Monarchy
New Zealand
The Journal of The Monarchist League of New Zealand Incorporated
ISSN 1174-8435
Volume 7 Issue 3 August 2002
The Monarchist League of
New Zealand, Inc.
Patron: Hon Sir Peter Tapsell, KNZM MBE MBChB FRCSEd FRCS
The Secretary, 72F Ladies Mile, Remuera,
Auckland 1005, New Zealand
Website URL: http://www.geocities.com/Capitolhill/Parliament/7802
Council:
Chairman: Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Vice-Chairman: Merv Tilsley, Esq.
Secretary: Chris Barradale, Esq.
Treasurer: Stephen Brewster, Esq., MBA BCA CA
Councillors:
Nicholas Albrecht, Esq., MA(Hons)
Roger Barnes, Esq., FHSNZ
John Cox, Esq., LLB MNZTA
Neville Johnson, Esq.
Ian Madden, Esq., MA LLB FSA(Scot)
Robert Mann, Esq., MSc PhD
Professor Peter Spiller, BA LLB PhD LLM MPhil PhD
League Officers:
Legal Adviser:
Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Librarian and Archivist:
Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Provincial Representative, Wellington:
Mathew Norman, Esq.
Provincial Representative, Manawatu-Horowhenua:
Kevin Couling de St Sauveur, Esq.
Editor, Monarchy New Zealand: Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Assistant Editor and Advertising Manager, Monarchy New Zealand: John Cox, Esq., LLB MNZTA
Honorary Chaplain: Revd Gerald Hadlow, LTh
Webmaster: Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Monarchy New Zealand is published by The Monarchist League of New Zealand Inc. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the policy of The Monarchist League of New Zealand. Correspondence should be addressed to the Editor, Monarchy New Zealand, 123 Stanley Road, Glenfield, Auckland 1310, New Zealand. Tel: +64 9 444-7687; Fax: +64 9 444-7397; E-mail: [email protected]
Editorial
The highlight of this year must surely be the Golden Jubilee celebrations for Her Majesty The Queen. In scenes reminiscent of the Silver Jubilee in 1977, and indeed with an echo of earlier jubilees, The Queen travelled in state to a Service of Thanksgiving in St Paul’s Cathedral, after which an estimated one million people thronged central London to show their support for Her Majesty.
In the early stages of planning for the jubilee certain elements in the news media reported a lack of public interest. This no doubt heartened the dedicated cynics, republicans and spoil-sports. What the media neglected to report - probably because of ignorance - was thatt the 1977 jubilee also took some time to build up momentum.
In the event, celebrations in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and beyond compared favourably with those in 1977 - if a comparison is necessary. In 1977 only some 100 beacons were lit, in 2002 over 1,800. The crowds in central London in 1977 were estimated at one quarter of a million, only one quarter of those in 2002.
The obvious difference for me this time was the distinct lack of interest in New Zealand in either official circles or the news media - particularly television - in appropriately marking the Golden Jubilee. Whilst there were few events in New Zealand in 1977 to mark the Silver Jubilee, there was at least a Jubilee medal. The Arts Council was also renamed the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council - a style since abandoned in favour of ‘Creative New Zealand’.
Most seriously, whereas most New Zealanders in 1977 could enjoy jubilee events in London via the extensive television coverage, TVNZ declined to broadcast the major events of this jubilee - the ceremonial parade and the service of thanksgiving in St Paul’s. Although TVNZ have since admitted that they misjudged public interest, they should never have denied us this broadcast, which was available around the world.
I call upon members and supporters to call TVNZ to express their concern at this failure to honour the Queen in her 50th year.
Indeed, it was typical of the news media attitude that Radio New Zealand aired a pre-recorded ‘debate’ on the subject of the Treaty of Waitangi and republicanism, on Queen’s Birthday, at the height of jubilee celebrations.
It is also important to lobby our newly-elected members of Parliament for the establishment of a jubilee medal. It seems it is appropriate to create a medal to mark the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, and a large number of new service medals, but not to mark the 50th anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession. The Prime Minister, in a letter dated 2nd July, informed me that "The Government does not propose to either ask the British authorities to make the British medal available for issue in New Zealand or approve the institution of a distinctive New Zealand Golden Jubilee Medal". No explanation is given, merely a blank refusal.
Dr Noel Cox
Chairman
News in Brief
The Queen’s Birthday and Golden Jubilee honours list
This year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List also marks Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee, with some additional appointments being made. The principal additional awards included four new Companions of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ). These were Dame Ann Ballin, Lord Cooke of Thorndon, Sir Hugh Kawharu, and Dame Catherine Tizard.
The honours list this year also included two new Principal Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit (PCNZM), Sir Patrick Goodman and Sir Ivor Richardson. There were six Distinguished Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM)- Leslie Hutchins, Professor Vaughan Jones, Dr David Mauger, Dorothy Mihinui, Dr Margaret Sparrow, and Sukhinder (Sukhi) Turner. Each would have been a knight or dame before the ending of titular honours two years ago.
The 15 Companions (CNZM) included the Hon Robert McGechan, of the High Court bench, Clerk of the Parliament David McGee, and former Auckland City Mayor Les Mills. The 37 Officers (ONZN) included Judith Ablett-Kerr, QC, Rear Admiral Raymond Gillbank, and three honorary Officers. There were also 59 Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) appointed.
The awards of the Queen’s Service Order included 7 QSO for Community Service, and 11 QSO for Public Service. There were also 35 Queen Service Medals (Community Service) and 37 QSM (Public Service).
The Golden Jubilee
The Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations are largely over. The few events held in New Zealand included small-scale municipal celebrations, and a number of church services.
The City of Dunedin planned to light an official beacon as part of the world-wide network of celebratory beacons. However, here as well as elsewhere in the country the weather was not favourable for the event. The Hamilton City Cadet Unit and the British High Commissioner in Wellington planned private beacon lightings, both of which were affected by bad weather.
On the 7th June an ecumenical Thanksgiving Service was held in Wellington. This was attended by the Governor-General, military representatives, and representatives of the government.
Other services included one in Auckland, at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, on 9th June. This was attended by members of the Council of the Monarchist League, and the Chairman read a lesson.
The Monarchist League held a formal Golden Jubilee dinner in Auckland that night.
Royal effigy missing from new medals
The New Zealand Operational Service Medal, instituted last year, omits the customary effigy of The Queen. Previous campaign and service medals have generally included the effigy of the reigning Sovereign, on the obverse.
The ribbon follows that of the New Zealand War Service Medal 1939-45, while the medal has the New Zealand Coat of Arms on the obverse and a kiwi on the reverse. Following the precedent of the New Zealand Service Medal 1946-49, The Queen’s effigy does not appear. The official reason for this was that eligibility for the medal extends back to 3rd September 1945, which is in Her Majesty’s father’s reign.
However, the New Zealand Special Service Medal, instituted earlier this year, also lacks the royal effigy. This medal is for service in difficult, adverse, extreme, or hazardous circumstances. These circumstances have been deemed to include Operation Grapple, the British hydrogen bomb tests at Christmas Island 1957-58, and the deployments of HMNZS Canterbury and Otago to Muroroa Atoll in 1973. Both operations occurred during Her Majesty’s reign. A pattern is emerging, suggesting a deliberate policy of marginalizing The Queen’s position in the royal honours system.
Address to the Royal Commonwealth Society
The Provincial Representative of the Monarchist League in Wellington, Mathew Norman, was invited to attend a dinner hosted by the Royal Commonwealth Society in Wellington to mark the Jubilee. The following is his speech to the guests.
Mr. President, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to join you tonight in celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen of New Zealand.
The 50-year reign which we mark tonight has been characterised by an unwavering dedication to duty. It is a dedication that began long before I was born and which fulfils the commitment the Queen made as a teenager. She has done so admirably, bringing with her a wealth of experience to her role as our queen, as well as to the complex and valuable relationships within the Commonwealth, of which she remains the greatest advocate.
But it is a sad comment on our times when such a record of service is accorded so little regard. It distresses me that this evening’s function is likely to be one of but a handful held in this country to commemorate the Golden Jubilee. In response to this concern I shall answer the questions of why, in this year of celebration, we need a Monarchist League.
In so doing I acknowledge that republicanism is now an issue - but it is my contention that the issue lacks balanced and informed debate. I believe that general ignorance is at least partially responsible. Civics education in this country continues to be woefully inadequate, but it is no excuse for the painfully inaccurate remarks about our constitution to be found in both media and everyday conversation. Comment should be, indeed must be, informed. There is an intellectual responsibility on all those who presume to participate in this debate - regardless of their persuasion. Fine words and colourful rhetoric are no substitute for basic facts.
I must insist on accuracy because the constitution is of the greatest importance. Pretending that it is a rarefied and technical irrelevance does not lessen the fundamental role that it has and continues to play in our national life. Thus we must limit ourselves to considering the merits of New Zealand’s constitutional monarchy. There is nothing to be gained from arguing a defence for the British equivalent or a long defunct empire. Indeed, to do so makes it all the more difficult to dispel colloquial notions of ‘Britain’s’ royal family and ‘England’s’ queen.
Such common inaccuracies lend themselves to a prejudiced view of the monarchy as both foreign and a barrier to national identity. It is neither: it is as old as our country and inextricably linked to our social and political development. Our political culture, in which the monarchy is most obvious, is a facet of the amorphous ‘national identity’ which we all hear so much about. I would challenge anyone to explain how we can strip away 160 years of that culture, deny its value and hope to be better off.
Equally we must be wary of drawing comparisons between ourselves and Australia. While our societies develop in close proximity we remain two quite separate countries. Suggestions that ‘when Australia goes, so shall we’ are loaded with implied judgements on the value of our sense of self. It would be both sad and hypocritical to ransack and sanitise our heritage, all the while labelling it an ‘assertion of national identity.’
Calls for an ‘independent republic’ beg the question, ‘independent from what?’ National Radio recently reported that, for want of a republic, Australia remains under British sovereignty - in its content it implied that New Zealand is the same. Needless to say, this is utterly untrue: like Australia we are an entirely independent, indeed sovereign, nation. It strikes me as odd that a professional journalist should have such difficulty with such a basic concept. The news media. whether unconsciously or wilfully, does not provide adequate or often factual coverage of this subject. Indeed in the case of one major [and lately defunct] daily, a declared pro-republican agenda must call into question the role of the Fourth Estate in determining the outcome.
Seeking to inform the public of New Zealand one is confronted by apathy and questionable journalism, as well as leading republicans who glibly dismiss the constitutional position as ‘quasi-legal nonsense’. Denying the legal dynamic, republican alternatives, such as ‘Minimalist Change’ often ignore fundamental issues such as the basis of law and the exercise of government. In so doing they provide a superficial appearance of ease, a constitutional ‘warm-fuzzy’ with which to placate popular concern. Moreover, they fail to address what Lord Cooke has rightly described as revolutionary change.
What I have tried to illustrate is that there exists an appalling haphazard toward the questions of constitutional change. While I agree that it is not the stuff to raise the passion of the ordinary Kiwi, we must realise that we are selling ourselves short if we allow this shadow of a debate to determine the future of our monarchy.
If for no other reason we need a Monarchist League as our conscience. For those of us who support the monarchy (and we are still the majority) let it serve as a reminder of what we stand to lose. As we celebrate the Golden Jubilee this evening let us each resolve to challenge incorrect assumptions and expose half-truths. We owe it to our country and to the Sovereign who has served us so well. God Save the Queen!
Mathew Norman
Royal Diary
Prince of Wales’s new honour
On 26th June 2002 Her Majesty The Queen announced that the Prince of Wales was to be appointed a member of the Order of Merit. He is only the second living member of the Royal Family to receive this honour - the Duke of Edinburgh was appointed to the Order in 1968 to mark 21 years as The Queen’s consort. The Order is in the sole gift of The Queen.
The Order of Merit, which dates from 1902 and is thus only 100 years old this year, is awarded for exceptionally meritorious service, and membership is limited to 24. Past recipients have included Bertrand Earl Russell, Ernest Lord Rutherford, Sir Winston Churchill, Florence Nightingale, and others qualified by prominence in ‘the arts, learning, literature, and science, military leadership, or such other exceptional service’.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, received the Order of Merit in 1965 upon retirement as the Chief of Defence Staff. No other member of the Royal Family has ever received it.
League News
Annual General Meeting
A new Council was elected at the Annual General Meeting of The Monarchist League of New Zealand Inc. on 26th May 2001.
Dr Noel Cox remains Chairman, Merv Tilsley, Vice-Chairman, Captain Chris Barradale, Secretary, and Stephen Brewster, Treasurer. Councillors re-elected were Nicholas Albrecht, Roger Barnes, John Cox, Neville Johnson, Ian Madden, Dr Robert Mann, and Professor Peter Spiller.
In his annual report the Chairman reviewed the past year with respect both to royal events and the activities of the League. In particular, he commented on the recent deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. On a happier note, he recorded the royal tour of New Zealand by Her Majesty The Queen in February.
The annual membership subscriptions were set at the same level as last year, and the option of life membership was introduced. This is available for a one-off payment of $500. Membership renewal notices are enclosed with this edition of Monarchy New Zealand.
At the first Council meeting after the AGM, Kevin Couling de St Sauveur was appointed Provincial Representative for Manawatu-Horowhenua.
Jubilee Dinner
The Heraldry Society (New Zealand Branch) Inc will be holding its annual seminar and dinner on 14th September. The venue for both events is the historic Selwyn Library, Parnell, Auckland.
Both the seminar and dinner are intended to mark The Queen’s Golden Jubilee and the 40th anniversary of the New Zealand Branch of the Society.
Further information is available from the Secretary of the Heraldry Society, Gail Tennent-Brown, 9B Sunnyside Crescent, Papatoetoe, Auckland, phone (09) 2782-181, email [email protected].
Overseas News
Death of the Duke of Norfolk
One of the leading organisers of major royal occasions in the United Kingdom, Miles Fitzalan-Howard, Duke of Norfolk, had died at the age of 86.
As Earl Marshal, the duke had responsibility for arranging major events such as the State Opening of Parliament. He was also responsible for the College of Arms and heraldic matters. It would also have fallen to him to organise a coronation, any State Funerals, and the Investiture of the Prince of Wales.
The Fitzalan-Howard family has held the office of Earl Marshal since 1483. The late duke was premier Duke (1483) and Earl (as Earl of Arundel, 1139) of the United Kingdom. The dukes have long been regarded as the leading Roman Catholic laymen in England.
Norfolk succeeded his cousin as Earl Marshal in 1975, after 30-years service in the Grenadier Guards. His last post was as Director of Service Intelligence, in the rank of major-general. During his military career he received the CB in 1966, the CBE in 1960, and the MC in 1944. His service experience was to prove useful to him as Earl Marshal.
The duke’s service as Earl Marshal and in wider fields was rewarded with the KG in 1983, the GCVO in 1986, and the Royal Victorian Chain in 2000.
Miles Fitzalan-Howard was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, who had been Deputy Earl Marshal since 2000.
Golden Jubilee car
The first official picture of a royal car created to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee has been released. The Bentley state limousine was presented to the Queen in May.
Bentley Motors, part of Rolls-Royce, said the car had been "designed with continual references to and input from both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh".
Work on the project began in February 2000 and The Queen and the Duke were formally presented with the design in May 2000, approving it after requests for only minimal changes. The car’s first official engagement was in June this year.
The special rear-door design means the Queen will be able to stand up straight before stepping down to the ground. The rear compartment is designed to seat two people while two rear-facing occasional folding chairs are fitted for additional passengers.
Bentley says the car is more flowing, rounder and sporting in appearance than previous state limousines. The vehicle also has opaque panels at the back which can be used for maximum privacy or removed so that people outside can see the passengers.
Painted in royal claret and black with red strips along each side, the car has rear seats upholstered in west of England cloth.
Bentley senior designer Crispin Marshfield said: "It has been a challenging project because we had no reference points apart from the other state limousines, the youngest of which is 25 years old.
"But in many ways, from a designer’s point of view, it was a dream job."
It was Crewe-based Bentley’s idea to offer the Queen the car and in doing so the company recalled that for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders had presented her with a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI.
This vehicle still remains the Queen’s first choice of transport on state occasions and has covered more than 125,000 miles. The royal fleet also includes a 1987 Phantom VI and two Phantom Vs from the early 1960s.
Royal Poetry
God save our gracious Queen / God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen is the most famous and widely adopted national anthem ever known. It was originally sung as an expression of personal loyalty to the king, and followed the example of a number of earlier songs. The existence of these similar airs has caused some confusion and resulted in claims that God Save the Queen itself dates from, variously, 1611, 1619 (John Bull), 1669, and 1696 (Purcell).
Often attributed to Thomas Arne, is likely that the words and music of the modern God Save the Queen were in fact the work of singer and composer Henry Carey. He first sang it at a dinner in 1740 held to mark the capture of Portobello by Admiral Vernon. The piece quickly became popular, and can be regarded as the first modern national anthem.
The tune was adopted, often together with the words in translation, but otherwise unchanged, by Prussia, Denmark, Russia (to 1833), Sweden, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the USA (until 1931). A total of 22 countries have used the tune at various times for a national anthem. God Save the Queen has never had any legal status in the United Kingdom as the national anthem. Its status as such is purely customary. In Canada it is accepted unofficially as the royal anthem. Australia formally adopted it as the royal anthem in 1984. New Zealand officially regards it as a National Anthem equal in status to God Defend New Zealand.
1. God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and Glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen!
2. O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
Oh, save us all!
3. Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign;
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen!
4. Not in this land alone,
But be God’s mercies known,
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world over
5. From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O’er her thine arm extend,
For Britain’s sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!
Royal visits
HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, 1953-54
In the year of the 50th anniversary of the Queen’s accession, it is appropriate that we remember Her Majesty’s first visit to New Zealand, in December 1953.
The Queen’s visit was the first to New Zealand by a reigning Sovereign, and formed part of a 173-day Commonwealth tour which lasted from 23rd November 1953 to 15th May 1954. During this time The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh covered 18,850 miles by sea, 19,650 miles by air, 9,900 miles by road, and 1,600 miles by train.
The royal couple were in New Zealand from 23rd December 1953 to 30th January 1954. Lady Pamela Mountbatten, daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, was in attendance as one of two ladies in waiting. Captain Viscount Althorp, grandfather of Princes William and Harry of Wales, was acting Master of the Household and Equerry.
The New Zealand Minister in Attendance was the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon SG Holland, CH. The Associate Minister in Attendance was the Hon WA Bodkin, Minister of Internal Affairs. The arrangements for the royal tour were entrusted to the Director of the Tour, AG Harper, CVO CBE, Secretary of Internal Affairs.
The Queen travelled to New Zealand aboard the SS Gothic, which has temporarily commissioned as a royal yacht, as HMY Britannia was still fitting out. Gothic was commanded by Captain Sir David Aitchison, KCVO.
Whilst The Queen was in New Zealand, two RNZAF Dakota saw royal use. Both aircraft remained in service until 1977.
The royal couple visited many towns and cities, and met many hundreds of thousands of people, during their most extensive ever tour of the country.
Royal Residences past and present
Scotland and the Royal Family
After touring Jamaica, Australia and New Zealand as well as spending three months crisscrossing the United Kingdom on her Jubilee visits, the Queen will no doubt relish the thought of a break at Balmoral, her Aberdeenshire retreat.
One unshakeable tradition of her 50-year reign is that each August the Queen heads north of the border with maids, pages, dressers, corgis, ladies-in-waiting and of course Prince Philip. Ahead of them lie ten weeks of pure, unadulterated bliss for the countryside-loving monarch and her equally besotted consort.
For more than 40 years this annual pilgrimage was made on board the Royal Yacht Britannia. The yacht is now permanently moored at Leith, near Edinburgh.
Britannia managed to be both a home as well as a floating palace, and each year the Queen and her family would tour the Western isles dropping anchor near deserted beaches so that the family could picnic completely away from public scrutiny. As it journeyed along the north coast, the yacht would also anchor near Thurso to allow the royal family to join the Queen Mother at her Castle of Mey.
Later as the yacht resumed its course, fireworks would be launched from the deck of Britannia, while on shore the Queen Mother and her staff would wave white sheets from the castle windows in reply.
At Balmoral the royal family live very much as Scottish lairds. They shoot, fish, play golf on their own private course, and host a never-ending stream of family and friends. Dressed in kilts of Royal Stuart tartan, or the black, red, grey and lavender Balmoral tartan designed by Prince Albert, the family spend as much time as possible outdoors.
Viewers of the 1969 film ‘Royal Family’ (and those who saw the more recent ‘Queen and Country’) will recall that the royals, like countless other families, enjoy a barbeque - the Queen making the salad dressing and Prince Philip grilling the steaks.
The royal love affair with Scotland, and Deeside in particular, began in 1842 when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert paid their first visit to Scotland, where they mainly toured Perthshire. Two years later they stayed for three weeks at Blair Atholl and apparently fell in love with the local countryside.
The Balmoral estate was purchased a few years later and the present castle - built of local granite -was completed by 1856. From the outside it resembled one of Albert’s beloved German ‘schlosses’. Inside it resembled a kilt factory since Victoria ensured that tartan covered the walls, the carpets, the linoleum as well as every one of her nine children.
Victoria lost her heart to Deeside, and once commented "Every year my heart becomes more fixed in this dear Paradise". Today, visitors to the area can retrace her footsteps by following the Victorian Heritage Trail. This route is marked with brown coloured signposts each showing Victoria’s distinctive profile.
She would no doubt be amused that the tour takes in two distilleries, since she herself drank single malts distilled especially for her by John Begg on the Balmoral estate. The Queen was famously tolerant when her servants became drunk. The annual ‘ghillies ball’ was in the words of one courtier a "bacchanalian riot".
Another time, the Queen was tipped out of her carriage when her drunken attendants careered off the road. Nursing a black eye, the Queen’s only comment was that her highlanders seemed "utterly confused and bewildered".
Balmoral has witnessed many happy family occasions. In 1946 Prince Philip proposed to the twenty year old Elizabeth during a walk around the estate. In 1951 Princess Margaret celebrated her 21st birthday there, and in 1992 the Princess Royal was married at the nearby Crathie Kirk.
Sadly it has also seen unhappier times. In 1951, the Queen’s father, King George VI, spent his last summer there. Suffering from lung cancer and knowing that he would never return, he was heard to utter a line from a popular song as he drove through the gates for the last time: "It may be that this is the end. Well it is ..... "
In 1997, the royal family including princes William and Harry were in residence at the Scottish estate when in the early hours of 31st August the devastating news of the death of the Princess of Wales was broken to them.
In 1999 Harry joined his grandparents for their annual visit to the highland games at Braemar, and last year, Prince William made his debut appearance at the same event. To the disappointment of hundreds of girls present, neither prince opted to wear the kilt; they did however proceed to enjoy the three royal favourites - the tug of war, tossing the caber and the kiddies sack race.
The royal family usually make over a hundred official visits to Scotland each year. The Queen’s annual ‘Scottish week’ takes place in late June or early July when she takes up residence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
The royal who has made Scotland her own is the Princess Royal, who carries out most of the family’s engagements here. She is an enthusiastic patron of the Scottish Rugby Union team and attends many of their matches. Less well known is her role as patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board, a role that has taken her to many remote coastal depots.
To mark her 50th birthday, and to honour her work in Scotland, the Queen made her daughter a member of Scotland’s senior order of chivalry by creating her a Lady of the Thistle in November 2000.
The only other royal Lady of the Thistle was of course the Queen Mother. During her long life she was associated with many aspects of Scottish life. Once during a tour of South Africa in 1947 a Boer veteran told her "Pleased to have met you, Ma’am, but we still feel sometimes that we cannot forgive the English". Queen Elizabeth agreed with him, "I understand perfectly. We feel very much the same in Scotland, too".
Although born in England, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon spent much of her childhood at Glamis Castle in Angus after her father became the 14th Earl of Strathmore in 1904. During the First World War the castle was converted into a convalescent home for wounded officers, and the teenage Elizabeth helped to look after them.
If Glamis is the home associated with her youth, the one associated with her latter years is the Castle of Mey, Scotland’s northernmost occupied castle. Situated overlooking the Pentland Firth, Mey is only 6 miles west of John O’Groats. Just a few months after the King’s death, his widow was touring Caithness with her friends Commander and Lady Vyner when she spotted the rundown Barrowgill Castle once home to the Earls of Caithness.
Hearing that the isolated ruin was to be demolished, the Queen Mother declared "Never! It’s part of Scotland’s heritage. I’ll buy it." She set about restoring it to its former glory and mindful of her heritage she instructed that following her death it should be given to the National Trust for Scotland of which she was patron. It is now owned by a charitable trust.
The Queen Mother also stayed on Deeside twice a year, having been given the use of Birkhall on the Balmoral estate. Each May she flew to Birkhall for a fishing break. Even well into her 80s, the Queen Mother donned waders, a blue mackintosh, a battered felt hat and of course her trademark pearls and set off for the fast flowing Dee for a day’s fishing. When on two occasions in later life she was hospitalised having choked on a fishbone, she joked, "it’s the salmon’s revenge!"
Birkhall has been used several times as a honeymoon home for royal couples including the Queen and Prince Philip, Princess Alexandra and Angus Ogilvy, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent.
Charles like Queen Victoria, adores his life in the Highlands. He once wrote "she hated leaving, much as I hate leaving this marvellous place." Both have immortalised the area in watercolours as well as in published works - Victoria published two memoirs of her life in the highlands based on her journals, Charles wrote the ‘Old Man of Lochnagar’ for his younger brothers.
Besides living in Scotland, four generations of the royal family have also had a Scottish education in one way or another. The Queen Mother was tutored at Glamis. The Queen was brought up by two formidable Scots, her governess Marion Crawford and her nursery maid Margaret MacDonald - the latter, known as ‘Bobo’, became a lifelong companion to the Queen, eventually dying at Buckingham Palace in the early 1990s.
Charles followed in his father’s footsteps and was educated at Gordonstoun on the Morayshire coast. Far too sensitive for the spartan regime that the school espoused in those days, Charles would escape to Birkhall whenever possible. Gordonstoun, however, didn’t affect his love of Scotland and during his naval career he captained the minesweeper Bronnington based at Rosyth over the Forth Road Bridge from Edinburgh.
Gordonstoun became co-educational just before Prince Andrew’s time there, which it’s safe to say he would have called perfect timing. Edward became the third of the Queen’s children to be educated at Gordonstoun, and in the next generation Princess Anne’s children Peter and Zara Phillips were also pupils.
More recently Prince William has started a four-year course in Art History at the University of St Andrews. Although widely predicted to attend his father’s alma mater, Cambridge, the Prince opted for the relatively paparazzi-free Fife town. He does however follow one family tradition by spending many weekends on the Birkhall estate where the Queen Mother had given him use of a cottage.
It seems clear that the royal love affair with Scotland is set to continue
Book Review
Crowning Glory: The Merits of the Monarchy
Charles Neilson Gattey
"By the end of this century, there will be only five Kings left - those of Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, Clubs and England." King Farouk of Egypt, 1951
King Farouk, having just lost his throne, evidently recognised something special about the English monarchy. He was the latest in a line of monarchs swept away by revolutions in a tide that seemed unstoppable.
His prediction did not come true - in Europe alone five countries, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, enjoyed the stability provided by monarchy, while in Spain on Franco’s death the monarchy was restored as part of the process of returning the country to democracy, which the king later defended against an army coup.
Charles Neilson Gatty, playwright and author, affirms in his new book that the traditional customs associated with the British monarchy certainly bring colour and elegance into the monotonous ugliness of a machine-ridden age. Britain’s royal occasions are the envy of other nations, for in themselves they symbolise the perfection of performance which most civilised people crave. The buildings and regalia associated with past kings and queens form one of the chief tourist attractions which bring millions of pounds’ worth of foreign currencies into the country.
While the monarchy is mainly a conservative force, helping to maintain stability, this very fundamental stability enables the country to absorb more radical changes in its political and social structure than would otherwise be possible without risk of disorder. To quote the late Malcolm Muggeridge: "Monarchy is the bridge between what is fluctuating and what is everlasting in human affairs."
So often, we ignore the merits of royalty and only recall Henry VIII’s cruelty or Charles II’s mistresses, for as Mark Anthony said in Julius Caesar: "The evil men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones". The author seeks to redress the balance by outlining the legacy of past kings and queens of England which has not been interred with their bones, beginning with Alfred the Great, ‘about whom only good (except that he burnt some cakes) is known’.
He deals in more detail with Queen Victoria, the first truly constitutional monarch, and Albert; Edward VII, ‘the Peacemaker’; George V, ‘the Sailor King’ and Queen Mary, ‘Grandma England’; George VI and Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother; and Queen Elizabeth II and her family. It is a story full of human interest, written in an engaging manner. The causes the monarchs have espoused reflect their own interests and tastes as well as the needs of the time. The nation is richer for their contribution.
Published by Shepheard-Walywn (Publishers) Ltd 210 x 148mm 128pp plus 16pp b&w illustrations ISBN 0 85683 196 4 £13.95 hardback
Available through all reputable booksellers.