An unabashed Monarchist leaves the Senate

The Sydney Morning Herald paid tribute to Senator Nick Minchin Exit Minchin, unabashed monarchist to the end . One of Australia's staunchest Monarchists has drawn the curtain on an 18-year career and will leave the Australian Senate on 30th June.

Two Monarchists: Senator Nick Minchin (l.) and Senator Bernardi, both from South Australia.

Today it is The Age that gives Nick Minchin some space on his final days as a politician:

"The most notable Liberal departures are senators Nick Minchin and Judith Troeth, from opposite ideological ends of their party.

"Minchin, a former Senate leader, has been a warrior on the right, playing a crucial role in resisting Malcolm Turnbull's embrace of Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme and in the elevation of Tony Abbott. Despite being a senior Howard minister, Minchin has always been his own man, sometimes promoting lost causes (non-compulsory voting), at other times telling unpleasant truths (unsuccessfully advising John Howard to retire). Minchin was Australia's longest-serving finance minister (six years) but in a gracious valedictory speech this week ceded the title of best finance minister to Labor's Peter Walsh.

"Minchin also told Parliament that 'nothing in my long career in campaigning has given me greater pleasure than the comprehensive rejection of that republican model' in the 1999 referendum, and promised to remain active in advocating the virtues of the current system."

Retiring Senator Nick Minchin was the winner
Equally today the same newspaper reports on the re-election of Alan Stockdale as president of the Liberal Party. He had been challenged by Peter Reith, “a controversial former Howard government minister who made headlines in the maritime dispute and the 2001 ‘children overboard’ scandal” – and a republican. Senator Nick Minchin the Monarchist had his last battle to prevent a republican becoming president of the Liberal Party. And today he can claim victory, again.

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"Why I am a monarchist"

David V, an Australian Monarchist and a student with interests in history, politics and Royalty, gives a well written statement in favour of the Australian Monarchy:
Why I am a monarchist (and why monarchies will remain)

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La grande tragedia d'Italia - Umberto II

The Radical Royalist commemorated King Umberto’s accession to the Italian throne on 9th May 1946 here .

Fellow blogger Matterhorn has already paid tribute to His Majesty King Umberto II of Italy who was forced to go into exile 65 years ago. Matterhorn published the King’s noble last message he addressed to the Italian people upon departing into exile. This is the last passage:

With a spirit full of sorrow, but with the serene consciousness of having made every effort to carry out my duties, I leave my country. Let those who have taken the oath and kept faith through the hardest trials, consider themselves released from their oath of allegiance to the King, but not from their oath of allegiance to the Country. I think of all those who have fallen in the name of Italy, and I salute all the Italians. Whatever destiny awaits our Country, she will always be able to count on me, as on the most devoted of her sons.

Long live Italy!

13th June 1946

On 13th June 1946 the King left the Quirinale Palace, the only official building in Rome which was still flying the royal standard. The Royal Guard saluted their King for the last time.

Il re Umberto II si appresta a lasciare per sempre il Quirinale, e qui lo vediamo nel Cortile d’Onore del palazzo con il duca Riario Sforza, comandante dei corazzieri, mentre passa in rassegna il picchetto che rende omaggio all’ultimo dei Savoia. Sono attimi di profonda commozione, per tutti e in mode particolare per Umberto chi si trova nel ruolo di protagonist del tramonto di una dinastia.

“Guardia del re, salute al re!”, dice Riario Sforza ai suoi uomini.

“Viva il re!”, gridano per l’ultima volta i corazzieri. E viene ammainata la bandiera con lo stemma sabaudo.

King Umberto did not want a throne covered with blood: Non voglio un trono macchiato di sangue."

At four o'clock in the afternoon King Umberto reached Ciampino Airport, greeted by his most fervent supporters, he is guided to the military plane, Savoia Marchetti S 95, that would take him from Rome into the Portuguese exile. He never abdicated - neither for himself nor for his descendants.

Sono le quattro del pomeriggio del 13 giugno 1946. Umberto II ha raggiunto l'aeroporto di Ciampino e, salutato dagli fedelissime, si avvia a passo spedito verso l'aereo militare, un Savoia Marchetti S 95, che lo porterà da Roma nell'esilio portoghese. ... senza tuttavia rinunciare ai suoi diritti sul trono e quelli dei suoi discendenti.

From the aeroplane's door the King greeted the Italians for the last time on Italian soil.

Dal portellone dell'aereo Umberto rivolge un ultimo saluto ai pochi che, informati all'ultimo momento della sua partenza, lo hanno accompagnato. Un ultimo, mesto, forzato sorriso. Un ultimo sguardo a quell'Italia su cui ha regnato per un solo mese e che non rivedrà più. Anche il cielo sembra intristire, in quel giorno di tarda primavera.

In 1962 King Umberto attended the wedding of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark. On the right is the father of the bride, King Paul I of Greece.

Il re Paolo di Grecia presenta ai dignitari di Corte le re Umberto II.

His private study in his exile home, Villa Italia, near the Atlantic Ocean in Cascais, Portugal.

Il re Umberto nel suo studio privato di Villa Italia, la piccola reggia del lungo esilio a Cascais. "Cala la notte e prima di spegnere la luce e riposare ho la visione della piazza del Quirinale, di Roma, della città che non si può non amare. L'Italia è sempre nel mio cuore".

The King's library in 1970. Although he received a military education, Umberto always loved books and was interested in the arts.

Umberto nella sua grande biblioteca di Villa Italia. Dopo aver recevuto una rigida educazione militare, era stato considerato dai più come un uomo dai limitati interessi culturali. Al contrario il re Umberto era un raffinato umanista, un profondo conoscitore di storia, di letteratura e d'arte.

In 1982 Pope John Paul II visited Portugal. On 14th April 1982 the pontif and the king met in the residence of the Patriarch of Lisbon. At this stage King Umberto was already seriously sick and suffered from lung cancer.

He died on 18th March 1983 in Geneva, Switzerland. His body was not allowed to repatriated to Italy and was interred in Hautecombe Abbey in France.

Un affettuoso abbraccio, spontane e informale, tra Papa Giovanni Paolo II e il re Umberto II: è il 14 prile del 1982, il Papa si è recato in pellegrinaggio al santuario di Nostra Signora di Fatima, in Portogallo, e nella residenzia del cardinale di Lisbona ha concesso un'udienza privata alla re d'Italia. Umberto si è inginocchiato di fronte a lui, ma il Pontefice lo ha fatto subito rialzare e ha voluto abbracciarlo. Il sovrano sa di essere molto malato, che gli resta poco da vivere, e di certo in quel lungo colloquio ne parla con Papa Giovanni Paolo.

While King Umberto was totally ignored by the Italian officials, the Portuguese kept an affectionate memory of the Monarch they hosted for 37 years.

In 1987 a bust of the Italian King was unveiled in Cascais, in front of the Villa Italia, where he spent three and a half decades. The ceremony in the newly named Avenida Rei Humberto II de Itália was attended not only by King Umberto's only son, Prince Vittorio Emanuele, but also by the Portuguese President Mário Soares. Also present were Queen Marie José of Italy, King Umberto's widow, Queen Joana of the Bulgarians, the deceased King's sister, and Portugal's King-in-waiting, Dom Duarte Pio, Duke of Bragança.

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Boringly republican Age


In today’s Queen’s Birthday holiday editorial The Age has written, what everybody – Monarchists or republicans alike – expected from this Melbourne daily newspaper. The author made clear that the newspaper is unwavering favouring “a” republic and despises our Monarchy. The Age did, what in an opinion piece on 27th January 2010 The Age’s associate editor, Shawn Carney, called a “hardy annual”:

“The republican question is now what used to be called in the newspaper game a 'hardy annual': a predictable, intrinsically inconsequential story that can be trotted out at the same time every year to little lasting effect.”

But what about a journalistic duty to report on the actual events? Would it not have been The Age’s duty as a quality newspaper, to publish something that is connected with this Queen’s Birthday holiday? What about a photo and a little article on the Royal Military College of Duntroon’s celebrating The Queen's Birthday with a traditional Trooping the Colour parade last Saturday? Or alternatively a photo from the Trooping the Colour event in London, also on Saturday? The Age may be a fiercely republican newspaper, but seems to forget that more than half of the Victorians voted in favour of retaining the Monarchy in the 1999 referendum. Would it not be a newspaper’s duty to publish something on what at least 50 percent of The Age’s readers love?

Swiss author Max Frisch once said: “You don’t have to lie – concealing is enough.” He was cynically referring to politicians, not to journalists, but a subscriber of The Age could get the impression that the newspaper’s political agenda is to conceal everything concerning the Monarchy that could be styled as "nice news". They conceal from their readers what does not fit into their conception of Zeitgeist.

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For Queen's Birthday: Australian Trooping the Colour, Canberra 2011

Cadets and officers from the Royal Military College of Duntroon celebrated The Queen's Birthday with a traditional Trooping the Colour parade.

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Another birthday on 10th June:
Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia

While the Commonwealth countries celebrate the 90th birthday of Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, in Germany Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia can celebrate his 35th birthday.


Prince Georg Friedrich succeeded his grandfather, Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, as Head of the House of Hohenzollern on 25th September 1994. He is son of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia Jr (1944–1977) and Princess Donata of Prussia, née Countess of Castell-Rüdenhausen. Prince Georg Friedrich is great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

On 21st January 2011, Prince Georg Friedrich announced his engagement to Princess Sophie Johanna Maria of Isenburg (born 7th March 1978), daughter of Prince (Fürst) Franz-Alexander of Isenburg (from the Catholic branch of Isenburg-Büdingen-Birstein) by his wife, Princess (Fürstin) Christine, neé Countess of Saurma and Baroness von und zu der Jeltsch. The wedding is scheduled to take place at the Church of Peace (Sanssouci) in Potsdam on 27th August 2011.

Throughout 2011 all over Germany there will be celebrations and exhibitions on the 950th anniversary of the House of Hohenzollern.

Prince Georg Friedrich is also in the line of succession to the British throne. At present he is holding position 179 according to the William Reitwiesner's list.

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90th birthday of HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh

On his 90th birthday His Royal Highness Prince Philip receives a lot of praise for his role as the longest-serving royal consort. Even The Age could not help publishing an article that was not full of the usual nastiness, but gave a fair summary of his life. Many other papers and blogs refer to his achievements - and his very down to earth humor, for which is is equally loved or despised.


The Radical Royalist wants to point out his Australian connection. A very useful reminder of Prince Philip's role in Australia is Philip W. Pike's book The Royal Presence in Australia 1867 - 1986 from which the following excerpt is taken:

There has always been some confusion over the Duke of Edinburgh and his title. Sometimes he is referred to as Prince Philip and sometimes as the Duke of Edinburgh. The fact is, both titles are correct, but it wasn’t until 1957 when the Duke was still only a royal duke and not a prince that the Queen gave him a new title for his services to the Commonwealth and herself – he became Prince of the United Kingdom. He had shown that he had always been “his own man” and had avoided any inference that he was a Prince Consort living in his wife’s shadow.

Australia had always seen him as an individual. When he returned on 20th February 1965 he had already visited this country four times, twice with the Queen and twice alone. Now he was here on a brief visit to New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

The Duke, who had not always endeared himself to journalists over the years, held an informal meeting with the Australian press. He was, on occasions very outspoken and had several years before lashed out at the press after they had reported “rifts” between himself and the Queen. Elizabeth Longford in her book Elizabeth R records his response: “Those bloody lies that you people print to make money. These lies about how I’m never with my wife ... If photographers poke a long lens through a keyhole into my private life, then I’m bloody nasty” – it seems a perfectly normal reaction from someone living life in a goldfish bowl.

It was outbursts like this that didn’t endear him to the press.

His most important engagement in Sydney was to deliver the first Dunrossil Memorial Lecture established by the Institute of Radio and Electronics Engineers in memory of its former patron, Viscount Dunrossil. Viscount Dunrossil was Governor-General of Australia from 2nd February 1960 to 3rd February 1961. He died suddenly in Canberra on 3 February 1961. He was buried in Canberra at historic St John the Baptist Church, Reid, and remains the only Australian Governor-General to die in office

There were four hundred people assembled in the lecture theatre [of the University of New South Wales] and the presentation was telecast and broadcast throughout Australia and conveyed by Compac cable to the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
His lecture was extremely successful. Its main theme was a plea to see science and humanism linked:

“We can control everything in this world except ourselves,” the Duke said.

“... it is true without this persistent investigation we wouldn’t know half the disturbing facts about our occupation of earth, but it seems to me that unless we make a very determined effort to sort out the problems created by man in his occupation of this earth it is very unlikely that further scientific exploration will be either necessary or possible.

“You may think I am getting slightly off beam, but I went off on that tack because I want to suggest that scientific and technological progress is not only valueless, it is actively harmful unless it is modified or directed by a social and humanitarian outlook.

“Scientists and engineers must give attention to really serious problems facing humanity.

“Although the scientific and technological revolution is by far the greatest influence upon the progress of modern human civilisation, scientists and technologists cannot should the whole responsibility for the direction mankind takes in the future.”

The message was quite clear and is even more relevant today. The editorial of the Sydney Morning Herald, commenting on the lecture, added that it “cannot be said too often, and it is no small gain that it should be impressed upon the Australian scientific community with such authority”.

“The Duke’s performance was masterly with the matter and manner of his lecture. It was also a testimony to his lively understanding of modern problems and his effective way of communicating his thoughts about them."

The Duke left Sydney by Qantas Airways at 4 p.m. on Friday 26th February. The departure was even more informal than his arrival.

The offical portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Austrailia, and His Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, available free of charge from every Member of Parliament. Ask your MP for your copy!

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