Today Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, celebrates Her 84th Birthday. All Her loyal subjects wish Her Majesty a Happy Birthday, and thank Her for the impeccable service she has rendered in this indispensable office.
This month marks the 350th anniversary of the Restoration of the British monarchy and the coming to the Throne of Merrie Monarch King Charles II.
To mark the occasion, the Royal Mint plans to issue 150,000 commemorative £5 coins. The £5 coin marks a crucial episode in British history: in 1660 the system of government under the Commonwealth was abandoned in favour of a restored Monarchy under King Charles II.
The new so-called Convention Parliament assembled on 25th April 1660, and soon afterwards received news of the Declaration of Breda, in which Charles agreed, amongst other things, to pardon many of his father's enemies. The English Parliament resolved to proclaim Charles King and invite him to return, which message reached Charles at Breda on 8 May 1660.
The Convention Parliament was dissolved in December 1660, and King Charles's coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on 23rd April 1661.
For the restoration of the Iraqi Monarchy
Unfortunately restorations of Monarchies are rarely witnessed these days, but the necessity for a crowned head of state is even acknowledged by republicans. Take Iraq for example. Gailan M. Ramiz wrote in The New York Times:
Although in sentiment and conscience I am a republican, as a political scientist I believe the interests of Iraqi stability and democracy — and indeed Iraq's very survival as a state — would be best served by the restoration of the monarchy. I have long held this view and still do. Why?
Under a constitutional monarchy, the army, police force, civil service and judiciary — the major pillars of power in civil society — would be linked to the crown and consequently placed outside the turbulent arena of political conflict.
Such a system is crucial for Iraq, where politics has ethnic, sectarian and fundamentalist roots and thus has a tendency to be violent.
I am sure that more than three-quarters of the problems of Iraq — and of America's problems in Iraq — would be automatically solved by the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. It is also fully compatible with the federal structure of government for Iraq. Furthermore, a monarchy would not be a novel thing for Iraq — it would indeed be a restoration.
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1 comment:
Ah, Charles II, whose marriage produced no children, but whose descendants include all three of Diana, Camilla and Fergie. And who became a Catholic on his deathbed.
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