Month: June 2014

  • Government Gives Windsors Millions To Live At An “Ordinary Level”

    Local government workers have been offered a 1% pay increase. The Windsor family got 5.7% for 2013-14, no questions asked. That’s £1.9m more a year They get it because they take 15% of the profits from the Crown Estate. And the Estate has been doing quite nicely, helped by a boom in the rents for…

  • New Spanish monarch wears no crown where many despise monarchy

    The abdication of Juan Carlos de Borbón as king of Spain may have given a boost to support for the Spanish monarchy but it seems that the Spanish are far from enthusiastic about the feudal institution. The new king is taking over from his dad today but there are no pictures of him, bunting or…

  • David Cameron Calls for Respect for Hereditary & Religious Privilege

    Centre for Citizenship Rejects Call Following the Birmingham schools affair Prime Minister David Cameron has called for children to be taught to “respect for British institutions”. The Centre for Citizenship believes that some British institutions are worthy of no respect. And that to teach children to respect institutions that deny them their democratic rights is…

  • Republican Set-Backs in Spain and Scotland

    But Dangers Lay in Wait for Monarchists The abdication of Juan Carlos Bourbon, the Spanish monarchy, seems to have increased support for the feudal institution. However in an El País opinion poll only 49% of those asked said they wanted to keep the feudal institution. Support for a republic was shown by 36% of those…

  • The Gifts of a King to a Grateful People

    On Thursday the Financial Times published a notable little display of monarchist arrogance. It was an article by Charles Powell of the Elcano Royal Institute called “Abdication is the king’s final gift to a grateful Spain”. You would not have thought that Spaniards in their thousands had been demonstrating for a referendum on their monarchy.…

  • Cost of Windsor NZ Visit Deliberately Understated

    The day royal visit has used up four years travel for the Governor-General New Zealand Republic is disputing the cost of hosting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge saying “the money spent for a ten day visit would be better spent on the Governor-General’s increasing travel costs”. “The costs of hosting the royal visit in…

  • Spanish Seek Freedom from Monarchy

    The resignation of Spain’s hereditary head of state Juan Carlos Bourboun seems not to have had the intended effect of strengthening that country’s monarchy. Instead it has inspired republicans to increase their efforts to free their country from the feudal institution. Following the resignation “tens of thousands of Spaniards flooded into the centre of Madrid…