Along with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry is a London 2012 Paralympic Ambassador.
The following video message was recorded for the Paralympic Torch Relay, which was played during the first Flame Festival at Trafalgar Square.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Anthony McFarlane's paper focuses on the curious episode in Iberian American history when Princess Carlota Joaquina, daughter of King Carlos IV, brother of King Fernando VII of Spain, and wife of Dom João, Prince Regent of Portugal and later King João VI of Portugal, tried to assert sovereignty over the Spanish monarchy, in whole or in part, during 1808-10. Although Carlota's pretensions were unsuccessful, they are nonetheless worthy of discussion for a number of reasons.
"Royalism seems to have reached across the social spectrum from the richest to the poorest elements of society. Evidence from both Mexico and South America suggests, for example, that Indian communities tended to remain loyal to the Spanish monarchy. Their reasons no doubt include both genuine commitment to a system into which they had been firmly incorporated as Christians subjects of the crown, alongside a preference for a paternalist system in which the „republica de indios‟ enjoyed the protection of the king and, through its direct relationship to the crown, some degree of autonomy.McFarlane, Anthony (2012) Princess Carlota Joaquina and the Monarchist Alternative in Spanish American Independence. In: Liberalism, Monarchy and Empire: Ambiguous Relationships, 10 February 2012, Senate House, London.
"Examples of Indian fidelity abound. In southern Peru, most Indian communities remained faithful to the royal cause. The Indian nobles of Cuzco was a particularly firm bastion. Despite loss of wealth and status after the Túpac Amaru rebellion, they remained committed to the Spanish monarchy on which they depended and did not rebel against Spanish government until 1814. In New Granada, the Indians of Pasto and Santa Marta played important roles in defending enclaves of royalist government, while Indian communities in coastal Caracas and Cartagena also favoured the royalist side against its republican enemies. This loyalty usually reflected the importance of traditional leadership and its ability to sustain a following, as well as political calculations arising from local disputes over resources."
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Australia is suffering the blues, the Olympian blues. Instead of a rain of gold medals, the Australian athletes managed so far to gain 1 gold, 12 silver and 20 bronze medals, too little for the big egos of the sports commentators. And especially embarrassing that in the overall ranking New Zealand is placed ahead of Australia!
But The Age told its readers in an editorial on 4th August the reason: Because Australia is not a republic and the members of our Royal Family cheer exclusively for British sportspersons. Sounds stupid? Yes, it is the most stupid republican idea that could cross one’s mind.
"The princes [William and Harry], however, evidently felt no conflict of interest; it was clear who they were cheering for, as it is when they attend England v Australia rugby matches at Twickenham. They are, after all, English. And although the Queen might have been less exuberantly partisan in her behaviour if she had been present at the regatta, it is inconceivable that she would have wanted any crew other than the British pair to win."Isn’t it fantastic how The Age’s commentator could exactly say, what the Queen of Australia would want to happen? They should leave the media business and start an astrology firm if they know so well what other people have on their mind and what they would do.
And when the Princes William and Harry turned up at the Australian Channel Nine’s Olympic studio, The Age did not like that either. When the princes wandered “into the International Broadcasting Centre with the promise of a live interview, it's 1945 again and we're singing God Save The King at the cinema. ... Meanwhile, what did we learn from the interview itself? That William is not going to go quietly; so keen was he on praising Australia he was under the delusion we'd whacked the Yanks in the pool.” The Age is linking to the video with Channel Nine's interview anyway. Have a look!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Romanians have difficulties to decide whom they most detest – their president, their prime minister, or simply the entire political caste (they are not alone in that!). Hundreds of demonstrators have been gathering in cities across the country.
Some of them carry placards condemning Prime Minister Victor Ponta, while others slam his arch-rival, president Traian Basescu, who faces impeachment proceedings in the national parliament.
A third group would simply like to be rid of both.
On 6th July the country’s parliament voted to impeach president Traian Basecu. In a joint sitting of both houses of parliament 256 out of 432 MPs and senators voted in favour of removing Basescu from office 217 would have been sufficient to tell him to leave. For the vote to take effect the Romanian people have a final say. Within 30 days a referendum must be held. The most likely date for the referendum is 29th July.
Prime Minister Ponta’s coalition government took office only in May, fired the speakers of both houses of parliament and the ombudsman this week and threatened to sack judges of the Constitutional Court as well.
The German press agency DPA reported from Bucharest:
Unfortunately the proposed referendum will not be on the form of state, but only of the office holder. Basescu is certainly one of the worst presidents in Europe, but Romania’s problems lie deeper. Only in January 2012 the Romanian media reported: Wave of sympathy for King Mihai.
The king addressed parliament in Bucharest for the first time in more than 60 years and he asked parliamentarians to upgrade democracy in the country and restore the dignity of the people.
Referring to the fall in 1989 of the Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, the king said: "The last 20 years have brought democracy, freedom and a beginning of prosperity. The time has come after 20 years to... break for good with the bad habits of the past" [such as] "demagogy, selfishness and attempts to cling to power. It is within our power to make this country prosperous and worthy of admiration".”
He added: "We cannot have a future without respecting the past. The royal crown is not a symbol of the past but a unique representation of our independence, sovereignty and unity.”
Before the festive event Basescu had launched a stinging attack on King Michael, accusing him of being responsible for the Holocaust in Romania, and calling him "a Russian lackey."
In an interview Basescu said as Michael was head of state during the pro-fascist regime of dictator Marshal Ion Antonescu — prime minister from 1940 to 1944, during World War II — he should also be considered responsible for the death of some 280,000 Jews and 11,000 Gypsies.
In 1944, when Romania was allied with Germany, Michael staged a coup against Antonescu, and Romania switched sides to the Allies.
Basescu called Michael "a Russian lackey" in the interview, adding that his abdication — forced by Soviet-backed Communists on 30th December 1947 — was "an act of treason."
In November 1947, with the communists gaining a hold over Romania and the region King Michael surprised the government by returning to Bucharest after attending the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in London. A month later the Soviet-backed communist government told him if he did not sign his abdication, 1,000 Romanians would be executed. He abdicated on 30th December 1947 and began a life of exile in Britain and Switzerland. His Romanian citizenship was restored in 1997.
Basescu, who insulted King Michael, was himself a member of the notorious secret agency Securitate, but claimed “his links with the former Securitate were minimal”
And Queen Helena, The Queen Mother, was subsequently honored by the Yad Vashem Museum in Israel for rescuing Romanian Jews.
The crisis in Romania could signify the need for an overall change of the political structure in Romania. Famous actor Ion Caramitru believes that King Michael of Romania was the only personality capable of restoring morality in the country and speaks about the toxicity of “turncoat communists” and of the former secret police officers who got into business. In an interview with ‘Adevarul,’ published in a translation of in the Bucharest Herald) the manager of the Bucharest National Theatre says he did not abandon his attitude of social militant, though he stays away from politics today. Caramitru still believes in the political principles of Christian Democracy to restore the monarchy and increase the respect for religion.
Some of them carry placards condemning Prime Minister Victor Ponta, while others slam his arch-rival, president Traian Basescu, who faces impeachment proceedings in the national parliament.
A third group would simply like to be rid of both.
On 6th July the country’s parliament voted to impeach president Traian Basecu. In a joint sitting of both houses of parliament 256 out of 432 MPs and senators voted in favour of removing Basescu from office 217 would have been sufficient to tell him to leave. For the vote to take effect the Romanian people have a final say. Within 30 days a referendum must be held. The most likely date for the referendum is 29th July.
Prime Minister Ponta’s coalition government took office only in May, fired the speakers of both houses of parliament and the ombudsman this week and threatened to sack judges of the Constitutional Court as well.
The German press agency DPA reported from Bucharest:
"During Basuscu’s eight years in office, he has repeatedly imposed his will on the formation of governments, paying little heed to the balance of political forces in parliament.No referendum on the form of state
"He has made full use of his constitutional power to propose a candidate for prime minister, forcing through coalitions between the PDL and smaller parties to head off the PSD and PNL, which enjoyed a small relative majority.
"Ponta came to power at the end of April, after PDL members deserted their party in droves to join the opposition, bringing down the government through a vote of no confidence.
"The “deserters” were seen to have abandoned their party due to a loss of popularity. The PDL had pushed through austerity measures imposed by the IMF and European Union, cutting civil service salaries by 25%, freezing pensions and increasing value-added tax by five points to 24%.
"As a result, the PDL saw its share of the vote sink to a low of 15% in local elections at the beginning of June, while the PSD and PNL took almost 50%.
"Ponta could have waited for parliamentary elections scheduled for the autumn, confident that this trend would hold and that his alliance would secure victory, observers have mused.
"His decision, instead, to attempt to topple Basescu by democratically dubious means is thought to have two reasons.
"Firstly, he may be fearful of the judiciary, which he considers to be controlled by Basescu. Ponta’s political mentor, Adrian Nastase, prime minister in 2000-2004, is in jail for his role in a political funding scandal.
"And secondly, Ponta could be out for vengeance, as he believes Basescu to be behind the plagiarism allegations that have tarnished him. Ponta is said to have copied 85 pages of his 400-page dissertation without having cited the sources as required."
Unfortunately the proposed referendum will not be on the form of state, but only of the office holder. Basescu is certainly one of the worst presidents in Europe, but Romania’s problems lie deeper. Only in January 2012 the Romanian media reported: Wave of sympathy for King Mihai.
“According to an IMAS poll published last week by ‘Adevarul’ daily, the level of confidence in King Mihai stood at 25.7 per cent in December, being higher than that of president Traian Basescu (12.9 per cent) and in Premier Emil Boc (9.7 per cent) taken together.”Traian Basescu is an old adversary of King Michael and certainly dislikes the King’s popularity. In October 2011, when the Romanian parliament celebrated the 90th birthday of King Michael, Traian Basescu boycotted the event, while most MPs cheered the monarch’s speech (according to International Business Times.)
The king addressed parliament in Bucharest for the first time in more than 60 years and he asked parliamentarians to upgrade democracy in the country and restore the dignity of the people.
Referring to the fall in 1989 of the Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, the king said: "The last 20 years have brought democracy, freedom and a beginning of prosperity. The time has come after 20 years to... break for good with the bad habits of the past" [such as] "demagogy, selfishness and attempts to cling to power. It is within our power to make this country prosperous and worthy of admiration".”
He added: "We cannot have a future without respecting the past. The royal crown is not a symbol of the past but a unique representation of our independence, sovereignty and unity.”
Before the festive event Basescu had launched a stinging attack on King Michael, accusing him of being responsible for the Holocaust in Romania, and calling him "a Russian lackey."
In an interview Basescu said as Michael was head of state during the pro-fascist regime of dictator Marshal Ion Antonescu — prime minister from 1940 to 1944, during World War II — he should also be considered responsible for the death of some 280,000 Jews and 11,000 Gypsies.
In 1944, when Romania was allied with Germany, Michael staged a coup against Antonescu, and Romania switched sides to the Allies.
Basescu called Michael "a Russian lackey" in the interview, adding that his abdication — forced by Soviet-backed Communists on 30th December 1947 — was "an act of treason."
In November 1947, with the communists gaining a hold over Romania and the region King Michael surprised the government by returning to Bucharest after attending the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in London. A month later the Soviet-backed communist government told him if he did not sign his abdication, 1,000 Romanians would be executed. He abdicated on 30th December 1947 and began a life of exile in Britain and Switzerland. His Romanian citizenship was restored in 1997.
Basescu, who insulted King Michael, was himself a member of the notorious secret agency Securitate, but claimed “his links with the former Securitate were minimal”
And Queen Helena, The Queen Mother, was subsequently honored by the Yad Vashem Museum in Israel for rescuing Romanian Jews.
The crisis in Romania could signify the need for an overall change of the political structure in Romania. Famous actor Ion Caramitru believes that King Michael of Romania was the only personality capable of restoring morality in the country and speaks about the toxicity of “turncoat communists” and of the former secret police officers who got into business. In an interview with ‘Adevarul,’ published in a translation of in the Bucharest Herald) the manager of the Bucharest National Theatre says he did not abandon his attitude of social militant, though he stays away from politics today. Caramitru still believes in the political principles of Christian Democracy to restore the monarchy and increase the respect for religion.
“I am sad! For the last 20 years, King Michael I has been in the country… The monarchy could have become perfectly stable during all these years and we could have banished communism forever, by annulling the abdication of 1947, when the King was rudely forced to leave the country. The return to monarchy would have put an end to this fight over the first position in the state, for a president who has discretionary powers. This semi-absolute power could divert the state to other ends, while monarchy secures the first position in the states only in a symbolic manner… Monarchy was the only principle capable of restoring morality in the country. Without it, what did we do? We have the same communists, now turncoats, and the former secret police officers who got into business and obtained revolutionist’s certificates. The infamous people controlling us in the past are doing the same today. The country is dying and everything was stolen,” Ion Caramitru said.
Ion Caramitru: Ce-am facut fara monarhie? Tara e pe dric si e furata pana la Dumnezeu!
Friday, July 6, 2012
The Australian Monarchist League sent out this media release:
GIRL GUIDES – NOW CRINGING TOWARDS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
Girl Guides Australia is wrong if it thinks it will attract more members by removing any reference to The Queen and to God.
Loyalty and obedience, has always been a fundamental part of Guiding but this is also to be replaced with something like ‘choices for a better world’.
And all this to cater to those children – or more probably their parents – who have republican sympathies and/or who are irreligious.
However, it seems to be an oxymoron, that this misguided organisation removes mention of The Queen at a time of her great popularity and when polls are showing an increasing majority of Australians wanting to remain a constitutional monarchy. Moreover, they are retaining the name of the Guide's highest honour, ‘The Queen's Guide’ and also keeping as their Patron, the Governor-General, whom they seem to forget is The Queen’s representative!
Pandering to small minorities, however influential, has cost our Federal government almost total popularity. If the Girl Guides think they will achieve greater numbers by removing the very essence of what they are, then I feel they are sadly mistaken.
At one time parents would send their daughters to the Guides to encourage self discipline and leadership. Now it seems all they will get is a cringing towards political correctness.
Philip Benwell
National Chair
0419 417 097
Opinion polls on the internet shows, that the Girl Guides' move is not welcome:
Voting is open until next Monday, go here to click for the right answer.
The Australians for Constitutional Monarchy published a protest nore as well. See here.
The Spanish Queen arrived on 1st July and will leave the archipelago on 7th July. It is her third visit to the Philippines after 2002 and 2003. She has visited different development and relief project carried out by Spanish aid workers, local NGOs, religious institutions and UN agencies, especially the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) to whose Millennium Development Goals Spain has made great contributions.
Doña Sofía’s journey reflects Spain’s wish to accompany the Philippines in its sustainable development.
Cooperative relations between the Philippines and Spain date back to 1974. Over recent years, Spain has become one of the country’s largest donors. The official development assistance from Spain to the Philippines has averaged 30 million € per year between 2006 and 2010. The main Spanish cooperation programmes have targeted the areas of democratic governance, health, education, relief, climate change and support the peace process in Mindanao.
In this video clip Queen Sofia visits the University of Santo Tomas. The university was founded in 1611 by Spanish Dominican friars when the Philippines was a colony of Spain was just one of Sofia's many stops.
Viaje de Cooperación de Su Majestad la Reina a la República de Filipinas del 1 al 7 de julio de 2012. En esta tercera visita de Su Majestad a este país, tras las realizadas en 2002 y 2003, la Reina conoce sobre el terreno los diferentes proyectos que se están llevando a cabo y a las autoridades y contrapartes filipinas, los beneficiarios directos de las ayudas y los actores de la Cooperación Española, principalmente ONGs y comunidades religiosas, así como diversas agencias de Naciones Unidas, sobre todo del PNUD, que coordina los programas para la consecución de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio, a los que España ha realizado grandes aportaciones. El viaje de Doña Sofía a este país, refleja la voluntad de España de seguir acompañando a Filipinas en su desarrollo sostenible y en sus políticas de inclusión social como país prioritario de cooperación.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Flight 447, an Airbus A330, vanished from radar at high altitude during an Atlantic storm on1st June 2009. All 228 on board were killed. 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. He was heir presumptive to the Brazilian Crown.
In its report, the French aviation safety authority, BEA, today said faulty sensors and inadequate pilot training caused Air France's Rio-to-Paris flight to crash into the Atlantic. Their final report caps a bitter row between Air France and Airbus.
Chief investigator Alain Bouillard said the two co-pilots - left at the controls while the captain rested - never understood that their plane was in a stall and "were in a situation of near total loss of control" in darkness during the final four minutes before the plane slammed into the ocean 1,500 kilometers off Brazil's coast. Only a well-experienced crew with a clear understanding of the situation would have stabilized the plane in those conditions, Bouillard said.
The report also found that the co-pilots had also lacked instruments to help them identify and manage unusual situations.
Although the final report gives the bereaved some consolation, the Brazilian Monarchists are still mourning a brilliant young man who could have become Brazil's Emperor.
In its report, the French aviation safety authority, BEA, today said faulty sensors and inadequate pilot training caused Air France's Rio-to-Paris flight to crash into the Atlantic. Their final report caps a bitter row between Air France and Airbus.
Chief investigator Alain Bouillard said the two co-pilots - left at the controls while the captain rested - never understood that their plane was in a stall and "were in a situation of near total loss of control" in darkness during the final four minutes before the plane slammed into the ocean 1,500 kilometers off Brazil's coast. Only a well-experienced crew with a clear understanding of the situation would have stabilized the plane in those conditions, Bouillard said.
The report also found that the co-pilots had also lacked instruments to help them identify and manage unusual situations.
Although the final report gives the bereaved some consolation, the Brazilian Monarchists are still mourning a brilliant young man who could have become Brazil's Emperor.
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