- Joined
- Aug 13, 2004
- Messages
- 26,933
- City
- São Paulo
- Country
- Brazil
The Dutch should have opted for a republic indeed. Then the people can elect their own best man with -possibly- a nice blonde lady next to him who can baptize ships too and be glamorous when hosting the President of Germany in the presidential palace at Dam Square. And that moment will come sooner than we think and it is all by the royals themselves. They have completely eroded their very own position.
That the previous Duke of Calabria, an Infante of Spain himself, felt forced to declare the marriage of his own son to Miss Landaluce "dynastic" because his youthfriend, his school- and soulmate Don Juan Carlos felt pressed into a corner by his own son and his own wife to give in and welcome Miss Ortiz: what could he do?
It is all that wriggling like slimey eels in a bucket: "what can we do to marry the one commoner after the other and still pretend that we are royal, that whe are Altezas Reales, that we are given a generous royal lifestyle at the taxpayers' expense?"
It is spineless, principle-less. Period. The sons of Van Vollenhoven -himself still a commoner- are "princes". And so are the children of O'Neill, himself still a commoner. They are given ducal titles, personal arms, are called "Highness". Just the kiddies of Pieter and Chris. God beware me. What a vaudeville.
Perhaps they would even elect a woman and have her nice blond husband cutting the ribbons .
Did it occur to you that these royals themselves wanted the changes? Perhaps they do not want to be forced into a loveless marriage with a cousin and have x mistresses on the side any longer? Or even for other reasons? Queen Wilhelmina herself favoured marriages with Dutch commoners later in life, as a way to strenghten the monarchy. Perhaps they also prefer to be succeeded by their own daughter instead of a cousin, as was the case when King Frederik IX supported the change of succession of 1953.
There is no pretending to be royals. They ARE royals. By marriage sometimes, by female succession sometimes yes. But are laws not valid in your mind? If not, would that mean we have a German junker as king of the Netherlands, the head of the Von Amsberg family? I do not see the difference between that scenario and that of the Van Vollenhoven or O'Neill children.
You talk about 'spinelessness'. However, the spineless thing to do would be not to change along. To allow others to force your marital partner upon you etc. The spineless thing to do is to deny reality and withdraw in a dream of a romanticised past with brave knights, chaste maidens, horses and chivalry. The braver and more fruitful option is to accept reality, to adapt to it and to move on. All old institutions that survived did just that, from the monarchies to churches to states.
Last edited: