Monarchy

WASHINGTON -- I was dubious at first. But now I think Dick Cheney has it right. Making the case for going to war in the Middle East to veterans on Monday, the vice president said that "our goal would be ... a government that is democratic and pluralistic, a nation where the human rights of every ethnic and religious group are recognized and protected." OK, I'm on board. Let's declare war on Saudi Arabia! Let's do "regime change" in a kingdom that gives medieval a bad name. By overthrowing the Saudi monarchy, the Cheney-Rummy-Condi-Wolfy-Perle-Dubya contingent could realize its dream of redrawing the Middle East map. Once everyone realizes that we're no longer being hypocrites, coddling a corrupt, repressive dictatorship that sponsors terrorism even as we plot to crush a corrupt, repressive dictatorship that sponsors terrorism, it will transform our relationship with the Arab world.

Benjamin Fanklin, when asked at the close of the constitutional convention whether we had a republic or a monarchy, answered, "A republic, if you can keep it. " I can see no better example of this drift to monarchy or totalitarianism than this recent attempt by County Executive Ken Ulman, Del. Frank Turner and others to silence their opposition on the county school board. This blatant attempt to seize control of the board by changing how the board is made up is wrong. What Ulman, Turner, et al, are seeking to do is to eliminate dissent by placing two members who would be in the back pocket of this cabal, thereby virtually assuring that any initiative that they think is best for us, they can push through.

LONDON -- The furor ignited by Andrew Morton's book on the anxieties and suicidal tendencies of Britain's Princess of Wales has amused, dismayed and generally troubled British society.Establishment figures publish disapproving essays about "Diana: Her True Story" and its serialization in the Sunday Times, as well as the hounding of the royal family in general by the press. One commentator has called it "the commerce in royal misery."The royals may not be enjoying it, but if they need reassurance that they are a factor in the lives of their countrymen, they have it. The stunning sales of newspapers carrying the story prove it. The first installment of the Morton book came out June 7 and sold an extra 200,000 copies of the Sunday Times.

The headline of the Sun's recent editorial on the jobs bill ("Let them eat tax cuts," Sept. 12) seems ironic to this writer. The origin of the parodied saying came from the last days before the French Revolution when Marie Antoinette was heard to say, in response to bread shortages caused by the profligacy of the Bourbon monarchy, "Let them eat cake. " This reference was to the citizens who eventually took down the monarchy in the most brutal fashion. So according to The Sun editorial writers, we citizens should accept without criticism the proposal by the current administration to throw more money into the well.

Paris. -- It is hard to believe that the British monarchy wil survive the 1990s, but it is also hard to think in what way Britain will survive without its monarchy.The impending breakup of both the Prince of Wales' and the Duke of York's marriages has robbed the succession of its moral authority. Can Charles really become king as the separated or divorced father of heirs to the throne living separately with their mother? (Or with their mother and a new husband or friend?)There are conceivable constitutional alternatives: Charles's renunciation of the throne, a regency until his own son comes of age, etc.But this is not a very compelling scenario for preserving a monarchy whose disrepute arises from the failures, self-seeking and frivolity of the present generation of successors to Queen Elizabeth II.The royal family has itself to blame.

LONDON -- As it nearly always does, the queen of England's honors list this year provoked some controversy and displeasure.One writer to the Daily Telegraph complained of "dishing out honors" to ex-hostages, rugby players, television personalities and others "just because they have been creditably in the news."Knights bachelors were made, as were barons and baronets. There were investitures in the Order of the Bath, and archaic titles bestowed, such as Commander of the British Empire and the lowlier Order of the British Empire.

THE MAJOR THREAT to the British monarchy is public indifference. Its rituals matter less in a republican age to a well-informed citizenry who resent paying its bills. Yet however the surging national emotions after the death and funeral of the Princess of Wales are characterized, they are not indifferent.British people who denounced Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles for failing to display sufficient grief may have been angry. They were not suggesting she ought not be queen. These commoners discovered they had strong feelings and expected the royals to show the same.

NOTHING MUCH CHANGED with the long-awaited announcement of a divorce between the Prince and Princess of Wales based on their 3 1/2 -year separation. Prince Charlesremains heir to the throne of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and would be the first divorced British king since George I acceded in 1714.Charles' aunt and a brother are divorced; his divorced sister has remarried. The institution of marriage is even weaker in Britain than in the U.S. The myth has grown up that while the middle classes may ignore traditional morality, the royal family may not. In the golden age of monarchy, 'twas the other way round.

LONDON -- The monarchy has again floated to the top of the agenda of serious issues in Britain; debates over its future rage in the press, in the House of Commons, even within the Church of England.Paddy Ashdown, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, on Sunday became the first major party leader to call for the monarchy's reform and diminution.A published poll of Labor Party members of Parliament revealed that more than half of them want to see the monarchy reformed and that nearly one-quarter want it abolished.

MONTREAL -- The glory days are gone, but the sun still doesn't set on the British Empire, reduced now to a dozen or so forlorn and far-flung colonies, from the rearing rock of Gibraltar to the South Pacific specks known as the Pitcairn Islands.Queen Elizabeth II still reigns over 15 independent nations, large and small, in addition to Britain. While her role is symbolic, all acts of government in those countries are done in her name, and she is officially the head of state of each. These countries, most notably Canada and Australia, all slipped from Britannia's imperial embrace over the past 130 years but have clung steadfastly to the British monarch as their own.That devotion, however, is being tested in the waning days of the 20th century.

Friday mornings at 4 a.m. generally find me asleep, but this week I'll be among the thousands of Anglophiles glued to my television for the "wedding of the century. " At 25, I've spent the better part of my adult life either in Europe or wishing I was in Europe. I went to grad school in London and cut my teeth on all things British during my junior year at Goucher College, which I spent at Oxford University. There, I learned to raise my glass to the Queen, and when she came to dine at Christ Church College (in the very same hall that served as the model for Harry Potter)

Jan. 17 1893 Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. 1917 The United States paid Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

And then the queen said ... Name-dropping doesn't get much better than that, does it? The queen of England, last in these parts in 1991, arrives in Virginia on Thursday - for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown - offering a fresh opportunity to pick up a royal anecdote for your next cocktail party. The queen, courtesy of the movie The Queen and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren's sympathetic portrayal of the title character, is hot these days, having survived that tabloid-queen daughter-in-law of hers, Princess Diana, and, at 81, is still beloved by her subjects.

As Ethiopian troops made haste toward Mogadishu at the request of Somalia's legitimate government, the 22-member Arab League demanded that Ethiopia withdraw its troops "immediately." In other words, the idea of national sovereignty, the hallmark of international law, means little to the Arab League. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Sudan claim not only to understand international law but also to follow it. Of course, such countries have broken nearly every international convention on human rights, but for these countries to demonstrate outright disdain for the very foundation of international law is reprehensible.

NEW DELHI -- After a decade of armed struggle and the deaths of thousands of people, Maoist rebels and the government of Nepal entered into a peace agreement yesterday designed to bring one-time fighters into the political mainstream of the state they once swore to overthrow. As onlookers cheered and Nepalese in the streets celebrated, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and rebel leader Prachanda signed an accord calling for the Maoists to surrender their guns and assume positions in an interim government and parliament.

NEW DELHI -- He was introduced as Mr. Prachanda, a future aspirant to the presidency of Nepal. Never mind that Nepal has no president, and remains, on paper at least, the last Hindu kingdom in the world. Nor that Prachanda, which means fierce in Nepali, is his nom de guerre and that he is the leader of Nepal's feared Communist rebels. Yesterday, Prachanda, in a rare public appearance, received a rock star's reception at a newspaper-sponsored conference about India and the region that was headlined by an eclectic lineup of politicians and corporate titans, including former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

LONDON -- Queen Elizabeth II, come on down.Last night, the British monarchy was praised and pilloried in a nationally televised debate that was part game show, part shouting match and most un-British."

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair lunched with Queen Elizabeth II and defended his country's beleaguered monarchy yesterday, while some press barons heeded a call from Prince Charles and began retreating from intrusive coverage of the royal family.On the day after the funeral for Diana, Princess of Wales, Blair sought to heal the emotional and political wounds in a still grief-stricken nation.He revealed that shortly before her death, Diana had agreed to serve as a special ambassador for Britain, and he praised Britain's monarchy, which was widely accused of being aloof during the national trauma.

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Neither curfew, tear gas nor King Gyanendra's offer to give up control of the state stemmed the fury of his subjects yesterday as, for the first time in 17 days of demonstrations, protesters broke through police lines to pierce the ancient heart of the city, reaching within blocks of Narayanhiti Palace. Police officers pushed them back through the warren of narrow, sunless alleys, firing tear gas, whipping cane batons and infuriating the protesters even more. "Dogs!" they screamed, eyes red from the tear gas, as paramedics rushed in to pick up the injured.