Royal Visit to Oxford

On Tuesday the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall undertook a series of engagements in Oxford, and the visit was covered by the Oxford Mail.

Pictures and "as-it-happens" reports from its webpages can be found at

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/15288532.As_it_happened___Royal_visit_of_Prince_Charles_and_Duchess_of_Cornwall/
and at
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/15289659.PICTURES___VIDEO__Prince_Charles_and_Camilla_delight_the_crowds_across_the_city/

I have to admit that I did not know the visit was taking place - had I done so I would have gone along to see TRH, but so often in Oxford such visits are not well publicised in advance.

Lecturing to the Oxford University Heraldry Society

This teatime I spoke to the Oxford University Heraldry Society at Christ Church, delivering the first of two illustrated lectures on "Arms and Insignia of Heirs Apparent".

I originally planned this as a single lecture but finding I had more than enough material I arranged with the Society to split it into two, giving the first part tonight.

This concentrated on why and when and how hereditary monarchs started indicating in heraldry, in ceremonial and in insignia their heir apparent, and then looked at the evolution of this from crowning an heir in his father's lifetime  ( the Empire, France, England in 1170 and Hungary as late as 1830 - and considered there in the 1870s or 80s)  to distinguishing him with a title and arms as well as an appanage, beginning with the earliest such consistently applied title, that of the Prince of Wales.

I also spoke about the insignia of the Duchy of Cornwall and the Earldom of Chester, as well as my theory that the badge of the three feathers for the Prince of Wales derives from him holding three Palatinates - Wales, Cornwall and Chester - and with an ostrich plume being the symbol of a palatine authority the use of three as badge by Edward of Woodstock Prince of Wales in the mid-fourteenth century.

The Arms of HRH The Prince of Wales

Image:Wikipedia

I spoke also about the ceremonial investiture of the Princes and their coronet with its single arch, and then turned to the topic of the same person in Scotland, where he is, of course, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland and Lord of the Isles.

 

The Arms of HRH The Duke of Rothesay

These were granted to him by The Queen in 1974

Image: Wikipedia

On February 23 I shall be giving the second lecture, on that occasion time on European heirs apparent, and looking at figures such as the Dauphin and the Prince or Princess of Asturias, again at 5.30 in Lecture Room 2 at Christ Church.

Prince appeals for help for Middle East Christians

I am posting a mailing I received from that excellent charity Aid to the Church in Need:

HRH The Prince of Wales delivered an impassioned appeal on behalf of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, saying that the growing crisis of extremism “threatens the very existence of Christianity in the land of its birth”.

ACN attended a special Advent reception yesterday (17th December) at Archbishop’s House, Westminster, where the Prince called for more “practical” help for persecuted Christians  and went on to praise ACN as “a remarkable organisation”.

Quoting from ACN’s ‘Persecuted and Forgotten? report, Prince Charles said: “Christianity is on course to disappear from Iraq within five years, unless emergency help is provided on a greatly increased scale.”

You can listen to Prince Charles' full speech.

In his speech, Cardinal Nichols also underlined that Christians were among many oppressed faith groups in the Middle East.

The Cardinal also said: “To remain silent about this specific persecution is to neglect and weaken the awareness and role of this faith here.”

ACN is responding further to the plight and suffering of Christians by supporting 19 new relief programmes in Syria and 11 new programmes in Iraq.

The relief programmes provide vital aid including food, medicine, shelter and pastoral support for Christians across the region – including for families fleeing Daesh (IS), escaping persecution.

With your continued support and prayers ACN supports over 140 projects in Iraq and Syria – Thank you!

A nasty little non-story

The release of details under the pernicious Freedom of Information Act - a veritable snoopers' charter - about the routine the sending of Cabinet papers to the Prince of Wales to that sad little organisation Republic and its subsequent publication in The Guardian is, of course, a non-story. This has been the practice since it was established by King Edward VII at the beginning of his reign for his heir apparent, the future King George V. It is an obvious and sensible thing for the government to do, and more suitable for it to be subject to criticism were it not done.

What is unpleasant about this is that it appears to be part of a nasty little campaign in recent years to denigrate the Prince and impugn his ability to be a future monarch. I do not believe this will be successful, but I do think attention should be drawn to this mind-set being fostered where they hope it may bear fruit by opponents of the Crown as an institution or to its functioning as aliving part of out constitution.

Silly Season Nastiness

As far as the Royal family are concerned the Silly Season in the media appears to have started early and nastily. First we had the Sun with its fragment of film from over eighty years ago of the present Queen, her mother and sister making what appear to be a Fascist salute at the encouraging of her uncle, the then Prince of Wales.

Today there are reports that Channel 4 ( no real surprise there) has a programme in the offing about Prince Philip's sisters, their marriages and life in Germany between 1933 and 1945, including comments made at the time that indicate a less than totally hostile view of the Third Reich.

Home movies are an opportunity for anyone - royal or non-royal, now as eight years ago - to do silly things in front of the camera, assuming it is not going to be made public, eight decades later, and to, in all probability, privately make fun of others in the public eye.

I am not surprised that the Queen is reported to be "livid" about these reports.

King Edward VIII may well have had an interest in what was happening in Germany. Like many others, including Lloyd George and Churchill, and some of his German cousins, he may well have thought in the 1930s National Socialism offered a way of recovery for the country, especially given growing doubts about the wisdom or fairness of the Treaty of Versailles.

Furthermore we can see that in the inter-war period, with no ability on the part of anyone to foresee, indeed to imagine, the horrors that were to come, the alternatives facing much of Europe - Soviet Communism or one of the variants on Fascism - attracted not a few devotees who later thought better of their enthusiasms. Pluralist government under the rule of law looked an uncertain survivor, and to be challenged from both left and right.

That as Duke of Windsor he retained some links with representatives of National Socialism is known as is the fact that he was slow to end them. In part this may have been that he was flattered to be entertained with his new wife by the Nazi regime late in 1937. In this the cause may partly be that his father King George V, doubtful of his heir's abilities, did not involve him or initiate him into public business before his death. After the abdication the Duke of Windsor appears to have been left without a "minder" to inform and advise him, but relied on a rather odd coterie of old and new friends with often freakish and ill-considered ideas.

I suspect there is a somewhat sinister hidden agenda in the Sun story aimed at the present Prince of Wales. Just as King Edward VIII had regrettable in hindsight contacts with German leaders in the 1930s, so his great-nephew's contact with environmentalists and Muslims can be represented as dangerous, and the attempt made to set him aside in favour of his son, somewhat on the lines of the 1936 Abdication -itself often interpreted as providential. I am sure such nonsense will not succeed ( it is worthy of some of the daft ideas emanating from some of the Duke of Windsor's so-called friends) but if it is there, as I suspect it may be, it is an unpleasant thought.

Ceremonial of the Order of the Bath

Last week the news that The Queen had delegated a part of the ceremonial at the service of the Order of the Bath - the Offering - to the Prince of Wales as Great Master of the Order led to more media coverage of the ceremony than might otherwise have happened. That Her Majesty at 88 might be advised to save herself a potentially awkward move down steep steps in evening dress and the robes of the Order from her stall to the altar and back is, in itself, no very great surprise.

There is in a sense more interest in both the interest this has caused as a news story, and in the fact that images of the ceremonies of the Order are readily available online.

The Queen arrives at Westminster Abbey for the service

Image BBC/Getty images

Last Saturday's Daily Telegraph has good coverage in Queen drops out of ceremonial role over concerns about steep steps and the BBC website, which can be seen here also features archive images.

The Prince of Wales as Great Master of the Order presents the Offering during the service

Image: The British Monarchy on Flickr

There is an online history of the Order, its insignia and officers at Order of the Bath.

The Prince of Wales at 65

Today is the birthday of the Prince of Wales, and the day on which at sixty five he reaches what for most men would be the age of retirement. He is now the eldest Heir Apparent in the history of the monarchy.

 

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on their recent visit to india

Image:Daily Telegraph

For the Prince that is certainly not the case, as he remains active both in formal public life and in the many and various causes to which he has devoted so much energy and genuine commitment over many years. Furthermore at some unknown date in the future there lie the still more onerous responsibilities of being King, not just of one realm, but of a series across the world.  In a recent interview he was reported as saying that, quite apart from personal considerations as to succeeding to the throne on the death of his mother, he fears thbat in the position of Sovereign he would not be able to be active in the causes he has worked so hard to publicise and to actually make a real and positive contribution.

I have always had great respect for the Prince not just as Heir Apparent but for the seriousness with which he has tried to make the public aware of a series of fundamental issues facing our society, and for that he deserves very considerable gratitude and support.

Over the last few years with a clearly very happy marriage, a married eldest son and now a grandson the Prince seems again to have the wider approval from the public that he deserves, and long may that continue.

So today is an opportunity to express my good wishes to the Prince, to thank him for his service on behalf of Crown and people, and to wish him well in all his endeavours on all our behalfs.

Four generations and a baptism

The baptism of Prince George of Cambridge on Wednesday received more attention from much of the media than has been usual for royal christenings, even those of children in the direct line of succession to the throne.

Part of the reason is that for the first time since 1894 has there been the opportunity to photograph the Monarch with three direct male heirs, spanning four generations. That is the historic image from the occasion, and a very good and positive one too.

 Image: newsbbcimg.co.uk

The baptism of a royal infant here is not as public as in some monarchies, such as the Netherlands or Sweden, and represents the tradition of it being a private family occasion first and foremost, with public photographs released afterwards, as were the official pictures today.

Much speculation and significance has been assigne dto the choice of godparents. It is somewhat different from previous generations - friends of the parents rather than royal or public figures, but it is not that different. Traditionally a godparent was not a close relative, and the idea was to establish a new spiritual family for the child. In this case it may mean the godparents will have more time to discharge their responsibilities than if they are high profile members of royal families or highly place public figures.

Certainly the choice of older godparents, such as the Duke of Connaught in 1926 for the present Queen, when he was the last surviving son of Queen Victoria, and born in 1850, with the great Duke of Wellington as his own godfather, was aa way of linking Princess Elizabeth to her forebears. Similarly the choice of King Haakon VII in 1948 as a godfather to the Prince of Wales linked him to King Edward VII's son-in-law and to the Danish-Norwegian Glucksburg house. That and the photographs of the Prince on his mother's lap between two of his great-grandmothers, Queen Mary and the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven ( born a Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt and by the Rhine, and sister to the Empress Alexandra of Russia ) all helped to stress continuity and contact. So there is a lot to be said for such things. The image of four generations is very much in that tradition.

Who was or, more significantly, it is suggested was not invited has caused some, indeed quite alot of comment. Ity may signify something, and it may not - practical considerations nmay well lie at the root of that. 

The choice of the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace rather than the Music Room of Buckingham Palace is in many ways more suitable. First of all, it is a proper place of worship, and an historic one. It  dates from the sixteenth century, has the heart of Queen Mary I buried within it, was where King Charles I received communion on the day he was martyred, witnesses the annual Royal Epiphany service, was the scene of the wedding of Queen Victoria and King George V, of the vigil by the Princess of Wales' coffin in 1997 and of the Duchess of Cambridge's confirmation. So a lot of Royal ghosts were hovering in the shadows this last Wednesday.

Let us pray for every blessing upon Prince George both as a child of God and as a child of the Royal Family.

Promoting the Prince of Wales

A friend alerted me to this news story about the promotion of the Prince of Wales to the ranks of Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force. 

Not only is it reassuring to see appointments being made to the most senior ranks in the armed services of the Crown - such rank is no longer granted automatically to serving chiefs of staff - but it is appropriate to the Prince's position. By such a set of appointments the Queen has quietly emphasised the Prince's position as her heir apparent.

I was interested to read recently that in 1910 Kaiser Wilhelm II, resplendent in uniform as a British Field Marshal, at the funeral of King Edward VII noted that his cousin King George V was only in the uniform of a Major General, that being the rank he had hitherto held.

Of related interest to the roles played by members of the Royal familythere was an interesting profile of the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their particular place within it in yesterday's Daily Telegraph and which can be read here.

The Duchy of Cornwall

Today is the 675th anniversary of the creation of Edward of Woodstock, the eldest son of King Edward III, as first Duke of Cornwall in 1337. It was not until 1343 that he was to be created Prince of Wales. With the creation of the Dukedom in 1337 there begins the story of the Duchy, with its unique pattern of descent as a title. In the prevuious century the Earldom of Cornwall had been held by Richard, the younger brother of King Henry III and by his son, and King Edwaed II had bestowed it upon Piers Gaveston (d.1312).

There is an article about the Duchy and its particular rights and privileges here and one about the Dukes here.

The arms of the Duchy of Cornwall.
The fifteen bezants have been borne as arms since the fifteenth century.
The coronet is that of the Prince of Wales, and was assigned by King Charles II at the Restoration.

Image:Wikipedia

God Bless the Prince of Wales

Today is the 63rd birthday of The Prince of Wales, and an opportunity to express my loyal and good wishes to him

Image: romania-insider.com

I have always had great respect and admiration for the Prince, who strikes me as a conscientious man who not only works hard at the tasks imposed by custom on Princes but who had had the courage and commitment to raise the debate on a number of important environmental as well as cultural and faith issues. He has not always had an underatanding national or international audience, but he seems to have regained much of the the respect to which he is entitled, and continues to serve his Sovereign and mother and her peoples with diligence and insight.

Image: Wikipedia