This was the headline in the Sun Herald of 14 July, 2005.
The newspaper reported that The Queen, evoking her mother’s courage during World War II and the British bulldog spirit, visited survivors of the London bombs and issued a defiant message to the terrorists: "They will not change our way of life."
This was in an unscheduled speech thanking hospital staff, who cheered her as she entered the hospital canteen.
Referring to East Enders’ experience of the Blitz, she said: "Sadly, we in Britain have been all too familiar with acts of terrorism and members of my generation, especially at this end of London, know that we have been here before. Atrocities such as these simply reinforce our sense of community, our humanity, our trust in the rule of law."
This terrorist outrage was the deadliest attack on the capital since World War II, when the Royal Family remained in London and visited victims of the German air raids.
To the British, and to Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and many others, the Royal Family set a standard of leadership which was so encouraged us in those dark days.
It should also not be forgotten that The Queen herself knows how cruel the crimes of cowardly terrorist can be.
On 27 August 1979, the Queen’s cousin, the war hero, World War II Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in SE Asia, the last Viceroy and the first Governor-General of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, aged 79, along with the 82 year old Dowager Lady Brabourne as well as two boys,one his grandson, were brutally murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army when a bomb was detonated on their unguarded fishing boat.
Prince Charles delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Lord Louis, a favourite uncle.
Thomas Mc Mahon was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the crime. He was released in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement.
In the aftermath of the recent terrorist outrage, others in the Royal family have also offered support to the injured and to emergency service workers.
Prince Charles, on a separate hospital visit, said: "What I can never get over is the resilience of the British people who have set us all a fantastic example of how to recover."
Prince William has sent his own message of sympathy from New Zealand.
The Sun Herald quoted Royal historian and biographer Hugo Vickers on the great comfort that The Queen is on occasions like this : "It is comforting for people to see the Queen. They know she lived through the war as a child and can understand them," he said. "It might be an unfair comparison, but [Prime Minister Tony] Blair never did that. That is an advantage for the Queen – she is a constant." As ACM director Peter Cavanagh said, this was wonderful proof that the monarchy can give to people something that a mere, short term president can never give – continuity and an enduring place in the heart of the nation.
IRAQ
Ali Fadhil, writing in the Washington Examiner on 7 July, 2005, “AN IRAQUI LOOKS BACK ON JULY 4TH” began:” When I was a kid, the word "independence" meant almost nothing to me. It was mainly because I rarely heard the word given any real importance in our media.
The reason was that we got our independence through the cooperation between the British and the constitutional monarchy they helped establish in Iraq.
That wasn’t something the "nationalists" who ruled from 1958 were interested in presenting to the public in any good way."
EDWARD VIII
The political scientist, J.B Paul, is well known for his incisive comments on political and constitutional matters.
On the 50th anniversary of the Coronation, he went on an ACM sponsored speaking tour around Australia which was very well received.
In this month’s Quadrant, probably Australia’s leading intellectual magazine, he argues persuasively that the frequent allegations in the media that the Duke of Windsor was some sort of a putative traitor has absolutely no grounding -none – in fact.
Mr Paul holds no brief for the Duke, but deplores the readiness of some people to make these serious charges merely on the basis on the strength of the “…half hearted and near farcical activities of some German officials…especially as these had their fons et origo in the febrile fantasies of an idiot like Ribbentrop”
PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY
In previous columns, we have referred to something which astounds those who live in constitutional monarchies -that republics can actually protect their presidents not only from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes, even those which took place before they became president, but even any criminal investigation!
According to the leading French newspaper Le Monde, 9 July 2005, documents from the French secret service confirm that President Mitterrand explicitly authorised the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985.
French secret service operatives were found guilty of this crime in a NZ court.
Under republican law, President Mitterand could not have even been investigated by the French authorities!
This demonstrates, surely, the superiority of constitutional monarchy.
Until next time,
David Flint