I realize of course that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex is a spoiled brat of the first water. At least that’s the impression that real people with real jobs have of her. I also realize that you’re not supposed to say these things, mainly because of the divine authority that her mixed ancestry gives her as well as her sex. Any such criticism is nothing less than lese majeste in today’s world. Because you know, muh racism.
But here goes anyway.
Meghan Markle is an ungrateful, shallow little trollop who hit the big-time when she married Prince Henry, the sixth in line to the British throne. To say that she was of meager accomplishment would be overstating the case. Her main accomplishment pre-Harry was that she appeared in various stages of undress in some forgotten television series called Suits. And as much as I am not averse to the feminine form (however immodestly attired), this “accomplishment” doesn’t really resonate with me. Beautiful, semi-naked actresses are a dime a dozen.
Oh sure, she’s pretty and all but there’s more to life than just being easy on the eyes. Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge is no slouch in that department. And she’s got three kids under six and yet the comely queen-to-be puts in her time visiting hospitals, children’s wards, regimental parades and what-not without any complaint. She may grouse privately but the good people of Great Britain don’t hear any of it.
And that’s the point of royalty. Service, sacrifice and the common good.
Consider: when Kim Kardashian or Lindsay Lohan shows up at some children’s benefit, it’s all about the actress and whether she’s going to do another Playboy shoot. The sick kids are merely props in the grand psychodrama that is American celebrity culture. On the other hand, when the Duchess of Kent goes to a cancer ward it’s the cancer ward that’s important as there have been any number of Duchesses of Kent. Her part could have been played by the Marchioness of Gloucester or in a pinch, the Baroness of Blenheim could fill in. And nobody would have known any differently –or cared. It’s not about the hereditary peer or peeress, it’s about the charity. The noble is there to bring attention to the institution in question because it’s important on its own accord.
On the other hand, the typical American celebrity is catered to at every turn. Will he or she burst into flames if the presidential suite at the Ritz-Cartlton is unavailable? Or will the rock band trash the room if they see any brown M&M’s in their candy bowl? For the average British royal, it’s all stiff-upper-lip and all that. “Get on with it” as the British are so fond of saying: it’s all about the kids (or the veterans’ home or the national prosthadontist’s association).
It’s all about duty and obligation. And that’s why royalty matters.
Britain wouldn’t be “great” if it weren’t for its thousand-year-old monarchy. I know that Duke William of Normandy was a bastard (literally) and that he got his throne after a hard-fought battle at Hastings in 1066, but the continuity, stability and tradition that flow from the monarchy are irreplaceable. And from a Christian point of view, they are essential. They reflect in temporal fashion a spiritual reality in ways that a republic cannot.
To be sure, for those of a materialistic (dare I say anti-spiritual bent?) this is all so unnecessary. But people who believe this way are materialists and have no appreciation for the transcendent. As for the rationalists among us, they might as well be atheists for all practical purposes. Believers on the other hand believe that there is a God and as such spiritual element to the universe. This reality is apparent to us every waking minute of our lives; we see it in the hierarchies that populate the living world. We even see it in the material forces of nature.
We cannot break free from it. Nor should we want to. This is what is meant by “tradition”. G K Chesterton called tradition the “democracy of the dead”; he meant that our ancestors are still part of us and that they should have a say in our lives. The dead really do get a vote (and not in the Chicago sense). The conceit of the rationalist, the materialist, the non-believer, is that we can somehow “progress” away from tradition. I’m sorry, but that’s impossible. And that’s why all progressive ventures fail in the end. Anarchy takes over whenever we do but only for a while. The natural order always reasserts itself.
To live with this knowledge means that we accept the liturgy that we always participate in and it makes our lives meaningful. The Church’s liturgies are part of it to be sure but everything in the created world is sacramental. The king, the king’s men, the yeoman –even the meanest servant–all participate in the cosmic sacrament that is creation. We see this in the very land and the birds of the air and beasts of the field that surround us. The plants and rivers, mountains and valleys. For those who are indigenous to such a setting, no words are necessary to describe what we feel. A dynastic king embodies all these elements in his persona.
Aristocracies are part of that tradition. The British are lucky in this regard. We here in America on the other hand are not so lucky. We are stuck with the likes of Meghan Markle and the hundreds of other no-account celebrities whose every whim we must cater to. Word on the street is that the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey were her advisors in this matter. I believe it. As for the Sussexes, I imagine their conversation went something like this:
Meghan: Harry, I’m having a sad. The people here are positively beastly to me.
Harry: Megs, what’s that you say? Didn’t the taxpayers just pay several million quid for our “cottage” at Frogmoor?
Meghan: Silly boy! Can’t you see they’re all racists? How long must I bear this mark of Cain?
Harry: What do you mean, Baby? I didn’t know you were black at all! Not when I saw you on Suits or when I met you. Aren’t you what the Americans call “high yellow”?
Meghan: [EXPLETIVE] YOU! GO SLEEP ON THE [EXPLETIVE] COUCH YOU [EXPLETIVE] LOUSY BASTARD!
Harry: But what would Grandmama say? And I’ve still got drill next month.
Meghan: WHO GIVES A [EXPLETIVE]! GET OUT!
I imagine some days later Henpecked Harry and Megs had a conversation somewhat along these lines:
Meghan: Harry Dear, Sussex is positively boring. And so is Wales. Scotland sucks. London is full of foreigners. Wouldn’t you agree?
Harry: Dearest, honestly, I can’t tell the difference between Karachi and London anymore. What say we cash in our chips, head to L.A. and make an honest living there? I hear the Yanks will be positively delighted to wine and dine us. It would be so good for little Archie. Don’t you think so?
Meghan: Oh Harry, would we? Could we?
I for one don’t feel sorry for Meghan. She wants to have it both ways: to capitalize on her royalty but to have none of the responsibilities that accrue with her station. And so, with poor henpecked Harry in tow, she got him to essentially blackmail the royal family, demanding that they be set free from their duties or else they’d spill the beans. And so it’s off to America where the marks are plentiful and they can live off their grift. Because that’s all celebrity really is.
We’ll probably go along with it, at least for awhile. But then when the worm turns (as it always does), they will come to regret their decision. After all, the monarchy does not exist in some vacuum, it is populated by actual people. And as long as the people in it take their roles seriously and realize that they are actually a part of some bigger picture, then the monarchy will remain. And had they accepted their duties as the obligation that it is, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would not be any worse for the wear. All they would have to do is grace some children’s hospital ward with their presence every now and then or send a congratulatory note to the Policemen’s Benevolent Association thanking them for their hard work.
And their popularity among the people who matter (that would be the British) would remain intact. Unfortunately, they have thrown that all away and chose to try their schtick here in America, where the Colonials will tire of it quicker than they realize.
The foundations of the English monarchy go back to Alfred the Great. William the Conqueror and his bloody army of Papist stormtroopers did seize the office, and the office does have value even today, but better not to refer to the scoundrels more than necessary even so.
True, but Alfred the Great was one of the Heptarchy, not the “King of England” but bretwalda (or “high king”) in the sense that Agamemnon was “high king” of the Greeks during the Trojan War.
“John Belushi”: one of the more famous Albanian Orthodox Christian Americans, whom very few ever knew was an Albanian Orthodox Christian.
I’m not sure if he maintained faithfulness to the church in his post-childhood life, before he died of a drug overdose in the early ’80s.
But he and his siblings – including his brother Jim Belushi, who’s still active as an actor – grew up in the Albanian Orthodox Christian community near Chicago.
John Belushi’s funeral was held in an Albanian Orthodox Church.
Piers Morgan lays down the law:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7881661/PIERS-MORGAN-playing-despicable-race-card-Meghan-Harry-libeled-Britain.html
Every time I see the shenanigans of the Royal families of Europe my gratitude to George Washington, and those with him who set us free from what centuries of calculated inbreeding have wrought, deepens.
The problem was not with the royals but with that silly, narcisistic American princess.
Ironic, no?
George u have it right re YOUR american MEGHAN. She and her hen pecked husband are selling out for fools gold soon to tarnish. Once u do away with duty, the thing is dead. He too dominated and JELOUS of his bro, and she too small to understand. It’s all feel good Versaille aristos give the peasants cake crap. The Uk tax payer, or canadian will not stand for that. ( and I have a feeling it will be more Lost ANGELES or the Hamptons than Toronto and more private jets than Amtrack!!
And honestly as Obama, she is not black but mixed race. Obama kids more black as Michelle black. To me colour is immaterial. I have mixed race beautiful relatives. So what? We all human.
The sad fact is, like a boy bands past it’s prime, they will quickly become hangers on around the celeb circuit and be cut dead by William and Kate who understanding all that is kiss of death for British royalty. And yes Kate is an atrractive, interesting, intelligent young lady who well understanding who she will be.
As much as I wish no Marriage ill, I have a feeling that when all the pseudo celeb stuff wears, their Marriage may not last. Statistically, as kids from divorced parents, olds not good. And when the worm in Harry turns we will see.
Niko, regarding her ancestry, I realize that she is mixed-race. Even though I’m from the South, I never bought into the “one-drop rule”. And Meghan, whatever preening, prima-donna faults she has (and she has many), is nothing if not beautiful. In a very striking, Caucasian sort of way. Honestly, I didn’t know that she was mixed-race and I’m usually good at picking that up.
Having said that, the hypocrisy is stunning. Nobody knew (or cared) whether she was mixed-race but it was she who traded on her ancestry, not anybody else. Certainly not the Royal family or the people in Great Britain.
It’s the hypocrisy and self-dealing in victimology that I simply can’t stand anymore.
Think of how much better we would all be here in America if “Rev” Al Sharpton had been thrown into prison for perpetrating the Tawana Brawley hoax several decades ago? Or for instigating the Crown Heights Riots? (Let us not forget that that was a three-day anti-Semitic pogrom in which real people died and others injured.) The race card was maxed out by such charlatans. Indeed, America’s “original sin” of slavery was expiated by the War Between the States.
Enough.
George exactly and about time was said. I have a very beautiful mixed race ( ghanaian, greek and Austrian and Welsh) great neice.
UK is as things go a quite unracist society, zenophobic possibly AND AGAINST WHITE EUROPEANS, but over all racist, no. Witness the growing number of mixed race children
I never took much over interest in royal family and gave this couple as u, my good wishes and support. SHE and He, have self victimised. Sure the tabloids can be a pain in neck but they are public people.
All I want to say is yes their elite celeb hypocrisy is the background from which populism has sprung. And yes she should have met president Trump. That obligation came with the post. It’s up to american people in November to give their verdict on Trump, not her.
I think as people understanding they want it all minus the boring bits, their time in the sun will be short. And yes, as with Obama, their blackness is quite understudied. Perhaps it’s time for black people with no ‘White get out of jail card ‘, to claim back their birthright and show these snow flakes how ro get on with life. .For me quite unforgettable was attending liturgy in Greece in all black Old calandarist( synod in resistance) nunnery with black priests too.
Harry will try endlessly to please her, but he will not succeed in doing so.
Had they at least had the grace to talk privately with the family, and come to a private agreement everyone could live with, and then announce publicly with everyone’s agreement, it would not have been so bad. A bad fit is a bad fit and if they’re that miserable, then let them go. But no, they gave the family only 10 minutes notice before posting their finger-pointing, race-baiting decision on Instagram. Instagram! Talk about a knife in the back to Harry’s brother, father, grandmother.
They epitomize the narcissism of so much or our young people today. No sense of connection or responsibility, it’s all “me, me, me.” Does not bode well for our future as these young people move into positions of responsibility. At least some are waking up, and I hope more do before it’s too late.
Maybe it was one of those situations where if they didn’t force the issue, the family would never have let them go. Harry was in the unenviable situation of having the responsibility of being a royal without the benefits of being in the direct line of succession. The family apparently wanted to exhibit him like a zoo animal to help revamp the royals into a hip brand. That would be unprecedentedin the history of the royal family, and practically every generation had a cohort siblings.
As I recall at Belushi’s funeral the priest said something in his eulogy along the lines of, “John was a very good man but a very bad boy.” Probably the best that could be said for any of us.
Bravo George on thoughtful read on royal duties and service to others.
Thank you Jim. I would recommend a republic but the Left is hellbent on destroying ours.
Huzzah, George! If I believed in reincarnation, I would swear Meghan Markle was Wallis Simpson and Prince Harry was Edward the Abdicator back in embodiment. But I don’t, and can only pray the Queen stays alive and of sound enough mind to be able to impart the kingdom to her grandson Prince William, and bypass her son Prince Charles altogether.
All these things and worse were said when King George viii abdicated in order to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, thus clearing the way foe his brother to succeed their father on the throne and pass it on to the present monarch, his niece, Queen Elizabeth ii.
The monarchy survived that episode and and so did the United Kingdom altogether, so it seems excessive to get worked up about Harry and Meghan now. Prince Harry isn’t even in the direct line of succession, as was his great uncle, and the UK isn’t likely to run out of royals anytime soon.
And it is offensive to adduce a shake-up in the British royal family as some sort of model for or warning against a lack of continuity in Orthodox Christianity. Kings and queens and countries come and go, but The Church remains, since our Lord Jesus Christ promised that ‘the gates of Haides will not overcome it’. Ever.
Point of order, sir. It was King Edward VIII. 🙂
True.
To all: isn’t the fundamental point that royalty matters? After all, we’re all talking about it, aren’t we? And it certainly matters on a deeper level, after all, what do Harry and Meghan have to offer us here in Canada and the States but their royal cache? There are tens of thousands of youthful, pretty, thirty-something couples living here & nobody gives a rip. But Hal and Megs? Katie bar the door!
George exactly. We back to ro their hypocrisy because what they will be trading on, literally I understanding, IS THEIR ROYALTY!! And the odd private jet from their ‘ Woke’ celebs.
And as u say how many young attractive mixed race couples in USA and Canada!!
My thanks to ‘Nate’ for reminding me that it was King Edward viii, one of the Georges, who did the same thing for which Prince Harry is being castigated now.
But it’s all so pointless, so irrelevant to America and completely unrelated to Orthodox Christianity.
Someone Who knew the profound truth of what He told the Roman Empire once said: ‘My kingdom is not of this world’, and He is our only King.
Meghan reminds me of what I told my daughter years ago, “Pretty only lasts about 10 minutes after you walk into a room. If you don’t have something to back it up, you might as well go home.” Meghan’s 10 minutes are over.
Interesting she has lost staff at SPEED. Apparantly by talking to them as if dirt and constant unreasoable demands. Lacks class! And why did she leave her baby in Canada, only to fly back three days later, this save the Planet virtue signalling lady.?
She as all of her ilk, refuse to see they are nothing but prieveleged elites. She simply has no class.
The last Tsar had family members of same ilk. Wanting their cake and their private life.
I hope so.
Actually, the other European monarchies are doing a bang-up job, especially the new generations of monarchs (such as Felipe of Spain, Wilhelm-Alexander of the Netherlands and Philip of the Belgians and their spouses). I think they all realises that monarchies depend on the goodwill of the people and they see it both as responsibility but also as a job – and I think this is something the Windsors lack. Additionally, the relationship between the European monarchies and the media/paparazzi is really good – both sides understand that it is a give-take situation so they’ve come to arrangement where the paps can take their pics as agreed and then let the royals do their own things.
I think what also helps is how the kings and queens also try to incorporate their young children into the whole thing without overwhelming them and making them hate the media. Their parents appear to have done a great job raising them and I think this is for the long term benefit of their kingdoms.
Agreed. There is a point to monarchy. Even here in the States POTUS has all the trappings of a king. I believe such a desire for hierarchy is innate to creation.
George, my objections to Symphonia aside, the Christian world order is monarchical. That hierarchical reality challenges many of the assumptions of Constitutional Republicanism that is the foundation of the United States.
There is a fundamental cognitive dissonance that ultimately cannot be resolved if one is to remain a monarchist.
The tyranny to which our Founders objected in the person of the King of England did not have its genesis in the monarchy per se as the Founders thought. Rather the genesis of tyranny is in the weakening of the Christian foundation of monarchy brought about by the temptations of power, lust, greed and will.
The solution is not to distribute the power, as the Founders thought, but to repent and return to God in Christ as our true King and Lord. To recognize the derivative and contingent nature of earthly monarchy (including the authority of bishops). Both the monarch and the bishops are iconic not things in themselves, i.e., idols.
I would particularly challenge you to re-evaluate your commitment to absolute free speech. Free speech as it is known in the US is not compatible with Christian monarchist principals and understanding.
It behooves you, as monarch of this blog, to not allow speech that is outside Orthodox Christian norms of truth, propriety and courtesy. That does not mean you in force one train of thought or conclusion. It does mean that ideological vitriol, hatred, and blasphemy will not be published. That could include my recent diatribes against the modern Pharisees due to the manner in which I expressed my ideas.
It is not easy to make such decisions and mistakes will be made but you ought to consider tightening up your editorial standards.
One of the elements that makes Fr. Stephen Freeman’s blog so attractive is the fact that he has strict guidelines as to the nature of the speech there. Some of those are not compatible with the ethos of this blog (like not criticizing Orthodox bishops) but he is a priest. Still there are proper ways of criticizing and improper ways of criticizing.
Just a thought.
As usual, Michael, a lot to chew on.
A quibble or two. The sovereign powers of a dynastic monarch were transmitted to the various States. That’s why one has to get a hunting or fishing license from the State itself. It is your local secretary of state, acting on behalf of the State, which grants one his marriage, incorporation, school accreditation, licenses, etc. Kingly sovereignty was not nullified but dispersed to the commonwealth instead. As was the power to tax, imprison, execute criminals, declare war, etc. (That’s one major reason that 17th Amendment is an abomination –it eroded State sovereignty.)
In the final analysis, I cannot disagree with the tension which you describe. That’s why we may be at the end of our constitutional/republican tether. It was too good to last forever (not that anything does).
George, the 10th Amendment clarifies that the Federal Government has only delegated powers which further emphasizes your point. Thus my contention that at least 90% of what the current federal government does is un-Constitutional.
The essential rationale for doing away with the original Confederation and replacing it with a Constitutional Republic was that we needed a stronger central government for better self protection and as a way to adjudicate any disputes between the various States. Such an idea is expressed quite eloquently in the Preamble to the Constitution written by Gouverneur Morris:
In order to do that, one major thing had to be centralized–the power to levy and collect, under penalty of law(the barrel of a gun ultimately), taxes. The Whisky Rebellion was the first major test of that power.
Unfortunately, the centripetal energy that the Constitution created ultimately destroyed the governmental community it sought to create. That is why the 10th Amendment is largely ignored these days: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
It is too simple to be interpreted by ideological eisegesis.
The ratification of the U.S Constitution was the single biggest peacetime transfer of power in history. It took about 70 years for that to really be manifest in the disputes leading up to and culminating in the Civil War, but the template for it was already set. Were it not for the Bill of Rights, that tyrannical direction would have been manifest much sooner.
Once we rejected the monarch, only a confederational hierarchical Church (us) could have moderated the movement toward statist government. Instead our religious heritage was based on rebellion and change not obedience and transformation. The Progressive ideology already in play back then.
The Orthodox Church in the New World has a chance, by the grace of God, to recover the hierarchical confederational community and stand in opposition to the tyranny of the state that has forgotten both God and community thus becoming an idol.
If we accept the challenge, we will be embracing the Cross and martyrdom. Unfortunately, the Church seems to be going the way of all flesh at the moment. Giving into the will to power and control for “the greater good”.
Michael, I continue to hope.
By all means George, hope is the proper response because He is merciful beyond comprehension. Hope and Thanksgiving are the only appropriate Christian response as long as our hope is in God and Him alone.
But there is no such thing as progress (the idea does hard) only Providential unmerited Grace.
OK, this should give Megs/Hal some pause: 85% of Americans do NOT want them coming to our shores:
https://spectator.us/85-percent-vote-trump-meghan-harry/
Probably one of the best analyses out there in the topic: https://youtu.be/VWLXQ6mOOx4
John Belushi’s funeral was on Martha’s Vineyard where there are no Orthodox Churches. But it was an Orthodox funeral conducted by a priest who is today Metropolitan Ilia(Katre) who has the titular title of Philomelion and is the head of Albanian parishes in America which are under Constantinople.
An excellent summation by that ever-witty rascal Taki Theodoracopoulos:
https://www.takimag.com/article/23515/
I love it: “The Markles”. Poor Harry.