temporary cooperation. This does not say that there is no disagreement on any particular issue that could be discussed, as long as we avoid unnecessary controversy that could weaken a loyal support to our common objective for the duration of the campaign.

Hoping that this offer will attract your attention and that you will be willing to respond positively, we remain at your disposal to answer your questions.

Cyrille Henrys
General Delegate of Alliance Royale

At Gallia Watch you the party's ten reasons why it is important to vote for the AR in English.
Poster, photos and lists of all candidates can be downloaded from the Alliance Royale's website.

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Queen's Birthday Holiday

Much to the annoyance of republicans Australia is celebrating Queen’s Birthday on Monday, 8th June. The well-known republicans certainly have already written their malicious anti-Monarchist articles and the editors of our major newspapers have pre-selected them for publishing. We will know soon enough what inflamed them this year. I bet it will be a repeat of their old prejudices and false accusation.

Nothing new. We, however, Her Majesty’s loyal Australian subjects, not only enjoy the holiday, but we rejoice in celebrating our Monarch’s birthday.

The Queen's Official Birthday (Queen's Birthday) is celebrated as a public holiday in several Commonwealth countries although it is also celebrated in Fiji, now a republic.

The exact date of the celebration varies from country to country, and it does not usually mark the real birthday of the sovereign (Queen Elizabeth II, was born on 21 April 1926).

Australia (except Western Australia), observes the Queen's Birthday on the second Monday in June, marking it with a public holiday. It also serves as the opening weekend to Australia's snow season.

Australians have enjoyed this holiday since 1788 when Governor Phillip declared a holiday on the birthday of King George III. Until 1936 it was held on the actual birthday of the Monarch, but after the death of King George V it was decided to keep the date at mid-year.


Queen Elizabeth, Queen of Australia, and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in his Royal Australian Air Force uniform. This is the official portrait of the Australian sovereign as it is handed out by Her Australian government.

The royal couple wear the insignia of The Order of Australia. The Order of Australia, instituted by Her Majesty The Queen on 14 February 1975, was established as "an Australian society of honour for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service".

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Air France flight 447 killed the Brazilian Imperial Family’s Heir Presumptive

French media reported it were unlikely to find any survivors of the 228 people on board a Paris-bound Air France plane which disappeared over the Atlantic after taking off from Rio de Janeiro last Monday.

His Imperial and Royal Highness Dom Pedro Luiz de Orléans e Bragança, Prince of Brazil, was aboard Air France flight 447 and died at the age of 26.

The late Dom Pedro Luiz, born 12th January 1983, was an attractive young man, actively involved in Brazilian Monarchist affairs, and great hopes were placed in his future as the Heir Presumptive, after his bachelor uncles, Dom Luiz I and Dom Bertrão, and his father, Dom Antonio.

Through his mother, Princess Christine of Ligne, Dom Pedro Luiz was also related to the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg. His mother's grandmother was Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, who is grandmother of the present Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henri I.

The late Dom Pedro Luiz has a younger brother, Dom Rafael Antonio Maria José Francisco Miguel Gabriel Gonzaga de Orléans e Bragança, Prince of Brazil (born 1986) and two sisters, Princess Amélia (born 1984) and Princess Maria Gabriela (born 1989), who are in the line of succession after their bachelor uncles, HI&RH Dom Luíz de Orléans e Bragança (born 1938), Head of the Imperial House of Brazil, and HI&RH Dom Bertrão de Orléans e Bragançca (born 1942), and their father, HI&RH Dom Antônio of Orléans-Bragança (born 1950).

Requiescat in pace.

Brazilian News

The Imperial Family of Brazil's website

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The Age, again ...

Today's Age contained these two lines:

[2nd June] 1953 - Queen Elizabeth II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.

Is that a warm-up for nastiness on Queen's Birthday next Monday? Or is it just plain ignorance from the editor?

Queen Elizabeth II was never crowned Queen of England, but Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia , New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon, and of Her Possessions and other Territories.


The Queen of Australia at Her Coronation ceremony on 2nd June 1953

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