French royalty lost their heads, British royalty lost their minds

The new King Charles III is a climate nutter

When the French overthrew their monarchy, Louis XIV lost his head along with his wife and many followers. The French have long since abandoned the concept that an accident of birth empowers anyone to lead anything, let alone a democracy.

No so the British. The United Kingdom Parliament began while monarch still rule and dates back some 757 years to Simon de Montfort, a French nobleman who married the King’s sister, about 50 years after the Magna Carta was signed. The early British Parliaments lacked power which still resided with the King (or Queen, as the case may have been). In 1689, King James II fled from an expected invasion by William of Orange and Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Bill of Rights was enacted that made the monarch subordinate to Parliament. This is the date usually referenced as when the British royals turned from powerful rulers to tourist attractions.

It seems likely the French had it right. Since democracy came to Britain, the Brits have maintained the royalty and relished the pomp and ceremony of pretending that someone whose only claim to greatness was the genes they inherited.

Many think the royalty is a wasteful expense, but in reality Britain gives the royal 40 million pound sterling a year but charges them about 200 million pounds sterling in taxes on the lands they occupy. This is a better deal for Britain than the one Florida got with Disney, but the motive is the same - many tourists come to England to see guards wearing Beefeaters and carriages carrying princes and princesses.

Countries like Canada that were colonized by Britain still revere their monarch regardless. Tradition is slow to die. One factor that kept this otherwise nonsensical charade alive was the wonderful personality and character of Elizabeth II. During her 70 years as Queen she impressed the world with her actual leadership ability, her avoidance of politics and her great sense of humour. She earned respect everywhere.

Now her dufus son Charles, an obvious liar and cheat exposed during his marriage to Diana where he carried on a sordid affair with Camilla humiliating his lovely wife while fueling headlines for tabloids, becomes King. At 73, he is ill-equipped to do much beyond replaced the Queen as the equivalent of the fat lady at a Ringley Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, a so-called King who has spent the past few years spouting “climate change” nonsense. He has done some useful charitable work but that hardly qualifies him to be more than a spectacle of British decay as the policies promoted in England to combat “climate change” have left the country in disarray with insufficient energy to fuel British homes this winter, fuel prices that are destroying the lives and livelihoods of British citizens (including my three grandchildren who live in St. Albans), and rampant inflation.

The new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, seems able and perhaps can “right the ship” but she would do well to avoid lining herself up with Charless III whose presence can only water down her image and align her with the cult of CO2 alarmists whose actions underly the deepening global energy shortage, runaway inflation, and ultimately may trigger a massive economic collapse.

When you glance at the carnage of British “climate change” policy manifesting itself in unbelievably high natural gas prices, you begin to understand where this nonsense has led and where it will go. For interest, US$95 per mcf is the equivalent of $US580 per barrel of oil on a BTU equivalent basis. Winter will be cold at Buckinham palace.

I admired Queen Elizabeth II not because she was Queen but because she was charming. Charles III won’t make the cut.