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| HM Queen Elizabeth II Source:NYF |
"I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
Words spoken by Princess Elizabeth on her 21st Birthday in Cape Town in 1947.
Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Her Majesty has been true to her word and an example to others in the Church.
God Save The Queen!
Platinum lady.
ReplyDeleteGod bless her.
... grant her in health and wealth long to live; strengthen her that she may vanquish and overcome all her enemies; and finally after this life she may attain everlasting joy and felicity
ReplyDeleteVivat Regina Elizabetha.
ReplyDeleteI'm not - and never have been since I reached an 'age of discretion' - a believer in monarchy, which I've long believed reinforces an unhealthy veneration of social hierarchy and a rather daft imperial nostalgia among rather a lot of Brits.
ReplyDeleteBut on the plus side, I rather enjoyed the coronation festivities back in 1953 - since I was then only six, I just went with the flow, and the flow was quite fun! - and if we are to have a monarchy, I can't imagine a defter and more impressive occupant of the throne than Elizabeth II. In seventy long years she's hardly ever put a foot wrong in the fulfilment of her role. From that perspective I think that she's been quite admirable.
I hear she speaks quite highly of you too, John. 😂 😂
DeleteNice to hear - I hadn't realized, given that she and I have never met. Indeed, I've only ever seen her once, and that was only her back view from a distance, at the top of steps, as she went in to formally open new law courts near where I then lived. Circa 1959 or '60, I think.
DeleteOh - one small thing strikes me - how exactly to you know?!
Her Majesty knows all her subjects.
DeleteNot me, she doesn't!
DeleteI've never been a proponent of monarchy, ever since I reached what the BCP called an 'age of discretion'; it has always seemed to me to reinforce an unhealthy veneration of social hierarchy in British society, and a rather daft preoccupation with the nation's imperial past.
ReplyDeleteBut on the 'plus' side, I thoroughly enjoyed the coronation celebrations back in 1953 - I was only seven back then, just went with the flow, and in the rather drab post-war world in the UK, the flow was fun!
And if we are to have a monarchy, I'd struggle to think of a better occupant of the throne than Elizabeth II.. Deft and sagacious, in seven decades she's hardly ever put a foot wrong, and I admire her a great deal.
I was listening on the radio this morning to a senior journalistic royal commentator who favourably compared the queen's wise and prudent stewardship of her role with that of the present Westminster government. Her argument struck me as incontestable.
Oops - double posted! It didn't appear to have 'registered' on the site first time round, so I tried again.
DeleteSome ideal dummies for Bayonet practice presented themselves earlier today. Shame the police intervened first.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-61671743
Thank you for as kind and generous comment as is possible for someone fundamentally opposed to the concept of monarchy - as am I.
ReplyDeleteOne point to ponder. Many people are saying, "Look at the wonderful things she's done for us" or are thanking her for her "service" - but what actually have been her tangible achievements, apart from providing stability (not to be sniffed at) and, one presumes, advising Prime Ministers?
In the turmoil of the 20th and early 21st centuries, is that not enough?
DeleteWhat have you done that might be equivalent?
@ Ruth:
DeleteIn reality she's actually not done that much, other than to be a soothing and reassuring background presence during sometimes tumultuous times. In reality there's no more that she can do, constitutionally speaking.
I don't at all blame her for that, because since the 'Glorious Revolution' of the late 17th century that intrinsically background role is the one that the monarchy has ever increasingly been compelled to accept. And I do accept that it has some value, as attested by the large crowds who gathered around Buck House today. Not a few folk seem to find it in some sense reassuring. Maybe that can be claimed as a justification for the institution.
But what actual clout the monarchy has in state affairs these days seems rather unclear. And it's at least arguable that an unelected head of state should be able to claim no clout at all. But as a clear majority of Brits seem presently to both like the monarchy and value it, I've no complaint about its continuance.
Humm. Was it my eyesight or in the televised procession of clergy and bishops at St. Paul's Cathedral this morning, there was one mitre missing ... that of ++Andy? Normally, wherever there's a camera he's up there with his silly Press-Grin. But - unless my old eyes deceived me, there was a lookalike for the assistant bishop of Bangor, Mary Stallard. Curious indeed - unless of course, the Dean of St. Paul's had read earlier AB reports of ++Andy with his fluzzy buxomed women pulling out their tongues and rolling their eyes in ridicule at the High Altar and decided it was too much of a risk.
ReplyDeletePerhaps he was there and simply ducked out of camera shot. Perhaps Mary Stallard has a double. God forbid. But if no Archbishop of Wales, then why the most junior Welsh bishop to represent him and not the most senior who would be +St. Asaph.
Matters not. It was a most beautiful service as only St. Paul's can stage manage.
Ad Clerum
Well spotted Ad Clerum. You have confirmed my wife's observation after I told her she must have been mistaken. I should have know better!
DeleteI see you also made it into the pages of the North Wales Daily Post
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/archbishop-criticised-being-group-pulling-24050504
Many congratulations AB.
DeleteOne is pleased to note you are now officially the unofficial Church in Wales website.
The Order of Service printed in The Times listed to Pri,us of Scotland and 'The representative of the Archbishop[ of Wales'.
DeleteRandy Pandy apologise "sincerely"?
DeleteThe Church in Wales holds the copyright to a "family" snap?
I don't believe a word of it and another excellent scoop for Ancient Briton.
Is Anna Morrell now going to claim she doesn't read the Daily Post either?
As I said - a light hearted snap with his family on his big day. How sinful of this sight in particular to have construed it so negatively and dare I say, maliciously. You should hang your heads in shame. What has happened to you all that you view the world with such negativity? Christ have mercy on you.
DeleteTP
As everyone else has said, you're in a minority of one. Since the chocolate teapot has found it necessary to publicly apologise for the offence he has caused by his misbehaviour, perhaps your own time would be better spent learning the difference between sight and site.
DeleteI’m profoundly dyslexic Enoch, but you wouldn’t be the first person to be so patronising. That said, fits in perfectly with the thrust of this site (oops, nearly put a h after the s in a brief dyslexic error).
DeleteTP
We must pray for our Queen for she has signed .much anti Christian legislation into law.And those who reduce her to a rubber stamp do great injustice towards constitutional monarchy.
ReplyDelete@ Richard White
ReplyDeleteAn interesting contribution Mr. White without examples of course. But could these be the same Acts of Statute/Law (legislation) which will first of all have passed through the House of Lords and their nodding through for HM's consents by the Lords Spiritual; ie the Bishops? And of course Bishops of the Church-of-England who sit in the Lords are all hand-picked selected, nominated and recommended to HM for enthronement by a senior Civil Servant not, as one might imagine, by the archbishop. The said Civil Servant of course reports to a Government Minister/Privy Counsellor; our democratic electorate will have voted him/her in. In other words, if you are a UK voter, you voted for the system. I'm hard pressed to recall any anti-Christian piece of legislation the Bishops nodded through or that Her Majesty has assented to. She is, as we were reminded today, 'Defender of Faith' - Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Hindu et all. Laws reflect the nation in all its faith-colours, not just those which Oliver Cromwell thought the more important; unless of course, you'd prefer a return to Oliver Cromwell, or Kim Un Yong or Putin.
Old Bill
Please, don't forget that the title 'Defender of The Faith' , THE being the most important word, was awarded to Henry the Eighth, by the Pope. Our Monarchs have clung to this title ever since, and no one has the right to change it, except - The Pope.
DeleteUnison Off
I'm glad that I'm in favour with Mrs AB ! Coronation Chicken all round !!! But what am I doing on the front page of the Daily Post??? Should I go out and buy a copy? I wasn't at St. Paul's - Honest!
ReplyDeleteJust popped out to buy a Daily Post AB and gormless ++Andy is not in my local edition. Perhaps the C-in-W Press Office (Anna Morrell) censored that too! But online Daily Post, yes indeed and overdue so that others of the diocese and Province should know who their 'good shepherd' is. A buffoon.
ReplyDeleteWas there, I wonder, any correlation between his apparent absence from the procession of 'invited' bishops today and the Daily Post reporting of his disrespectful picture-posing, something I note is being typically blamed on his Press Office for publishing rather than on him for participating in? I doubt it. He's too vain and arrogant. Still if former wife Mrs. John is right, then the man will be on a 100 mile marathon run today to 'vent off his aggression and anger'. And 'unofficial' voicepiece of the C-in-W? Well deserved AB. From my memory you've been going since the days of the Rev. Clifford Williams. I once thought you WERE Rev. Clifford Williams!!
Ad Clerum
The two favourite hobbies of the plankers - the blame game and hunt the mole.
DeleteREMINDER
ReplyDeleteWould commentators please note that 'Anonymous' comments submitted for publication must include a pseudonym.
One could add to that, Teilo, that BBC TV Wales reported this morning that Wales would be represented by The First Minister, Mark Drakeford, and the Archbishop of Wales ... they too presumably working from previously issued Court Circular. That said, what else could there have been in ++Andy's pressing diary more important than the national service of thanksgiving unless it was another political snub? It still questions why the most junior bishop (an 'assistant' even) represented C-in-W and not one with more kudos.
ReplyDeleteOld Bill
That's because Kudos is completely missing from the Welsh Bunch.
DeleteUnison Off
That's because the plankers in Wales think it's a designer label or a Chinese restaurant....! 😂
Deletehttps://www.kudosrestaurant.com/
i have to wonder whether 'TP' (a.k.a. TeaPot) is the true pseudonym for Andrew John in that as obviously no one else can - or will - defend his all too frequent acts of gross misconduct/idocy, he has to write his own under guise of a TurniP.
ReplyDeleteAd Clerum
No that’s not correct at all. I don’t actually know him. What I do know is that many exist here just to stoke evil intent and that I can’t defend.
DeleteTP
The very same thought had occurred to me too AC.
DeleteFutile attempts to defend the indefensible while insulting anyone and everyone else who calls out the buffoonery is a typical MO of the senior management team of the Cult in Wales over the last twenty five years.
Except you are completely wrong. I wasn't seeking to defend the indefensible, rather to call out the irreprehensible activity of the majority on this S*ite.
DeleteTP
Irreprehensible???????? That's s new one on me!
ReplyDeleteUnison Off
TP is dyslexic for PT......
Deleteirre-Prehensile Tail..., or should that be Tale??
Compare and contrast: The delightful audience of HM the Queen with Paddington Bear - amusing, appealing to children - of all ages - and yet totally dignified and respectful, with the outrageous buffoonery of the Archbishop. The former was a lovely sight on her special day; the latter was a sacrilegious poking fun at the sacredness of the place and the vestments. What worries me about TP is his or her moral dyslexia: every comment she/he makes is ethically back to front and upside down. He/she seems to come from the stable of Boris Johnson: viz. This picture of me drinking prosecco while a colleague vomits on the carpet is obviously a picture of me hard at work and anyone who says the emperor has no clothes is obviously unchristian and Toryphobic. Come to think of it, one of the staffers who partied in Downing Street is a regular communicant in + Joanna's diocese I wonder if she (the staffer not Joanna) and TP have the same dyslexic problem.
DeleteUnfortunately, their problem seems to be dystopia rather than dyslexia.
DeleteIt is indeed a truly sad state of affairs when a fictional bear from Brazil sets a better example than the cartoon Archbuffoon of Bangor.
DeleteNot Brazil - "darkest Peru"!
DeleteMy mistake, thanks for pointing it out and deepest apologies to Paddington. Those Bears all look the same to me...
DeleteI hear a mischievous rumour that, despite his recent audience with the queen, Paddington Bear is destined to be flown to Rwanda on the grounds that he entered the UK illegally from his home in Peru!
DeleteUmpteen clever and appropriately comical variations defining the acronym 'TP' have been created since Ad Clerum (?) triggered the debate and the more TP responds to them, the funnier this blogsite has become. Thesaurus in full flow. But it's just dawned on me how TP is also acronym for the Red Indian Te-Pee (or Teepee) which might explain why TP appears to be constantly on the warpath and paddles his/her canoe against the flow ... !
ReplyDeleteOld Bill
I believe Teepee is also a brand of tiny dental brushes for flossing.... Should TP be rechristened Flossy? 😌 🤔
DeleteNot Taking the Pee?
DeleteTest Positive.
DeleteFor the new stupidity virus doing the rounds.
Really pleased that I have become the subject for ridicule on here. It comforts me, because whilst you sad individuals are busy trying to feign cleverness on here with your childish acronyms, it means that someone else isn't having to endure the s*ite of this site. Keep it up chums.
DeleteTerribly Pleased TP
Too Pathetic....., for words.
DeleteI agree Ruth - it is totally pathetic.
DeleteTP
Toothless Plagiarist.
DeleteOh, my ideas are quite my own Even, that I can say.
DeleteTP
Has anyone yet discovered what - if anything - was more important to lunatic Andy than representing the Church-in-Wales as its Archbishop at St. Paul's cathedral on Friday unless of course his being shamed in the Daily Post. And why the most junior of bishops (an assistant no less) to understudy for him? Any comment from the Press Office or are they too simply speechless?
ReplyDeleteAd Clerum