August 30, 2012
The Results Are In! Constantine “Reigns” In Greece
Previously, I asked you which country would most likely restore their monarchy first.
© Chris Jackson/WireImage
The second most popular choice for restoration is King Michael of Romania (8 votes), and the third most popular is Yugoslavia’s Crown Prince Alexander (4 votes).
Click the image below to enlarge the results. Thanks to everyone who voted!
Results!
July 9, 2012
Eliminating Good Influences, One At A Time
Not “cool” enough: being a lady is “out”.
(via Daylife)
The Australian Girl Guides – aka Girl Scouts – not only decided to drop all references and pledges to the Queen, but also to God. [See the article]
Instead, the Australian Girl Guides will “be true to myself and develop my beliefs.”
This latest event is another brick being placed in the wall of selfish ego building. Why pledge allegiance to anything other than yourself? Why feel like there is anything higher, better, or more pure than yourself – you’re a little god. Who needs the actual God?
If you don’t feel like having a higher power to answer to, then why would you respect authority here in the corporeal? Drop the Queen.
“We all absolutely admire her in her jubilee year [said Belinda Allen, the New South Wales state commissioner], but our community comes from many different backgrounds … Being responsible to one’s community is one of the essences of guiding. We espouse that rather than the Queen.”
To unite under one banner and get along together with shared values is far too “old fashioned”, I gather.
“Whether they take down pictures of the Queen or keep them in the halls is totally up to the girls,” she said. “They may decide they still like to have pictures of the Queen but the world has changed and we have to move on.”
Yep. Too old fashioned. So move on to what, exactly?
I thought Girl Guides/Boy Scouts organizations were supposed to teach preparedness, respect, and leadership skills so that children become fruitful adults. Now they’re centering solely on the self, yet trying to serve the community. Huh?
What went wrong?
The 1980s were declared the “Me” generation. That’s my generation, and unfortunately, it was true. More mothers began to go out to work. Fathers were already working, so that left the kids to tend to themselves. That era of children became known as “latch-key kids”. So is it the fault of the 80s era that kids today are now being trained to think only of themselves, as their parents once had to?
The 1960s were a pretty radical era. Overthrow the “Man” and “the system”, show contempt for Western Civilization, and hate pretty much anything that was authority or tradition. Is this their generation’s fault? Is this why so many kids aren’t taught anything even remotely respectful in the home? Why any mention of God or Jesus gets you branded as a redneck?
Whose fault IS it?
The truth is, there are so many elements that have contributed to this crazy world of ours that it is impossible to blame any one factor, any one generation. It takes a village to raise a child, and that village is also pretty good at messing him up.
This latest attempt to disregard authority is such an insult to the Queen. I feel sorry for her. While she’s probably not angry about it, the Queen is more than likely very sad. She enjoyed her time as a Girl Guide when she was a child, and her little sister, Princess Margaret, was even in her own Brownie troop.
And it’s not simply a matter of leaving out the Queen, or leaving out God. It’s the combination of leaving both the Queen and God out of it that speaks volumes. Her Majesty is the Head of State, experienced, well respected, and an icon of propriety. God is the engine that steers the ship, so to speak, a guiding light to many people all over the world. It’s frightening that there are those who would so doggedly dismiss these two elements, believed to be powerfully good, uniting influences, for nothing more than vague modernity.
Mind you, I am not equating the Queen with God. She is as mortal as the rest of us. They are simply both positive authority figures in daily life – one is timeless, the other just appears to be timeless. ;)
That authority is going to disappear completely if we continue to allow our children to be groomed as self-centered egotists. Whomever plotted this “every man for himself” scenario is getting their wish. The groundwork has been laid, and the cement is hardening. Time to bust out the jackhammers.
Recommended:
God and Queen are no longer a guide for girls
Girl Guides and Scouts Are Being Slipped A Micky
June 27, 2012
Solid Anglo-Irish Relations: Your Take
(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
Many people applaud the Queen’s and Sinn Fein’s historic step of trying to move forward from a difficult past.
Dickie Arbiter, broadcaster and royal journalist extraordinaire, said of the day’s events: “Compassion, warmth and pragmatism was in evidence during The Queen’s meeting with Martin McGuinness”.
What did you think? Did McGuinness turn his back on his republican roots, or is this a genuine peace-making mission? Comment below:
June 27, 2012
Queen Shakes Hand of Former IRA Commander McGuinness
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – JUNE 27: Queen Elizabeth II shakes hands with Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
The Queen has taken the historic step of shaking hands with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness today (June 27th). This is Her Majesty’s second history-making visit to Northern Ireland, the last time being her very first State Visit.
McGuinness, now Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister, was in a receiving line when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh entered the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. The event taking place was organized by a charity, Co-Operation Ireland, which works to bring communities together. It certainly does! [See the video here.] The Queen, dressed in lime green, shook his hand as cameras captured the moment.
The meeting is hugely significant. McGuinness would not meet the Queen during her first State Visit to the country last year, but had a change of heart afterwards.
“I was most impressed with her speech in Dublin castle [last year], when she talked about how we all wished things could’ve been done differently, or not at all,” McGuinness said in an interview for RTE.
Many people have wondered what must have gone through the royal couple’s minds as they met with McGuinness. CBS news writes that experts say McGuinness was the IRA’s chief of staff when the group assassinated Lord Louis Mountbatten, a cousin of the Queen and the maternal uncle of Prince Philip.
Mountbatten was killed in 1979 when a bomb planted on his fishing boat exploded. The blast also killed the boat boy and one of Mountbatten’s grandsons, and seriously injured his daughter Patricia and son-in-law, Lord Brabourne. Brabourne’s elderly mother, the Dowager Baroness Brabourne, died the following day from her injuries.
Time, it seems, has healed a bit of the rift. The IRA and Sinn Fein made the decision in 2005 to renounce violence and disarm. McGuinness says: “I want to be a Deputy First Minister for everybody.”
“Was I pleased that [the Queen] spoke Irish in Dublin castle? Yes I was. Was I pleased that she stood very reverently to honor those who had given their lives … for Ireland’s freedom? I was impressed by that.”
Related articles
November 3, 2011
Discuss – Greece: to reign or not to reign?
Would the country of Greece today fare better with a monarch? Should Greece allow King Constantine and his family a place in the government or at least a symbolic role? How would it change the nation for the better? For the worse?
Discuss it here.
[N.B. Crown Prince Pavlos speaks about Greece’s economic woes.
Where it all started: 
The Queen and Duke in AU – Wrap Up
October 23rd, a Sunday, saw the Queen attending church services in Brisbane. Her Majesty, along with Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, attended morning Worship at St. John’s Church.
That afternoon, a reception and lunch was hosted by the Governor-General for the royal couple.
October 24th was an “away day” in Brisbane. The Queen and the Duke hopped aboard a river boat and traveled up the Brisbane River to Southbank. Once ashore, they visited the Queensland Performing Arts Center.
That afternoon, the royals met with emergency response personnel and members of the communities affected by the floods. The Queen and Prince Philip attended a re-dedication Ceremony of Rainforest and the opening of Rain Bank.
The Queen and Prince Philip were back in Canberra on Tuesday, October 25th. They visited the Australian War Memorial and viewed the Afghanistan Memorial, where the Queen placed a wreath. Later, the royal couple met with Australian Defense Force Personnel at Orientation Hall.
October 26th: Prince Philip and The Queen participated in another Away Day, this time in Melbourne, where they opened the Royal Children’s Hospital. That afternoon they toured Melbourne, starting with a visit to the Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria; a walk through Federation Square and a ride on a Melbourne Tram; attended a reception hosted by the Governor of Victoria at Government House. The Queen was resplendent in pink throughout.
After the Away Day activities, The Queen and The Duke departed Melbourne for Perth.
On Thursday, October 27th, the royals paid a visit to Clontarf Aboriginal College. The Duke of Edinburgh was especially keen to see the sporting facilities. Afterwards, they attended a Garden Party at Government House, where the Queen turned out in her second stunning turquoise and white ensemble for the day.
Approximately one hundred students from across Western Australia lined a path to the lower gardens, when the Duke stopped to chat. Philip asked why the students were in pairs, and when told it was because they were the head boys and girls, he said in his typical blunt fashion: “It’s obvious they didn’t choose the attractive ones then”. (!)
Premier Colin Barnett was pleased to have the royal visitors come to the country, and he thanked the Queen and Prince Philip for visiting WA and presented the royals with a gift – a book of drawings of wild flowers from the Eastern Goldfields by Phillipa Nikulinsky.
October 28th: Her Majesty arrived at the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The opening featured a vast array of leaders from around the world: 25 Prime Ministers, 10 Presidents, five Vice-Presidents, two Deputy Prime Ministers, one High Commissioner, a lord and the Sultan of Brunei.
That evening, the royal couple attended a banquet at the Pan Pacific Hotel. For this occasion, the Queen busted out her best parure for the occasion – the brilliant aquamarine set in honor of the brilliantly blue ocean that surrounds Australia.
These gems are gifts from Brazil. The earrings and matching necklace were a Coronation gift to The Queen from the President and People of Brazil in 1953.
The stones sit inside a diamond and platinum setting. A few years later, in 1958, a bracelet and matching brooch were presented to The Queen by the Brazilian Government as a matching set to the original Coronation presents. Elizabeth then requested that royal jeweler Garrard complete the parure with a stunning tiara.
On Saturday, October 29th, the Queen and the Duke were feted by the Australian community during “The Big Aussie BBQ”. In the spirit of outdoor eating, the Queen topped off her elegant maroon and white outfit with a hat eerily reminiscent of a marshmallow. S’mores, anyone?
And so…
Elizabeth and Philip set off from Australia back to the U.K. after the barbeque. It was a highly successful visit and one that the Australian people will not soon forget. Her Majesty charmed everyone she met, and though there were one or two gaffes (Gillard’s curtsey controversy and Philip’s quips!) the royal couple made a happy and favorable impression on their Commonwealth neighbors. It also gave the United Kingdom a chance to present its history-making change to the succession law.
Vivat Regina! (And God Bless The Duke!)