Posted on 04/01/2002 6:56:17 AM PST by dead
Oh dear, what a revelation! She was British/Scottish 'royalty', born to wealth and priviledge. We can sneer and nit-pick at the old lady, but she was 101 years old at her death and such fault-finding, more than a half-century past the fact, is rather petty as it is tedious.
What's the definition of a pointless existence?
I think this is close.
Notwithstanding, one must understand that the English royal familiy is more German than English, and has been since the 18th century when the German House of Hannover was brought to the throne by Parliament. George I didn't even speak English. The revered Victoria's husband was Prince Albert von Saxe-Coeburg Gotha, as German as they come. Thus, Edward VII was fully half-German. Elizabeth II's husband Prince Phillip is a Mountbatten. The von Saxe-Coeburg Goth family changed its name to Windsor during WWI for political reasons, and the von Battenburg's became Mountbatten for the same reason. There were and are people with very deep ties in the German aristocracy.
The King and Queen are famous today for the role during World War II only because their advice was rejected by a majority of British politicians. The fact is that in the late 1930s George VI and his wife were among the main cheerleaders in favour of Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Hitler.
This one bugs me the most. Most of England approved of Chamberlain's policy. Chamberlain returned to cheering crowds after he met with hitler. Most politicians approved of Chamberlain's policy. He could not have been their Prime Minister without their support.
But even if this attack was valid, think about what she is accused of? Not knowing how to respond to hitler. I guess that makes her like every other national leader at the time. (with the exception of Churchill, who was hostile to hitler even before he became the PM.) France didn't take hitler seriously until they were doomed. Chamberlain thought hitler could be dealt with by a treaty. So did Stalin. Even that evil Italian dictator(mental block) was tricked by hitler.
It is a rare account of the 30s that accurately portrays Britain's social and political realities.
Churchill was in the wilderness, booed out of a lecture at Oxford where he said Hitler had to be confronted.
The Royals AND the American ambassador to the court of St. James, one Joseph Kennedy, were arch appeasers and defeatists.
Yet, in the glow of victory, the Royals are said to have stood up against the Nazis, and Joe Kennedy is barely a footnote in the nauseatingly fawning American histories that deified FDR.
Life's too short to harbour this much hatred for someone. Give it a few weeks, or a month. Then remind the citizens if you must. At least it will come with less damage to yourself. People screw up in their lifetimes. Many thought Chamberlain was a great guy for making peace with Hitler. Personally I think he goes down as one of the major buffoons in history. But I'd give even him a few weeks before I'd start picking on the bones.
Only a buzzard could have written this pap.
Imagine, the Queen mum wasn't domestic. Oh my God!
Exactly, we Americans especially tend to forget how interconnected the European royal families were (are?).
LOL! Desperate to say something nasty, I guess.
What's the definition of a pointless existence? I think this is close.
Should this become the test of a life well-lived, Marilyn Manson will be remembered as one of the luminaries of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
I pray that there is more to a worthwhile existence than tallying the people one has upset during a lifetime.
This amused me. The author seems to think "obvious sincerity" is some sort of sympathetic description of Hitler's book. I, on the other hand, think that if you take the phrase literally, it is not only accurate, but a proper foreboding: Hitler's writings were "obviously sincere", and as such needed immediate attention. Had the Queen Mother described him as "harmlessly deluded", she would have been inaccurate, and this author would have ripped her for that, too.
Pretty big send-off for one who accomplished so much in only one weekend.
Ditto!
She was beloved by her people, which was difficult considering the real heir abdicated the throne, and left Mum and hubby with a job for which he was ill suited and ill prepared.
Not a fan of royalty, but really......... Let her rest in peace.
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