Atavistic

[poliphilo]

I think I've made it plain that I'm not a monarchist but watching footage of Prince Charles striding round the flooded Levels with his stout walking stick,  offering sympathy and good humour to the victims and muttering angrily about the failings of those in power, putting Ministers (who have stayed in London) to shame simply by being there, I felt a wave of emotion that caught my inner censor off guard.   "If you're going to have kings and princes," I thought to myself. "Then this is what they're for." The Telegraph (which has just this moment come through the door) has a full length, full frontal portrait of him splashing through the water and looking as much like Henry V at Agincourt as anyone not wearing a suit of armour possibly can. 

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I love that part of the world.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

As you know, I'm a republican, but the politicians do need a good kicking over this. They're a disgrace to humanity!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Somerset is a distant country of which they know little.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Did you hear that silly ass Kenneth Clarke's comments?

Buffoon!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I seem to have missed that. What did he say?

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Snarky comment along the lines of: 'Oh, it's climate change- they'll just have to get used to it!'

Funny how it suddenly exists when it suits the Tories' book.........

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Totally agree here. I am not a monarchist, as i feel they are in general a waste of time, but does it seem odd that it takes a royal to highlight the problem , and going there, whilst those fat cats and bastards in parliament sit with their hands behind their backs. Disgrace? More than that, utter shambolic and not fit to rule.!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

This and being the granddaughter of colliers may be why I lean more than a little to the left of Leon Trotsky!

About time I friended you, I think!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's one of Charles' strengths that he understands rural Britain.

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

It's wierd, isn't it? I felt the same, really, and I have previously always viewed him as a bit of a tool.

In his way, he is probably more in touch with the general population than most of the cabinet.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

He knows there's a world beyond the borders of the M25.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I loathe the man, but at least he's a farmer and a landowner of sorts, and has a feeling for heritage. So he is likely to be most enraged about what's happening on the Levels.

Allegedly, the Environment guys stopped dredging in 1999 to protect the lovely little watervoles etc. I expect that most of the voles have drowned long since, along with the farmland.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm all for protecting wildlife, but not at the expense of people.

[sovay]

"If you're going to have kings and princes," I thought to myself. "Then this is what they're for."

If he cares, and he can express it in ways that help, and he can actually do something (even if not personally hold back the sea), then I don't think it matters whether he's prince or minister or angry man with a walking stick; I'm glad that's how he's responding. And your inner censor is doing fine.

The Telegraph (which has just this moment come through the door) has a full length, full frontal portrait of him splashing through the water and looking as much like Henry V at Agincourt as anyone not wearing a suit of armour possibly can.

Link?

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

This?



That's the most royal I've ever seen him. The stride, the gauntlet...

Nine

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's the one. It's rather splendid, isn't it!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Charles doesn't have direct power, but he has influence. His intervention in a matter like this- where he knows what he's talking about- can have a huge impact. Government ministers don't like falling foul of the Royals.