Monarchy

Thursday

James Forsyth

Letting his opinions be known

From our UK edition

Today’s Evening Standard features an interview with Bernice McCabe, co-director of the Prince’s Teaching Institute. McCabe tells the paper that: “He [the Prince of Wales] is very passionate about the fact that children need a good grasp of literature and that all children need to understand the history of our country,” she said. “He is passionate that these subjects should remain there in the curriculum.” I happen to agree with the Prince of Wales on this point, but it is completely unacceptable that someone is speaking for him on what is a political issue. The monarchy survives in this country on the basis that it doesn’t express political opinions in public, a rule that the Queen has observed.

Friday

Alex Massie

Monarchy is Better than a Republic, Part XIX

From our UK edition

At a town hall meeting in New Orleans yesterday, ABC News reports that: President Obama, like any other President, has his fair share of critics. Even fourth-graders have noticed. Why do people hate you?", a fourth-grade boy asked Obama at a town hall event in New Orleans today. "They're supposed to love you. And God is love." Obama's answer is actually pretty reasonable. But this is what happens when you make a mere elected politician assume the status of Priest-King. It is, in its own way, a corrupting influence. I don't blame the kid asking the question since, heck, there are plenty of professional journalists in DC who basically think along the same lines. This isn't Obama's fault, but it's a problem nonetheless.

Wednesday

Mary Kenny

Was the Abdication necessary?

From our UK edition

At least one very startling claim emerges in this study: according to her own account, Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, never consummated her first two marriages. Indeed, she never allowed any man (before the Duke of Windsor, presumably) to touch her ‘below the Mason-Dixon line’. If this is true, it makes a nonsense of the Abdication, since an unconsummated marriage, within Christian canon law, is automatically grounds for annulment. This would mean that the lady was not — or did not need to be — a divorcee, and thus her pairing with Edward, Prince of Wales, should have raised no objection whatsoever.