Darkprincess69
High Priestess of Slaanesh
I guess she should lay off the hot curry for a bit then
-
Sign up or login, and you'll have full access to opportunities of forum.
Milestones
- Thread starter admihoek
- Start date
Hugin&Munin
Presenter Of Images
In her speech at yesterday's reception at Sandringham House, she at least said she would not abdicate as long as she lived.
M
montycrusto
Guest
70 years ago today, King George the Sixth died, and his daughter Elizabeth became Queen. Whatever one thinks of the concept of monarchy (and I’m not a fan), George VI refused to leave London during the Blitz, despite the urging of his advisers to take refuge in Canada; an example of courage, duty and leadership that is not forgotten. No offence to Canadian (and indeed German) friends here! 
M
montycrusto
Guest
twonines
LIMERICUS
George VI was thrust into a position, for which he was ill-prepared by nature or training, and did a magnificent job.70 years ago today, King George the Sixth died, and his daughter Elizabeth became Queen. Whatever one thinks of the concept of monarchy (and I’m not a fan), George VI refused to leave London during the Blitz, despite the urging of his advisers to take refuge in Canada; an example of courage, duty and leadership that is not forgotten. No offence to Canadian (and indeed German) friends here!
M
montycrusto
Guest
..and he was portrayed on screen by Colin Firth, so he MUST have been a decent chap!
Gibbs505
SERVORUM DOMITOR
He certainly had, at times, the speech of a sailor, a lower deck one at that!
windar
Teller of Tales
It was February. Who wants to go to Canada in February?70 years ago today, King George the Sixth died, and his daughter Elizabeth became Queen. Whatever one thinks of the concept of monarchy (and I’m not a fan), George VI refused to leave London during the Blitz, despite the urging of his advisers to take refuge in Canada; an example of courage, duty and leadership that is not forgotten. No offence to Canadian (and indeed German) friends here!
M
montycrusto
Guest
Depends.. if the weather forecast in London is for a heavy rain of bombs, maybe a bit of snow wouldn’t seem so bad!
wulf
Consul
Good point. I wouldn't do it either, and I'm a lot closer.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Other monarchs had more difficult choices to make, when their country was overrun.
Dutch Queen Wilhelmina fled to England and continued the war from there. She was critisized for leaving the population behind.
Belgian King Leopold capitulated, refused to follow his government to London and 'stayed with his troops'. He was critisized for it, as he had to deal with German occupation politics.
Darkprincess69
High Priestess of Slaanesh
Truckers, maybe
M
montycrusto
Guest
For sure, invasion and occupation changes the game completely. I certainly wouldn’t criticise the Dutch royal family for leaving; their capture by Hitler’s forces would not have helped the Dutch people at all.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
That depends. The absence of the queen, gave Hitler a free hand to put a civil government, with German administrators, that tried to prepare The Netherlands for an annexation by The Reich. It was hence much easier to take over the country politcally. The presence of the king in Belgium, was a factor to be more cautious and install a military government instead, that had to deal with a parallel Belgian adminstration.
Gibbs505
SERVORUM DOMITOR
Only the King remained behind, the government left to England. When Belgium was liberated, the king ended up in Switzerland I believe. and a plebiscite forced him to abdicate.
I don't believe that his presence in the country helped the people to any significate degree except in the early years.
A little-known factoid. The Royal Yacht (not Britannia, but her predecessor) was painted up during the war as a hospital ship, but in fact was never used as such (which may have been sailing close to the wind in Geneva Convention terms) - instead she was kept on the west coast of Scotland, constantly moving from one sea-loch to another so the enemy wouldn't be sure where she was at any time. If the Germans invaded, or life in London became too dangerous, the King, Queen (and incidentally a lot of credit must go to her for insisting on staying on) and the princesses would have been whisked off (by air? Or train?) to board the 'hospital ship' yacht and make a risky attempt to get over to Canada.70 years ago today, King George the Sixth died, and his daughter Elizabeth became Queen. Whatever one thinks of the concept of monarchy (and I’m not a fan), George VI refused to leave London during the Blitz, despite the urging of his advisers to take refuge in Canada; an example of courage, duty and leadership that is not forgotten. No offence to Canadian (and indeed German) friends here!
What is amazing is that, after the War, all through the Cold War, the same plan was kept in place. Britannia, when she wasn't being used by the Royals, used to potter around those west coast sea lochs, keeping the crew in practice and the vessel in constant readiness. That went on until the mid-1990s, I saw her doing that myself as a youngster, and it only became public knowledge after she was decommissioned.
M
montycrusto
Guest
They’d better bring back the Royal Yacht then, because the Cold War seems to be not quite over!
Aye - it's not been much mentioned in the news, but Russian submarines have been prowling around off the west coast, even going through the Irish Sea, and they've had naval exercises off SW Ireland. Also tornadoes being scrambled from Lossiemouth pretty well daily to 'escort' Russian jets flying close to UK space, not making any contact with air traffic control or warning other aircraft. All just keeping up the suspense ...
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
The Netherlands had an 'army commander', who acted independantly (General Winkelman at the time).
In Belgium, the army commander was the king, assisted by a chief of staff.
So the Dutch Queen and government could go to London and leave the military operations in the homecountry (and capitulation) to the commander.
In Belgian the king had to choose sides : leave to London with the government would mean : abandoning the army as a commander; He choose to stay. It lead to conflict and mutual distrust with the government.
After D-Day, King Leopold was transferred to Austria, and held captive there, until liberated by the US army in May 1945. Meanwhile, september 1944, Belgium had been liberated and the government had returned, and installed a regency, since the king was absent. The king stayed in Switzerland until he would be allowed to return.
Left wing parties opposed against the return of the king, for his conduct during the war. The plebiscite from 1951 was in favour of his return, but with a narrow majority. Riots broke out, so the king decided to abdicate.