Royal Prerogative refers to the powers Her Majesty wields,
either of her own accord or under advice from her ministers.
They are vast and somewhat poorly understood. They are also
rarely used unilaterally. Even so, their mere existence has at
times led to calls for them to be taken away or modified in
some way.

In Canada the most obvious examples of powers that some
want limits placed on would be the power to prorogue
parliament, dissolve parliament, and call by-elections. As it
happens Britain has modified some of these powers so it
might be instructive to look at what results it has produced.

Westminster is known as the Mother of all
Parliaments. It is what our parliament and
many others base their structure on. This
can sometimes obscure the fact that the
British Parliament didn't stop evolving in the meantime. The
Westminster Parliament our own sought to emulate is very
different these days. One of the ways it has become different
only ​went into effect in 2011. The Canadian Crown may
dissolve Parliament (usually on the advice of the prime
minister). The British Crown has lost this ability. In technical
terms those powers were put into abeyance. James Bowden
over at the Parliamentum blog has an in-depth look at the
Fixed-term Parliament Act (the legislation that now governs
when parliament is dissolved in Britain).

The act was passed so that prime ministers could no longer
time elections in their favour. Now, this strikes me as a bit of
a solution in search of a problem. After all, their is good
evidence that voters punish politicians who blatantly try to
​game the system in this way. Which is something the British
Prime Minister ought to have kept in mind back in 2017 when
she used the act (and a willing opposition) to get an early
election called and returned to parliament politically
weakened.

You might expect this to mean the government would have a
short life. Normally, you would be right but the most
immediate effect of the Fixed-term Parliament Act has been
to make it harder for governments to be defeated. It is no
longer the case that merely losing a vote is seen as a matter of
confidence, it has to be explicitly stated in a separate motion.
Which means MPs can vote against a bill while later voting to
keep the government alive. And even if a confidence motion
does succeed parliament still has 14 days to find a new prime
minister and avoid an early election.   

This has had some pretty nasty effects on good governance.
The British Conservatives have been able to remain in
government while engaged in a civil war within their own
party. With both the Conservative and Labour Parties
statistically tied since the end of 2017 the Conservatives
want to avoid an election if possible. It has gotten so bad the
Queen has started to have to gently remind MPs to do
their job.

This means that MPs never face a reckoning for how they
vote in Parliament. Had the previous method still been in
effect Britain would likely by now have gone through an
election ​and a new parliament would have been sworn in. This
would have had two positive effects;
1. It would calm demands for a second referendum since
there is little chance the election campaign wouldn't become
an unofficial referendum on Brexit. 
2. Having just fought an election the various factions in
Parliament would be in no condition to fight another one.
This is part of the reason why new governments are given a
bit of leeway in setting the agenda.

Would this have prevented the Brexit votes from reaching the
heights of absurdity that they have now? It is a definite
maybe. At the very least it would avoid the deadlock I often
​decry in the American system. An important safety valve has
been removed from the British state and one would hope it is
restored promptly.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

In November of 2008 Her Majesty was
visiting the London School of Economics.
The financial crisis was well underway and
the Queen took the opportunity to pose
a question about the scale of the disaster
that everyone had been thinking; "If these
things were so large, how come everyone
missed them?" It was a fair question that
​deserved a proper response.

And on July 22, 2009, the Queen received one. A group of
experts had gathered on the 17th to hammer out an answer to
​the Queen's question. The list of participants was actually very
impressive:
Professor Tim Besley, FBA, London School of Economics
Professor Christopher Bliss, FBA, University of Oxford
Professor Vernon Bogdanor, FBA, University of Oxford
Sir Samuel Brittan, Financial Times
Sir Alan Budd
Dr. Jenny Corbett, University of Oxford
Professor Andrew Gamble, FBA, University of Cambridge
Sir John Gieve, Harvard Kennedy School
Professor C. Goodhart, FBA, London School of Economics
Dr David Halpern, Institute for Government
Professor José Harris, FBA, University of Oxford
Mr. R. Harrison, Economic Adviser to the Shadow Chancellor
Professor Peter Hennessy, FBA, University of London
Professor Geoffrey Hosking, FBA, University College London
Dr. Thomas Huertas, Financial Services Authority
Mr. William Keegan, The Observer
Mr. Stephen King, HSBC
Professor Michael Lipton, FBA, University of Sussex
Rt. Hon. John McFall, MP, Commons Treasury Committee
Sir Nicholas Macpherson, HM Treasury
Mr. Bill Martin, University of Cambridge
Mr. David Miles, Bank of England
Sir Gus O’Donnell, Secretary of the Cabinet
Mr. Jim O’Neill, Goldman Sachs
Sir James Sassoon
Rt. Hon. Clare Short, MP
Mr. Paul Tucker, Bank of England
Dr. Sushil Wadhwani, Wadhwani Asset Management LLP
Professor Ken Wallis, FBA, University of Warwick
Sir Douglas Wass
Mr. James Watson, Dept. for Business, Innovation & Skills
Mr. M. Weale, Nat. Institute of Economic & Social Research
Professor Shujie Yao, University of Nottingham 

Having gathered and had a wide-ranging discussion Professor
Tim Besley and Professor Peter Hennessy summarized the
discussion into a three page letter and submitted it to the
​Queen. The letter is quite interesting. Or at least as interesting
as economics can be. The letter is part explanation, part Mea
culpa for their part in being unable to see the economic
disaster unfolding.

The letter promised that a future meeting would look at what
could be done to prevent Her Majesty from ever having to ask
her question again. And in December the promised meeting
took place and a second letter was delivered to the Queen.
In summarizing the discussion the group proposed a course of action which I have quoted below:

​I'm actually curious if the Queen has opted to do this. It is
possible as the financial crisis did lead the Queen to start
becoming more involved. For instance it led to Mervyn King
being the first Bank of England governor being invited to
the palace for a chat with the Queen.

In the end a simple question from the Queen led a group of
people to thoroughly examine the causes of the greatest
economic disaster of our time and perhaps taught some
economists the value of seeing the big picture.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

A student organization at the University of Liverpool is in a
bit of hot water over a tweet it made on January 29th (since
deleted). The University of Liverpool Labour Students
seemed to advocate in the tweet that Queen Elizabeth II be
beheaded:

They have since apologized and stated the tweet was 'tongue-
in-cheek'. Now, this is not the first time in recent memory that
an organization/person connected to the Labour Party has
said some stupid thing and then justified it by claiming it was
all a joke.

But let us take them at their word that this was a joke rather
than a serious proposal. What kind of people joke about the
execution of another person, let alone their head of state?
Especially, when actual beheadings are becoming much more
common with the rise of ISIS. But civility is declining
everywheres it seems. The president of the Philippines has
joked about rape multiple times and in one notable
instance about eating someone. 

It is concerning when these 'jokes' are made because it shines
a light on what the person thinks are acceptable norms in
society. On the flip side it makes light of a terrible period in
English history. Had there been no outcry that tweet would
still be up ​and they would be fine with it.

To the credit of many Labour Party members on campus they
quickly distanced themselves from the comments made by
their student leadership. For my part I sent a quick email to
the Vice-Chancellor expressing my concerns about this
incident. This is important as the actions of a few students
reflects poorly on the University of Liverpool as a whole.

UPDATE: The Vice-Chancellor has replied to my email. The
full text of this reply is at the bottom of this post. 

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

The good news is that, barring an absolute disaster, it is not
likely to happen. The bad news is that due to the negligence of
a certain prime minister Canada doesn't really have a plan to
​deal with the situation either.

The roots of the problem go back to Canada's evolution as a
country. During the colonial period and later during Canada's
time as a self-governing dominion the question of regency was
effectively a question of British law. However, prior to 1937
Britain approached the issue on an ad hoc basis with laws
being passed when needed and for specific situations.

In 1937 a more permanent law was enacted in Britain which
remains in place to this day. This being seven years after the
Statute of Westminster it did not automatically apply to
Canada. Hindsight being 20-20 Canada ought to have acted
then. Alas, Prime Minister Mackenzie King was not known for
being overly proactive.    

During World War Two the issue gained new urgency with the
German invasion of Denmark which cut Iceland off from its
lawful sovereign. Fearing that the Germans might actually
invade Britain and cut Canada off from its monarch it was
agreed action should be taken. At this point a regency act 
might have been agreed to but, for reasons that escape me,
Mackenzie King still didn't see the need.

Instead, the Letters Patent, 1947 were issued. While the
letters patent provided for the governor general to exercise
the monarchs authority under exceptional circumstances it
did not provide for a regency scenario. And this is as far as the
law has gone on this issue.

The result is that legal experts are not sure how a regency
would be arranged in Canada if one were needed.

With some difficulty. As this most definitely touches upon the
'Office of the Crown' all of the provinces would have to agree
to the proposed act. An almost guaranteed opportunity for
mischief. But lets put that aside for now.

The British regency act is solid and would probably work
for Canada too as the regent (being a member of the Royal
Family) would be known to Canadians. But, no matter how
smoothly the regency goes republicans would likely use it as
an opportunity to cause trouble.  

Another option would be to specify that no individual enters
the line of succession until they reach the age of majority. On
a certain level it sidesteps the issue of regency rather nicely.
However, negating a royal's hereditary rights on the simple
basis of age doesn't sit entirely well with me either. Even if it
would benefit the realm to avoid a regency.

As it stands the need for a regency law is low and is likely to
remain low. But if a future prime minister decides he wants to
open the constitution for other reasons maybe sneak a
regency provision in at the same time. Ok?

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

On Sunday CBC Radio interviewed Freelance
writer Julienne Bay about her husband recently
becoming a Canadian Citizen. Before I forget;
Congrats and welcome to Canada!

It is unfortunate that Mrs. Bay then goes on to disparage the
very ceremony she just witnessed. In this article I want to
address some factual errors made by Mrs. Bay as well as CBC
Radio.

The article is a summary of the radio interview (although no
questions are asked) which has a link on the left. The radio
interview is somewhat better than the summary but errors
appear in both.

"But Julienne Bay asks why new immigrants should
have any allegiance to a colonial power?"

Well, no she doesn't. Apparently you can't even get past the
image caption without an error showing up. Mrs. Bay argues
that Canadians shouldn't swear an oath to the Queen. She
doesn't argue that new Canadians shouldn't swear an oath to
a colonial power, nor do they swear such an oath now. How
could such an error come about? Well...

"All new Canadian citizens must swear allegiance to the British monarch." 

Ah, that is how that error came up. There are certain mantras
editors should be forced to repeat each morning:
- 'Between' cannot be used to link three groups. The correct
word is 'among'.
- Hillsborough is correctly pronounced as 'HILLS-bro', not
'HILLS-brah'.
- The 'Canadian Monarchy' is distinct from the 'British
Monarchy' and the use of one or the other depends on the
situation.
In this case there really is no excuse since Mrs. Bay repeats
the Citizenship Oath during her interview. Queen of Canada &
Canadian Monarchy is said several times. Does it matter that
Her Majesty is also the British Monarch. Not in the slightest.
Just once I'd like to see some cheeky editor refer to Canadians
swearing allegiance to the Queen of Jamaica to prove a point
about how silly this mistake is. But why is this mistake made
so often?  

"...given the role the British played in colonizing and
dividing many of the countries those citizens come
from."

Ah. That would be why. This is far too short an article to go
into the historical debate about the British Empire's legacy.
But let me address the point being made here. Did the British
really 'divide many countries'? If you look at Canada you can
say this is false. The British (and specifically Queen Victoria)
were very much in favour of a unified entity in North
America. But let's talk about India for a second (since it will
come up shortly). Britain kept an extremely culturally diverse
country together for nearly the entire history of the British
Raj. It kept most of its native ruling class in place and tried to
limit ethnic clashes. Much of this was undone by the Two-
Nation Theory that argued Muslims were united based on
their religion rather than ethnic, location, or social class.

"His mother, Bay says, "grew up hearing stories of
colonial India: forced taxes on commodities such as
salt and agricultural crops that sent Indians spiraling
into poverty.""

For starters, all taxes are 'forced'. Voluntary taxes aren't really
a thing. And the question must be asked what this has to do
with the Canadian Monarchy in a general sense and the
Queen in a specific sense. The Canadian Monarchy never
ruled India and neither did Her Majesty. And even if she did
would not the lion share of the blame go to the British
Parliament which actually governed India?

"And it's not just immigrants who feel this way. A
recent Canadian survey shows most citizens would
rather drop the constitutional monarchy."

This is actually the most blatant lie in the whole summary and
it can be laid squarely at the feet of the CBC. Mrs. Bay noted
the correct statistics in saying that a recent poll showed 38%
of Canadians would rather not have the monarchy long into
the future. This is compared to the 42% who do and the 20%
who don't care either way. Whoever wrote the summary failed
​to uphold the highest standard of accuracy in portraying Mrs.
Bay's viewpoint.

"Bay argues 2017 is a great year to enact such change.
Not only is it a milestone year as we mark 50 years of
Confederation."

And the CBC finishes off with a simple typo. Well done. But
wait. If Canada were only 50 years old all those references to
the British Monarchy would make sense. But such a ploy
seems too clever for the CBC.


"Pledging allegiance to the Queen only bolsters a past full of discrimination. Why not scrap mention of the Queen altogether?"

Because any claim made without evidence can be dismissed
without evidence. And the claim Mrs. Bay makes is just such a
claim. The Queen stays and you will need to do better than
that to remove her.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Today marks the 65th anniversary of the
​Queen's ascension to the throne. This
event is known as a 'Sapphire Jubilee'.
But what exactly is a 'jubilee'? In
simplest terms a jubilee marks an
important milestone. The term has its
origins in the Old Testament where every
50th year was to be declared a year of
jubilee when debts would be forgiven,
celebrations had, and slaves freed.

Within Christianity the first jubilee year
was held in 1300. The previous year and
seen an upsurge in the number of
pilgrims owing to war and disease
occurring in many parts of Europe. Some
pilgrims persuaded Pope Boniface VIII
that great indulgences had been granted
about 100 years before. The Pope decided
to institute a jubilee year for the
remission of sins and universal ​pardon.
Originally meant to be celebrated ever
100 years the duration was soon
shortened to roughly every 25 years. 

When monarchs started celebrating jubilee years is somewhat
unclear. George III was the first to celebrate a Golden Jubilee
(50 years on the throne). Relatively few monarchs have
reached such a milestone and in the British Isles relatively
few monarchs have reached their Silver Jubilee (25 years on
​the throne) the shortest jubilee celebrated. 

Traditionally royal jubilees occur in the following order:
Silver (25 years)
Ruby (40 years)
Golden (50 years)
Diamond (60 years)
Sapphire (65 years)
Platinum (70 years)

A 100 year anniversary is known as a centenary rather than a
jubilee. Obviously no monarch has celebrated a centenary of
their reign although Pharaoh Pepi II Neferkare of Egypt
supposedly came close with a reign of 94 years. Should Her
Majesty reign until 2022 she will be the first Canadian
monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee.

Jubilees have often been occasion to celebrate including the
issuing of jubilee medals to worthy individuals, parades, and
similar events.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Over the last year the Quaco Museum
in St. Martins, New Brunswick, has
been trying to raise money to buy a
long-lost ship's figurehead. Earlier
this month they succeeded in their
quest to bring the figurehead home.

There is a little bit of a dispute over
who the figurehead actually depicts.
The Quaco Museum claims it is a
representation of Prince Albert
Victor, the grandson of Queen
Victoria. However, Ronald J. Jack
over at The Lost Valley Blog has put
together a good argument for a
different candidate:

Article One
Article Two
​Article Three
​Article Four

It is unfortunate that the Quanco Museum seems opposed to
the idea that the figurehead just might represent Prince Victor
of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. He led an interesting life and
deserves a bit more attention.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Today is May 29th and as I have
recently learned that means today is
Oak Apple Day. This celebration is
little known today but in the 1600s it
was a big deal. 

In 1660 the English monarchy was
restored with the return of King
Charles II. The English Parliament
declared that "to be for ever kept as a
day of thanksgiving for our
redemption from tyranny and the
King's return to his Government, he
entering London that day."

Oak Apple Day was celebrated as an official holiday until 1859
when the British Parliament abolished the celebration. I have
not ​been able to find the reason why they did so.

The name of the day refers to the
oak tree Charles hid in while
evading capture by the
Roundheads. 'Oak Apples' are a
form of plant gall and it was
common practice to wear a sprig
of them for the occasion. The
holiday is still celebrated
sporadically in parts of England.

It is a pity that Oak Apple Day is no longer celebrated in an
official capacity. Redemption from the tyranny of a republic
is certainly something worth celebrating.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Royal tours are one of the
times when the monarchy is
most visible to Canadians. The
purposes of the royal tour, or
homecomings, are not always
that well understood by 
Canadians.

Members of the Royal Family
have been living, working, &
visiting Canada since 1786. Early royal tours were made by
princes (and princesses) since the long sea voyage made it
unfeasible for the sovereign to both rule and visit their
overseas territories. The tours were meant to be a chance for
the people to see their royal family and for said royals to gain
experience in military and civil administration. 

In many ways the American
Revolution had as much of a
hand in creating Canada as it
did the United States. How
fitting that the first royal tour
occurred at roughly the same
​time.

Prince William (later King
William IV) was given
command of the HMS
Pegasus in 1786. He traveled
to Newfoundland, Nova
Scotia, and the Province of
Canada. The tour lasted
about a year. 

In Placentia, Newfoundland Prince William had to break up a
riot on one occasion and hear a court case on another. As the
colonies largely lacked a permanent administration it was not
entirely uncommon for senior naval officers to take on such
duties. On two occasions Prince William led church services
attended by both Protestants and a few Catholics. He would
go on to finance the building of a church for the community.

He eventually proceeded to Halifax and to the Province of
Canada. The Prince traveled inland to modern-day Cornwall,
Ontario. There he encouraged the Loyalists building new lives
for themselves in the wilderness. He also met with First
Nations living around Montreal and was greeted with great
excitement.

Prince William stayed in Canada
for only a short time but his
brother, Prince Edward, would
end up spending nine years in the
growing colonies. I have already
detailed Prince Edward's time in
another post so I will move on. 

Both brothers saw to the positive
development of Canada and
began a tradition that continues
​to this day.

The royal tours undertaken in the 1800s were for the most
part shorter in length with the exception of Princess Louise,
who served for five years as the vice-regal couple with her
husband from 1878 to 1883.

The 1900s brought an increase in the number of royal tours as
transportation across the Atlantic became faster. Tours also
tended to include more parts of Canada. Princess Patricia
would spend six years in Canada and become immensely
popular with Canadians. It was still only princes and
princesses undertaking royal tours until 1957 when Queen
Elizabeth II became the first reigning sovereign to visit Canada and open a session of the Canadian Parliament. 

Tours have increasingly become centered around specific
themes. For instance the 2005 royal tour was organized as a
chance for Her Majesty and all other Canadians to honour
"The Spirit of Nation Builders."

Besides royal tours you also have 'working visits' that have
less of the pomp and circumstance and generally involve a
member of the Canadian Royal Family carrying out some of
their less public duties. The charity work of the Princess Royal
and Prince Harry's military training in Alberta being
examples. In a sense the working visits undertaken by
members of the Royal Family more resemble the royal tours
of the past while visits by the reigning monarch have become
a form of 'patriotic festival'. 

Royal tours are a chance for the people and their monarch to
come together in celebration of Canada. As the personal face
of what would otherwise be the distant entity, the state, the
monarch serves to humanize it. By bringing attention to
communities that might not always be on the government
radar royal tours stress the importance of all peoples and
regions of our fair dominion. 

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Edit: This is only the first part of the Prince's address. I
accidentally posted it before I had copied over the whole
thing. You can read the address in its entirety here while
I slowly transcribe the rest. 

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

​---

Gentlemen of the British Association,

Your kind invitation to me to undertake the office of your
President for the ensuing year could not but startle me on its
first announcement. The high position which science
occupies, the vast number of distinguished men who labour in
her sacred cause, and whose achievements, while spreading
innumerable benefits, justly attract the admiration of mankind, contrasted strongly in my mind with the
consciousness of my own insignificance in this respect. I, a
simple admirer, and would-be student of science, to take the
place of the chief spokesman of the scientific men of the day,
assembled in furtherance of their important objects! - the
thing appeared to me impossible. Yet, on reflection, I came to
the conclusion that, if not as a contributor to, or director of
your labours, I might still be useful to you, useful to science,
by accepting your offer. Remembering that this Association is
a popular Association, not a secret confraternity of men
jealously guarding the mysteries of their profession, but
inviting the uninitiated, the public-at-large, to join them,
having as one of its objects to break down those imaginary
and hurtful barriers which exist between men of science and
so-called men of practice - I felt that I could, from the 
peculiar position in which Providence has placed me in this
country, appear as the representative of that large public,
which profits by and admires your exertions, but is unable
actively to join in them; that my election was an act of
humility on your part, which to reject would have looked like
false humility, that is like pride, on mine. But I reflected
further, and saw in my acceptance the means, of which
necessarily so few are offered to Her Majesty, of testifying to
you, through the instrumentality of her husband, that your
labours are not unappreciated by your Sovereign, and that
she wishes her people to know this as well as yourselves.
Guided by these reflections, my choice was speedily made,
for the path of duty lay straight before me.

If these, however, are the motives which have induced me to
accept your flattering offer of the presidency, a request on my
part is hardly necessary that you will receive my efforts to 
fulfill its duties with kind indulgence.

If it were possible for anything to make me still more aware
how much I stand in need of this indulgence, it is the
recollection of the person whom I have to succeed as your
​President - a man of whom this country is justly proud, and
whose name stands among the foremost of the Naturalists in
Europe for his patience in investigation, conscientiousness in
observation, boldness of imagination, and acuteness in
reasoning. You have no doubt listened with pleasure to his
parting address, and I beg to thank him for the flattering
manner in which he has alluded to me in it.

​The Association meets for the first time today in these regions
and in this ancient and interesting city. The Poet, in his works
of fiction, has to choose, and anxiously to weigh, where to lay
his scene, knowing that, like the Painter, he is thus laying in
the background of his picture, which will give tone and colour
to the whole. The stern and dry reality of life is governed by
the same laws, and we are here living, feeling, and thinking
under the influence of the local impressions of this northern
seaport. The choice appears to me a good one. The travelling
Philosophers have had to come far, but in approaching the
Highlands of Scotland they meet nature in its wild and
primitive form, and Nature is the object of their studies. The
Geologist will not find many oddities in yonder mountains,
because he will stand there on the bare backbone of the globe;
but the Primary rocks which stand out in their nakedness,
exhibit the grandeur and beauty of their peculiar form, and in
the splendid quarries of this neighbourhood are seen to
peculiar advantage the closeness and hardness of their mass,
and their inexhaustible supply for the use of man, made
available by the application of new mechanical powers.