Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Saturday 24 December 2011

Another regal anniversary


Last year we saw the thirty-fifth anniversary of the accession of the King of Spain to the throne, and this year has seen the twentieth anniversary of the King of Norway and the thirtieth of the Queen of the Netherlands, whilst this coming new year will witness the fortieth anniversary of the Queen of Denmark and, of course, our own Queen's Diamond Jubilee. With these in mind perhaps one can spare a thought and a prayer for the de jure King of Portugal who today marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of his father's death and his inheritance of the claim to the throne. Dom Duarte III and the Portuguese people deserve better than the present situation of the country offers.

Dom Duarte's website can be seen at Portuguese Monarchy, and there are other sites devoted to the history of the Most Faithful Kings at Real Familia Portuguesa and at Unveiling the Portuguese Monarchy.

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