Читать книгу Now You Know Royalty - Doug Lennox - Страница 9
ОглавлениеKingship? Queenship? What is it?
Not an ideology. Not a philosophy. It is more a directing or organizing principle. Rex, the Latin word for king, comes from the verb “to direct.” A king is someone who sets things in motion, in a constitutional sense, and in past ages in a political one. He is the legal embodiment of a nation or head of a state or multinational family of states. “A king involves an ideal of life at once social and personal.”
When did kingship/queenship begin?
The idea began with civilization itself. The earliest kings appear about the same time fundamentals of civilization do. “Royalties found they were representatives almost without knowing. Many a king insisting on a genealogical tree, or a title deed, found that he spoke for the forests and the songs of a whole countryside.” Monarchy has been a major force in making civilization possible, causing its development and growth.
Where does the concept that “divinity doth hedge a king” originate?
The earliest kings were seen as having a close relationship with divinity. Some were regarded as living gods, others as kin of the gods, still others as semi-divine. Many kings ritually impersonated or were agents of a god or goddess, executing the deity’s will, or priests — those who offer sacrifice — of a divinity. Just as the concepts of morality and law come to us from religion, so do abstract ideas of authority and beliefs about the source of power. Anointing — an act to separate the king from the profane and obtain for him an infusion of divine grace — in later times came to be regarded as giving a sacred sanction to a monarch and bestowing a special character on him.
Quickies
Did you know …
• that early kings who grew old were sacrificed in a re-creation ritual to assure the continuing vitality of the community?
This semi-sacramental character was thought to make the king a means of healing and led to practices such as “touching for the King’s Evil” (scrofula), a type of faith healing. Charles II, it is estimated, touched over 100,000 people. Today this royal quality is attested by the desire of people to touch Queen Elizabeth II.
What kinds of monarchy are there?
There are hereditary, elective, dual, theocratic, absolute, and constitutional monarchies— just about as many types as there have been societies to be governed. Sovereignties have been called empires, kingdoms, dominions, realms, principalities, grand duchies, counties, and commonwealths.
What is hereditary monarchy?
When the crown, on the death of a sovereign, passes automatically from one monarch to another in the same family it is known as a hereditary monarchy. In monarchies such as Britain/the Commonwealth, Denmark, monarchy. In monarchies such as Britain/ and Japan, the succession has gone on without legal interruption for more than a thousand years.
What is an elective monarchy?
In an elective monarchy the king is chosen, usually for life, by vote. Earliest elected kings were selected — mostly by battle! — from members of the extended royal family. Poland is a state that turned from a hereditary monarchy into an elective one in 1572. Its kings were chosen by the szlacta or landed gentry. But elective monarchy so weakened the Polish kingdom that it ended up being partitioned by its neighbours and disappeared as a state for over a century.
Order of Succession to Queen Elizabeth II (first 12)
• The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
• Prince William of Wales
• Prince Harry of Wales
• The Prince Andrew, Duke of York
• Princess Beatrice of York
• Princess Eugenie of York
• The Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
• James, Viscount Severn [Prince James of Wessex]
• Lady Louise Wessex [Princess Louise of Wessex]
• The Princess Anne, Princess Royal
• Peter Phillips
• Zara Phillips
Malaysia, a Commonwealth country, and the papacy are modern elective monarchies. Nine local hereditary sultans in Malaysia meet every five years to choose one amongst them to be king (Yang di-Pertuan Agong). The pope is elected, customarily from among the cardinals of the Church, for life. Given its great longevity of nearly 2,000 years, the papacy is the most successful elective monarchy in history. Because it is impossible for the papacy to compromise its spiritual claims, bad or incompetent popes never do irreparable damage to it.
The Dalai Lama, former ruler of Tibet, another elective theocratic monarchy, was chosen by reincarnation. A young child believed to possess the soul of the deceased Dalai Lama was searched for and when discovered was enthroned as the new monarch.
How do absolute, authoritarian, and legislatively responsible monarchies differ?
In an absolute monarchy there is no restraint on the will of the ruler. In authoritarian and legislatively responsible monarchies there are religious, customary, and legal restrictions. In a legislatively responsible monarchy the king or his ministers are, in addition, restrained by a popularly elected body. Edward I expressed the principle underlying the latter:
“What touches all,” he said, “should be approved by all.”
Have there been any absolute regimes in modern times?
There have been no absolute monarchies in modern times, but there have been many absolute republics. Lenin and Stalin’s Soviet Union, Hitler’s Germany, Mao’s China, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia are examples.
Monarchs Who Changed History
| Cyrus “the Great” | Persia |
| Darius I “the Great” | Persia |
| Chandragupta Maurya | India |
| Alexander III “the Great” | Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt |
| Constantine I “the Great” | Roman Empire, East and West |
| Tiridates IV “the Great” | Armenia |
| Clovis I | France |
| Charlemagne | France, Germany, Italy |
| Arpad | Hungary |
| Rurik | Russia |
| Alexius I Comnenus | Byzantium |
| Ivan Asen II | Bulgaria, Thrace, Albania, Greece, Macedonia |
| Urôs Stephen “the Great” | DusânSerbia |
| William “the Conqueror” | England |
| Alfonso I Henriques | Portugal |
| Robert “the Bruce” | Scotland |
| St. Vladimir I | Russia |
| Pachacutec Inca Yupanquil | Ecuador, Peru, Chile |
| Mohammed II | Turkey, Balkans, Mediterranean |
| Montezuma II | Mexico |
| Jan III Sobieski | Western Europe |
| Peter “the Great” | Russia |
| Napoleon I | France, Europe, United States |
| Victor Emmanuel II | Italy |
What is the difference between an authoritarian monarch and a tyrant?
The clever though often pedantic King James I and VI explained the difference in his first speech to the English Parliament on inheriting the crowns of England and Ireland in 1603. “The special and greatest point of difference that is between a rightful king and an usurping tyrant is this: That whereas the proud and ambitious tyrant doth think his kingdoms and people are only ordained for the satisfaction of his desires and unreasonable appetites, the righteous and just king doth by the contrary acknowledge himself to be ordained for the procuring of the wealth and property of his people,” His Majesty said.
Subjects of which sovereign prince recently voted to retain authoritarian monarchy?
Karl Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein. In a democratic referendum held in 2003, the people of Liechtenstein chose overwhelmingly to keep the form of government in which the prince is sovereign. The principality’s government, nonetheless, operates day by day in approved democratic fashion.
How does royal sovereignty contrast with republican sovereignty?
In a republic, sovereignty is usually vested in “the people,” a theoretical concept. In a monarchy, sovereignty is vested in a real person.
How does a monarchy differ from a republic?
Under a monarchy, society is seen as an extended family. “Royalty,” a scholar has written, “forms the nuclear family of the whole nation — or even, by inter-marriage, the nuclear family that binds nations together.” Or, as Vincent Massey put it in his Coronation Day broadcast: “The queen is the head of our nation, and our nation, as we contemplate her headship, becomes a household itself.” Contrariwise republics see society only as a public corporation.
How does monarchy work?
In a constitutional parliamentary monarchy such as Canada, the underlying structure of the law and its imagery are that the queen/king is doing everything in person. The Crown’s function is to set the entire apparatus of government in motion. The queen creates a government, summons, prorogues and dissolves Parliament, issues election writs, sends bills to Parliament to be made into laws, proclaims laws once passed, administers the laws, provides judges and civil servants to carry out her commands through her government, makes treaties, and sends her armed forces into action.
All such queenly acts are done by and on the advice of ministers (minister means “servant”) who, as members of the committee of her Privy Council called the cabinet, are her only legal advisers, and are drawn from members of Parliament who enjoy the confidence (i.e. can command the majority support) of the House of Commons.
At the same time this works democratically, with ultimate responsibility for giving the sovereign her advisers lying with the electorate. It is a marriage of two principles: royal authority and democratic control. If royal authority and its imagery are forgotten, however, the other parts of the system lose their meaning. That is why in recent times MPs who do not understand the Crown have interrupted the Speech from the Throne with applause or jeers and why people talk about electing a government instead of electing a Parliament.
Quickies
Did you know …
• that the coronation is a symbolic bringing together of every role of kingship: acclamation, oath to govern justly and defend the people, ritual death and rebirth through anointing, robing in special clothes, crowning, enthronement, and “homage from great of the land”?
Louis XIV’s Maxims on Kingship
• “The function of kings consists mainly in letting good sense take its course.”
• “A king should listen rather than speak, because it is difficult to say much without saying too much.”
• “Every time I make an appointment, I make one ungrateful person and a hundred with a grievance.”
• “It seems to me that we [kings] must be at the same time humble on our own account, and proud on account of the office we fill.”
• “A man reigns by work and it is ungrateful and presumptuous to God, unjust and tyrannical to men, to wish to reign without working.”
Who originated our system of justice available to all?
This cornerstone of our modern society comes directly from King Henry II, the monarch who ruled the Angevin Empire, consisting of England and the greater part of France, from 1154 to 1189. A fully part of France, from 1154 to 1189. A fully literate ruler, fluent in French and English and with a good knowledge of Latin, Henry II came to the throne after a period of bitter civil war, during which law and order had completely broken down. The king ordered his chancery to begin issuing writs that ran in his name, allowing any freeman in the kingdom to obtain a remedy in the local court, or if that failed, in the king’s court. To make sure that his justice was readily accessible, the king also sent out judges who made regular journeys around the kingdom. About the year 1180, he set up a Royal Court at Westminster, which sat permanently. With the decline and disappearance of serfdom in the succeeding centuries, “freeman” came to include everyone in the kingdom.
Quickies
Did you know …
• that as fount of justice, the queen is seen to be so dedicated to her people’s welfare that she is presumed by law never to condone wrongdoing?
What is “loyal opposition”?
A concept developed under constitutional monarchy. It means that if you do it peacefully and lawfully, you can oppose the measures of the government of the day without being regarded as disloyal. The Criminal Code of Canada states: “No person shall be deemed to have a seditious intention by reason only that he intends … to show that Her Majesty has been misled and mistaken in her measures.”
Quickies
Did you know …
• that the royal prerogative is power that belongs to the queen simply in right of being sovereign and is not conferred on her by statute of Parliament? “Reason to rule, but mercy to forgive: The first is law, the last is prerogative.”
Regal Remarks
• Henry II, about his ex-Chancellor, Thomas Becket: “Who will free me from this turbulent priest?”
• Rudolf I, on his approachability: “I have not become King to live in acloset.”
• Edward III, about his son, the Black Prince at Crécy: “Let the boy win hisspurs!”
• Louis XII, who before ascending the throne was Duke of Orleans: “The King of
• France does not avenge injuries done to the Duke of Orleans.”
• Sigismund: “I am the Emperor Sigismund and above the rules of grammar.”
• Frederick III: “The House of Austria is destined to rule the world.”
• Maximilian I: “If only we had peace we’d be sitting in a rose garden.”
• Charles V, on Martin Luther: “A single friar who goes contrary to all Christianity for a thousand years must be wrong.”
• Mary I: “When I am dead and opened, you shall find 'Calais' lying in my heart.”
• Elizabeth I, in her Golden Speech to Parliament: “Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my crown: that I have reigned with your loves.”
• Philip II, on the defeat of his great armada: “I sent my ships against men, not against waves.”
• James I: “No bishop, no king.”
• Ferdinand I: “Let justice be done, though the world perish.”
• Charles I: “I am the martyr of the people.”
• Louis XIV, when his grandson became king of Spain: “The Pyrenees have ceased to exist.”
• Peter I “the Great”: “I hope God will forgive me my many sins because of the good I have tried to do for my people.”
• Louis XV: “After me the flood!”
• Francis I, to the child Mozart: “You are a little sorcerer!”
• Napoleon I: “There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.”
• Nicholas II: “I do not wish for war; as a rule I shall do all in my power to preserve for my people the benefits of peace.”
• Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, when compared to the “democratic” king of Sweden: “I could govern like the king of Sweden if my people were like the Swedish people.”
How international has monarchy been?
So international that it has bridged geography, race, and religion. Here is an example: Henry III, King of England, married Eleanor of Provence. One of Eleanor’s sisters was married to St. Louis IX, King of France, and yet another, Beatrix, to King Charles I of Naples. Charles and Beatrix’s son, Charles II, King of Naples, married Mary, daughter of Stephen V, King of Hungary. King Charles II’s wife’s sister, Anna, married Andronicus II Paleologus, Emperor of Byzantium. Andronicus’ half sister, Maria, married Abaqa, Il-khan of Persia, whose uncle was Kublai Khan, Emperor of China. A few simple royal and imperial relationships and connections covering about 40 years connected Henry III of England with the Emperor of China, neither of whom was even aware of the other’s existence.
Which kings and queens were the only ones anointed with pure chrism?
The monarchs of England and France. Chrism is a combination of olive oil and balsam blessed on Maundy Thursday. Other monarchs were anointed with simple olive oil.
Who has a right to a bow or curtsy?
All monarchs, Imperial and Royal Highnesses, members of sovereign or former sovereign families with the titles of Serene Highness and up. Governors general and spouses as personal representatives of a monarch are also entitled to a bow or curtsy but not lieutenant-governors who represent the sovereign at a remove.
For what maxim is the sagacious Louis XVIII best known?
Arriving on the hour for a council meeting, the king’s ministers found Louis XVIII already sitting at the head of the table awaiting them. To their apologies for having kept him waiting and compliments on his being ahead of time, His Majesty replied: “Punctuality is the politeness of kings.”
How does monarchy favour multicultural societies?
In a monarchy, unity is defined through personal allegiance to the sovereign of the country or empire rather than adherence to an ideology, membership in a racial or ethnic group, or commitment to an historical revolution or event. As the Canadian historian W.L. Morton wrote, “Any one, French, Irish, Ukrainian, or Inuit, can be a subject of the Queen and a citizen of Canada without in any way changing or ceasing to be himself.” In his accession speech to the Cortés, King Juan Carlos I of Spain said: “The King wishes to be at once the King of all and the King of each one in his own culture, history and tradition.”
What are the rights of a king or queen in a constitutional monarchy?
Most monarchies, especially those in the British tradition, do not have specifically defined rights. The great constitutional writer Walter Bagehot suggested, however, that the rights could be best described as the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn.
Monarchs Who United Peoples
| Menes | Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt |
| Edgar “the Peaceable” | English, Danes, Welsh, and Scots |
| Kenneth I MacAlpine | Picts and Scots |
| Canute | Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, and Saxons |
| Eric IV | Swedes and Goths |
| Margaret | Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes |
| Ferdinand and Isabella | Castillians and Aragonese |
| Ferdinand I | Germans, Czechs, and Hungarians |
| Henri IV | French and Navarese |
| James I | English, Scots, and Irish |
| Leopold I | Flemish and Walloons |
| Wladislow II Jagiello | Poles and Lithuanians |
| Peter II | Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, Montenegrans |
What is the Civil List?
The Civil List is income derived from the revenue of the Crown Estates (land owned by the sovereign in right of the United Kingdom) and set aside to cover the public expenses of the Crown. The Civil List began in 1689 and originally covered the cost of the armed forces and the expenses of civil government paid by the hereditary revenue of the Crown and by some taxes. In 1760, King George III turned over the entire hereditary revenue to Parliament, which then assumed the full cost of government and paid an allowance to the monarch for specifically royal expenses. At the beginning of each reign this arrangement is renewed.
What is the Act of Settlement?
The Act of Settlement, passed in 1701, governs the succession to the throne in Commonwealth countries and requires, among other things, that the monarch be in communion with the Church of England, and not be, nor be married to, a Catholic. It was passed in the reign of King William III, who had no children, to ensure that after his sister-in-law Anne, who was next in line to the throne, the crown would not pass to the Catholic descendants of his father-in-law, King James II, whom he had overthrown in 1689. Through the principle of “received law,” the act is part of the constitutional law of Canada and can only be altered by an amendment unanimously approved by the Senate, House of Commons, and provincial legislative assemblies.
What does the Royal Marriages Act require?
The Royal Marriages Act, passed in 1772, requires members of the British royal family to obtain the consent of the sovereign to their marriage prior to the age of 25. They may then marry without consent if Parliament does not object within 12 months. The act was passed at the request of King George III to allow him to control the marital choices of his sons after some unsuitable alliances had been made by members of the royal family.
Where does sovereignty lie in Canada?
Canadian sovereignty is vested in the reigning monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II). The Constitution Act, 1867, states clearly: “The executive government and authority of and over Canada is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen.”
Has monarchy affected Canada?
It’s no exaggeration to say that without monarchy there would have been no Canada. As well as the role monarchs generally played in its exploration and settlement, specific actions of monarchs were crucial to its creation. Had Louis XIV not made Quebec a royal province, French Canada would not have survived. If the Loyalists had not loved their king and constitution, Canada today would be the northern extension of the United States. When the American Revolution ended, George III told those negotiating the peace that he would never agree to abandon Canada, the West Indies, and Newfoundland. Sure enough, the victorious Americans arrived at the peace talks demanding all of North America. They did not get it. In 1867, only the deep loyalty felt to Queen Victoria allowed the provinces of Canada to overcome their rivalries, narrow sectionalism, and unite.
How did the Fathers of Confederation view The Crown?
The Fathers of Confederation were unanimous in supporting the monarchical form of government for the new country. Sir George Étienne Cartier called the monarchy the “essential element” of the constitution.
People on Kingship
“The King’s name is a tower of strength.” — Richard III, V.iii, Shakespeare
‘Tis a duteous thing
To show all honour to an earthly king.” — Anonymous
“Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.” — Reflections on the French Revolution, Burke
“The King never dies.” — Blackstone, book 1.17
“Is it not passing brave to be a king
And ride in triumph through Persepolis?” — Conquests of Tamburlaine , Marlowe, book 1
“Where the word of a king is, there is power.” — Ecclesiastes, 8.4, the Bible
“A substitute shines brightly as a king
Until a King be by.” — Merchant of Venice, act 5, scene 1, Shakespeare
“The King must not be under man but under God and under the law, because the law makes the King.” — Bracton
“Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King.” — Epistle of St. James, 1.17, the Bible
“The King is the centre of the majesty of the whole community.” — Blackstone
“I found that monarchy was the best government for the poor to live in, and commonwealths for the rich.” — The Vicar of Wakefield, Goldsmith
“Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm from an anointed king;
The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord.” — Richard II, act 3, scene 2, Shakespeare
“’Twixt kings and tyrants there’s this difference known; Kings seek their subjects’ good; tyrants their own.” — Kings and Tyrants, Herrick
“Ultimately, mercy is the surest sign by which the world may distinguish a true king.” — Corneille
“The Queen’s government must be carried on.” — Duke of Wellington
“What is a King — a man condemn’d to bear
The public burden of the nation’s care.” — Solomon, book 3, Prior
“Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?”
— Exodus, 2.14, the Bible
“Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King —
Else, wherefore born?” — Gareth and Lynette, 1.117, Tennyson
“The mind is free, whate’er afflict the man,
A King's a King, do fortune what she can.” — The Barrons’ Wars, Michael Drayton
“There is only one species of interest felt for dethroned monarchs — how they bear their misfortunes.” — Charles Lever
“There’s such divinity doth hedge a King,
That treason can but peep to what it would.” — Hamlet, act 4, scene 5, Shakespeare
“I believe that constitutional monarchy is the best defence of democracy.” — Yehudi Menuhin
In the Confederation Debates it was resolved that the government of the new country would be carried on “by the Sovereign in person or by her representative duly authorized.”
What does the inscription on the Peace Tower in Ottawa mean?
The motto of the Royal Arms of Canada, A mari usque ad mare (“From sea to sea”) is taken from the 72nd Psalm — “And he [the King] shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” It is this psalm from which the name “Dominion of Canada” is also drawn. The beginning of the psalm is “Give the King thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the King’s son.” The cornerstone of the Peace Tower was laid in 1919 by Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, the son of King George V, and it is the first part of the 72nd Psalm that is carved on the Peace Tower.
Philosophers of Kingship
| Plato | “The Philosopher as King,” Books V to VII of The Republic (Athens, fourth century B.C.) |
| Aristotle | Politics (Greece, fourth century B.C.) |
| Henry de Bracton | Treatise on the Laws of England (England, before 1268) |
| St. Thomas Aquinas | On Kingship, To The King Of Cyprus (Italy, before 1274) |
| Niccolò Machiavelli | The Prince (Florence, 1514) |
| Claude de Seyssel | La Grant Monarchie de France (Turin, 1519) |
| Sir John Fortescue | In Praise of the Laws of England and Monarchia |
| John Aylmer | An Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subjects |
| James I | Trew Law of Free Monarchies (Scotland, 1598) |
| Thomas Hobbes | Leviathan (England, 1651) |
| François de La Mothe-Fénelon | Les Aventures de Télémaque and Table de Chaulnes |
| Sir Robert Filmer | Patriarcha (England, 1680) |
| John Locke | Treatises of Government (England, 1690) |
| Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke | The Idea of a Patriot King (Britain, 1738) |
| Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu | Spirit of the Laws (France, 1748) |
| Edmund Burke | Reflections on the French Revolution (Britain, 1790) |
| Louis, Viscount de Bonald | Theory of Political and Religious Power in Civil Society (France, 1796) |
| Joseph, Count de Miastre | Essay on the Generating Principle of Political Constitutions (Sardinia, 1810) |
| Walter Bagehot | The English Constitution (British Empire, 1867) |
| John Farthing | Freedom Wears a Crown (Canada, 1957) |
