News

From feudalism to democracy

« December 2004 | | February 2005 »

January 29, 2005

Barbados Republic Accelerated

Barbados prime minister Owen Arthur has declared that his country will become a republic by the end of the year. In explaining this new urgency to a change already under discussion he referred to the possibility that one day Barbadians might have to swear allegiance to Harry Windsor. Mr. Windsor, who was recently photographed wearing a Nazi emblem, might one day be Britain’s hereditary head of state. Under present arrangements that would also make him head of state of a number of former British colonies.

Prime minister Arthur said "Heaven forbid, but if Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth were to die; if Prince Charles and Prince William were to die, I would have a fundamental difficulty swearing allegiance to King Harry."

09:26 AM | | (0) | (0)

Support for Australian Republic Falls


Only 45% of Australians now support ditching the British Windsor family for an elected head of state, according to a Newspoll. This is the lowest figure since 1999. The Australian Republican Movement blamed this on a lack of political leadership and vowed to push the case for an Australian head of state back up the political agenda.

09:07 AM | | (0) | (0)

January 03, 2005

Canadian Monarchists Angered


According to press reports Canadian monarchists are angry that state documents appointing and recalling diplomats will no longer refer to Liz Windsor, Britain’s hereditary head of state. They will be worded instead to reflect the role that the Governor General, Windsor’s representative in Canada, has in such appointments.

Windsor is Canada’s hereditary head of state despite that country’s independence from Britain and a large population whose ancestry is French or otherwise non-British.


05:04 PM | | (0) | (0)

Windsors Exempted From Information Law


Communications with Liz Windsor, Britain’s hereditary head of state, and her family have been exempted from the Freedom of Information Act, which came into force at the start of 2005. The exemption was given to the Windsors despite a claim by the minister responsible for the new Act, Charles Falconer, that there would be "no excuses, no place to hide" from the new law for state functionaries.

04:20 PM | | (0) | (0)