In the decade since my first post on 
this topic there has been an explosion 
in interest regarding whether having 
a monarchy has tangible effects on a 
country's development. As it turns out 
a growing body of research says it does
(sometimes to the surprise of the 
researchers themselves). Today I
wanted to highlight two studies I've
recently come across regarding the nurturing of good
economic institutions and results.

Republics and Monarchies: A Differential Analysis of
Economic Growth Link is a study published in 2019 by 
Professors Collins C. Ngwakwe and Mokoko P. Sebola of the
University of Limpopo, South Africa. The study notes that
economic growth between constitutional monarchies and
republics is not statistically significant. However, it was
found that, even if not statistically significant constitutional
monarchy did still edge out republics slightly in mean GDP. 

The primary finding of the paper was that constitutional
monarchies had a lower variance statistic (a measure of
instability) than republics and seems to indicate they are
more economically stable. Readers might recall that one of
the first studies I looked at (The 2008 study by Christian
Bjørnskov & Peter Kurrild‐Klitgaard) noted that over short
time frames republics handle institutional reforms poorly
before 'bouncing back'. This would account for a higher
instability score at a more zoomed out time frame. The
explanation they provide is also interesting;

Readers will also note that my last article I published on this
topic in 2018 had a study by Mauro Guillén that found pretty
much the same thing. The mechanism for encouraging less
messing around in the economy for economic gain are not
fully understood but I will provide one theory of my own.

When traditional monarchies were in the process of turning
into constitutional monarchies, perhaps the aim of parliament
was to prevent the monarchy from interfering in the economy.
But once the politicians were in control, the very same limits
that they had created now limited them in this regard.
Republics have had no such incentives as the presidency is an
institution they hope to one day hold and placing limits on it
may be seen as self-defeating. As such, economic interference
by the executive is allowed to continue unabated.

Disclaimer: This theory is just based on what evidence I
have from these studies and my own knowledge of history, it
could be completely wrong.


The next study was published in 2018 before I had written my
last article but it was published in an off-line economics
journal in Scotland. So it was a bit harder to get ahold of. I've
recently discovered the joys of inter-library loans so don't be
surprised if more studies are highlighted from similar
sources. 'God Save The Queen, God Save Us All? Monarchies
And Institutional Quality' by Prof. Sebastian Garmann is a bit
more beefy and had numerous conclusions. Note that due to
this study being a bit harder for people to get ahold of
themselves I've quoted far more of the results than I
otherwise would have. Also note that this researcher didn't
separate constitutional and absolute monarchies and applies
to both.

1. Base line results:
"Most importantly, I find highly significant (at the 1% level)
effects of monarchy on institutional quality for all six
indicators. In most cases, the t-statistic exceeds five. As the
indicators have been normalized to a standard deviation of
one, the coefficients can simply be interpreted in terms of
standard deviations. The maximum effect is found for
“Control of corruption”, for which the estimate suggests that
monarchy is associated with an increase in approximately
one standard deviation. The lowest effect, which is found for
“Voice and accountability”, still suggests an increase in more
than 0.4 standard deviations. The effects are thus of a very
large magnitude."

2. Mediating Factors:
"In the robustness checks, I show that the results still hold
when all control variables are included simultaneously."

3. Geographic Mediators
"While the coefficients of main interest slightly drop in size,
they all stay statistically significant. With the exception of
“Voice and accountability” as the outcome, all monarchy
effects are even significant at the 1% level with large t-
statistics. Thus, geographical factors cannot explain away
the positive association between monarchy and institutional
quality."

4. Historical Mediators
"From the historical variables, the legal origin indicators
show that all legal origins perform better than Socialist legal
origin. However, only Scandinavian and German legal
origin is significant in most specifications. The other control
variables also seldom show any significant effects.
Importantly, the monarchy effects stay highly significant
and of a very large magnitude. Thus, historical factors
cannot explain away the association between monarchy and
institutional quality."

5. Socioeconomic mediators
"From the control variables, GDP per capita has – as
expected – a highly significant positive influence on
institutional quality. The same is true in some cases for
population density, which obviously seems more important
than population size per se. ... Most importantly, monarchy
is still significantly associated with most indicators, and the
magnitude of the coefficients stays roughly the same. The
only exceptions are the outcomes “Political stability and
absence of violence” as well as “Voice and accountability”,
for which the monarchy effect is marginally insignificant (p-
values 0.126 and 0.138). However, the magnitude of these
effects is comparable to the magnitudes seen in Tables 1–3
and the marginal insignificance therefore was likely caused
by the strong decline in the number of observations (and
thus also in the available degrees of freedom). ... It is
interesting to assess the magnitude of the monarchy effect.
For example, consider the outcome “Government
effectiveness”. Going from a republic to a monarchy
increases this indicator by approximately 0.4 standard
deviations. As a comparison, an increase in the Polity2 index
of 1 point increases this indicator by approximately 0.025
standard deviations. Thus, taking these estimates at face
value, a change in the constitutional form from a republic to
a monarchy would have, ceteris paribus, the same effect as
an increase in the polity2 index of 16 points. As the polity2
index ranges from -10 to 10, this would imply that a change
from a republic to a monarchy would have approximately
the same effect on “Government effectiveness” as going from
a (moderate) autocracy (“anocracy” according to Fearon
and Laitin, 2003) to a full democracy. Thus, the estimated
monarchy effects are extremely large and meaningful."

As always, the new studies have been added to Useful Links.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Tomorrow will mark ten years of this blog being active. Sure, 
pedants will note that the first article was published the 14th 
of May, 2014 but that was an introductory post so let's ignore 
it.

This post is a bit of a reflection on how the blog has changed
over the years. It might also be an excuse to post some of the
​articles I most enjoyed writing.

While the concept of a weekly compilation of royal news was
good in theory, in practice this feature lasted only as long as
I had a working laptop and worked the night shift. The death
of my laptop made this format simply too time-consuming. It
​also had the distinct problem of being time-sensitive.

June 8-14th
June 15-21st
​June 22-28th
June 29th-July 5th
July 6-12th
July 13th-August 19th

When I posted the first one of these articles I had but a pious
hope that there would one day be an evidentiary argument
against republicanism. As it happens this article was well-
timed as the coming decade would see the study of monarch
undergo something of a renaissance. And while its been 2018
since the last entry in this series I do in fact have two more
studies I want to highlight (if inter-library loans ever gets
back to me).

Article One
Article Two
Article Three
Article Four
Article Five
Article Six  

Meme culture has this way of getting into everything. The first
one posted to the website was really just a self-deprecating
look at online monarchism but later additions would slowly
add more discussion to the ideas behind the memes as a semi-
regular section of the blog. 

I'd rank this as the most important initiative this blog has
carried out. Starting in 2017 this blog began surveying
leadership candidates of the major federal parties. While the
rate of reply has varied from contest to contest it has served
to give a wider picture of what the prominent members of
each party thing about the monarchy.

Leadership Surveys

The Grand Chief and Grand Council of the Mi'kmaw 
-Written as part of my look at native kingship. While this
tribe lives in my area of Canada I had never learned any of
the information that comprises this article in school. On that
point alone it was interesting to research. I've done a few
different articles on native kingship and in fact was alluded to
in an article from the first year of this blog.

Crown Jewels of Canada Society
-This article was fun to write because it was stumbled upon
completely by accident. I was looking to do an article on the
Crown Jewels of Canada (which I eventually did) when I
found out Canada has a lady's social group called that.

My Reply to John Boyko
-I am willing to admit that I enjoy tearing poorly constructed
arguments to shreds. If that is a character flaw then so be it.
Boyko's argument had so many holes I was infuriated no one
called him on it before it was published. But if no one else was
going to, I sure as hell was.

The Erin O'Toole Article
-Even if leadership contests are a good time to get candidates
to open up about what they think on an issue, you are still
sending multiple messages to get a reply. And if this kind of
project is going to be of any use it has to be done long before
the leadership convention. In this specific case a staffer took
liberties with his bosses views which caused him, me, and the
Monarchist League of Canada a bit of trouble. I've been more
diligent with double-checking things since then but the article
is still embarrassing.

Henry VIII's Caesaropapism and its Modern Effects
-Its with the advantage of hindsight that I declare this article
complete drivel. An article so bad its second part was never
written. Its not that any of its individual parts are untrue but
the conclusion I drew from those parts most certainly is. This
is why I haven't removed it (and have never removed any
​article); its still informative even if flawed.

Shortly after I started this blog I developed the idea of it
having multiple writers. From time to time I have invited (or
been offered) help writing this blog. None have stayed around
for very long but I do want to highlight their contributions.

Mr. Windsor (2014-2015) 3 Articles
Barry MacKenzie (2014-2015) 4 Articles
Kevin Gillespie (2014-2015) 3 Articles
Lord Ludichris (2022) 2 Articles

Honestly I worried I would run out of topics after the first
year but there has always been more to discover about the
Canadian Monarchy in particular and the institution of
monarchy in general. Who know? Maybe in twenty years I'll
find that I haven't written about everything there is to know
about the monarchy either.

Loyally Yours,
The Maple Monarchists

Across Canada sports events are held every 
year which have a royal connection or an 
award connecting back to the monarchy. I 
wrote about one such event last September, 
The Royal Saint John's Regatta. 

Sports bring people together in a shared 
activity. This smooths over differences and
provides a positive means of channeling 
rivalries. This is perhaps why the former
King of Afghanistan considered one of his
greatest achievements to be getting all
ethnic groups playing the sport of Buzkashi. 

While not the oldest sports trophy in Canada (we'll get to that
one in a moment) the Stanley Cup is the most well-known
(pictured above - but you likely knew that).

The Stanley Cup is named for the individual that conceived of
the idea of having an award for championship hockey; the
Lord Stanley of Preston, who had been named Canada's third
Governor General in 1888. While known now as the 'Stanley
Cup' its original name, still engraved on the side, is 'Dominion
Hockey Challenge Cup'. It was also originally intended by
Lord Stanley to be for amateur hockey (a role that would be
taken over by the Allen Cup in 1908).   

What is crazy to think about is that the Stanley Cup predates
hockey being Canada's national sport. At the time the cup was
commissioned hockey was only really played in Ottawa and
​parts of Quebec.

Leaving behind the top award for Canada's national winter
sport we will now look at the top award for Canada's national
summer sport; the Minto Cup for professional Lacrosse. In
1898 the Earl of Minto was named Governor General of
​Canada. Much like his predecessor, the Earl enjoyed ice 
skating but also Lacrosse.

Lacrosse had been played for thousands of years by Canada's
First Nations but a set of standardized rules had only been
penned in the 1860s. Its name shares an origin with the
French term for field hockey (le jeu de la crosse).

In 1901 the Earl donated the Minto Cup. Like the Stanley Cup it was supposed to be an award for amateur play but this
lasted for an even shorter time than the Stanley Cup - three
years.  

The Earl Grey was an interesting man,
an aristocrat and reformer who may 
have disregarded the non-partisan role
of his office more than any other
governor general before or since.

Appointed in 1904 to replace the Earl of
Minto (who was his brother-in-law) as
Canada's Governor General, he
supported prison reform, electoral
reform, and decried the Chinese Head
Tax to a degree unthinkable for a
governor general in modern times.

The chalice was commissioned in 1909 and was to be awarded
to the amateur hockey champion (I'm seeing a trend here) but
with the Allen Cup having just taken on that role Lord Grey
instead donated the trophy to Canadian football as its award
​for championship play. 

Lady Byng was the wife of Viscount Byng
of Vimy (who had taken on the role in
1921) and another avid hockey fan.
Unlike the previous trophies this one is
presented to the one individual each
season felt to have demonstrated the
most 'gentlemanly conduct'. The first
winner was Frank Nighbor in 1925. In a
bit of a cute story Lady Byng invited
Nighbor to Rideau Hall, showed him the
trophy, and asked him if the NHL would
accept it as an award for its most
gentlemanly player. When Nighbor said
he thought it would, Lady Byng, much to Nighbor's surprise,
awarded him the trophy.

Going back to the year 1860 we have an award that has an
even closer association with the monarchy; the King's (or
Queen's) Plate for thoroughbred horse racing. In 1859 Sir
Casimir Gzowski petitioned Queen Victoria to donate the first
trophy for the new competition. Since then royals and vice-
regal appointees have frequently been guests at the race.

The race's name changes based on the title of the reigning
monarch, who also serves as patron of the event.

Clarkson Cup - Women's Hockey (currently not awarded)
Vanier Cup - College Football
Willingdon Cup - Amateur Golf 
Dufferin Medal - Award for excellence in academics or
athletics. This medal was awarded between 1872 and 1878. 
The Governor General's Award is its spiritual successor.

If you go looking you will find even more examples of the
monarchy encouraging excellence in sport and other areas of
Canadian life. It is just one of the many ways the monarchy
helps form the foundation of this country.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

The Loyalists usually only get the 
briefest of mentioned when the 
history of Canada is discussed. 
This is a tad unfortunate as the 
arrival of the Loyalists forever 
altered the trajectory of British 
North America and laid a solid groundwork for a uniquely
Canadian take on governance. They really should be discussed
more. That said, this article isn't going to focus on the failings
of the Canadian education system. Rather, this is a look at
whether remembrance and celebration of the Loyalists could
be improved in the public sphere.

The genesis of this article was in a meeting organized by my
company's head office which basically gave the front line
employees an update on different things the company was
doing. One such thing was the creation of a multi-ethnic
calendar of events. It was fairly thorough, although not
comprehensive. Loyalist Day on May 18 was omitted. Or was
it June 12th? The 19th? The most likely reason it was left off
was due to New Brunswick being the only Atlantic province
that celebrates it and my company being spread out over the
Atlantic provinces. Even if they all celebrated it there are at
least three competing dates for when it is held.

United Empire Loyalist Day is held on May 18th which usually
places it fairly close to Victoria Day (Monarchy Weekend? I'm
all for it). Saint John has traditionally been the standard-
bearer for celebrating the holiday and from 1968-1997 it was a
school holiday in that school district. However it was felt all
holidays should be province-wide which, of course, meant
no more school holiday for anyone. 

May 18th was chosen as the date to celebrate this holiday as
by tradition this was the date the Loyalist refugees arrived in
​Saint John in 1783.

Moving over to the other province created as a result of the
Loyalist's arrival we have United Empire Loyalist Day
celebrated on June 19th in Ontario. The Constitutional Act of
June 19th, 1791 created the province of Upper Canada, or
Ontario as we know it today. But hold on, Kingston, Ontario
celebrates on the 12th which is the date in 1784 Governor
Haldimand at Quebec received permission from King George
III to settle the Loyalists in what would one day become the
Province of Ontario.

Manitoba, like Kingston, celebrates United Empire Loyalist
Day on June 12th and for the same reason.

Saskatchewan is a newcomer to celebrating this holiday, only
designating it in 2000. Uniquely, the designation of June 19th
as United Empire Loyalist Day is applied for each year by the
​Regina branch of UELAC. The City of Regina itself celebrates
​a whole Loyalist Week.

Canada's western-most province is the last to celebrate
holding its United Empire Loyalist Day on July 22nd. The
significance of this date is a bit removed but the story goes
Sir Alexander MacKenzie, the son of a United Empire
Loyalist is documented as being the first European to
successfully cross the North American continent north of
Mexico on July 22, 1793.

Its an odd situation that so many places in Canada hold the
Loyalists as being worth celebrating but have no unity in
doing so. I think its clear each province chose a date that was
somehow significant to themselves without considering if
there was a more universal date that could be chosen. I'd
argue this division is a bad thing for one major reason: the
federal government will never make this a national holiday if
it means taking sides or adding to the confusion with yet
another date. Some might ask why it should be a national
holiday. Here are my reasons:
1. It is unifying - Even though the Quebecois and earlier
English settlers had little to do with the Loyalists, everyone
was united in not wanting to be a part of what the Americans
were creating to our south. I would argue it was our first time
agreeing on anything as a country (even if that country was
still some years away from becoming a reality).
2. Diversity among the Loyalists - The Loyalists were a highly
diverse group of refugees fleeing persecution and included
English, Scottish, Germans, Dutch, African, and Iroquois.
From this early example of diverse immigration Canada has
continued to accept peoples of all races and creeds. Canada
also has continued to accept a higher percentage of refugees
in relation to population that most other Western nations.
3. The Loyalist Attitude - In Canada we may get angry at the
government but we don't see it as the enemy. This is a distant
echo of the Loyalist's attitude toward the state. As one Loyalists put it, "There may be a time when redress may not
be obtained. Till then, I shall recommend a legal, orderly,
and prudent resentment." Indeed, if you look hard enough
you quickly come to the conclusion the Loyalists have put
their stamp on how Canadians think of ​themselves and their
government.

Below are several dates which are more general in nature:

April 19th - Lord Dorchester used this date as the cut-off for
when a person had to be living in the Thirteen Colonies to be
considered a Loyalist. April is a bit early in the holiday
schedule but Spring does have an association with rebirth
which might be apropos.

May 12th - On this day in 1784 the Treaty of Paris went into
effect creating the United States of America. Not only did this
give finality to the Loyalists' plight, it was also supposed to see
the Loyalists compensated (which never happened). Which,
​yes, is a bit of a downer. The treaty itself was signed on Sept.
3rd (and in some sources is called the Treaty of Separation).  

June 4th - The birthdate of King George III who was king
during the American Revolution. This is a date the Loyalists
themselves may have held as significant. There are records of
his birthday being celebrated for decades after his death in
1820. It is also during a warmer part of the year but not
before the end of the school year (I am all for kids getting an
extra day off like the one that those in Saint John lost). If
there is one critique about using this date it would be that this
is the second royal birthdate being used (the other ​being the
somewhat moveable Victoria Day).

I feel that by consolidating the celebration of the Loyalists
around a single date we can raise the prominence of who they
were and what their contributions to Canada are.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

On February 7th Grenada celebrated 
its 50th year since independence. This 
was briefly mentioned in my last post 
but I wanted to return to the topic as 
there was one other notable event 
concerning the monarchy that occurred; 
a group of Grenadians have come 
together to form a monarchist league. Back in 2016 I noted 
a lack of monarchist leagues in the Caribbean. The only one 
I found at the time was the Caribbean Monarchist League, 
which consisted of a Facebook page that does not appear to 
even be active any longer. So this development is welcome.

I wanted to take a bit of time to look at this new league
through its website, social media, and other sources. Since
comparisons to the Monarchist League of Canada are
unavoidable I will be looking at how each handles its public
facing resources. I may also include a bit of humble advice if I
feel it warranted.

Above is the home page of the Grenada Monarchist League.
Starting at the top we have the organization's logo and, as
much as it pains me to admit it they nailed it in a way the
Canadian Monarchist League simply doesn't. I will save the
meat of that discussion for later but it will suffice to say the
Canadian version is simply too detailed to be rendered that
small. Navigation is simple with several drop-down menus.
This is where I will offer some advice as someone who runs a
website; if you have a drop-down menu there is a good chance
people won't click on the initial header. Take, for instance,
the Questions header on the Grenada website which has three
drop-down options. What can be easy to miss is that the
header itself leads to a submission form. Meanwhile, the
Canadian website has headers that are deactivated. They are
signposts for other pages rather than pages themselves. Either
option can work but keep in mind that there will be a
proportion of readers who never see what is on the header
that has drop-down options. What the Grenada website does
better is it avoids the use of sub-menus. The Canadian site
uses them and I don't know how I feel about that. Websites
shouldn't be JRPGs. It doesn't have any sub-sub-menus so I'll
grade it 'acceptable'. I like that both websites use the phrase
'Our Monarchy'. I see exactly what they are going for and its
good branding. I also like the byline 'For the Advancement
and Defence of the Nutmeg Crown'.

Moving on to the splash image. I'm of two minds about the
layout Grenada choose here. Obviously, an image with the
king surrounded by politicians, soldiers, and flags is very nice.
But the image cuts off his head which isn't great symbolism for a head of state. On the other hand, it can convey that the
monarchy is bigger that the current occupant of that office. I
can't decide which would be better here. The Monarchist
League of Canada avoids this problem and does something
clever: if one image of monarchy is good, more is better. It
also lets each image tell a different story (relationship with
First Nations, showcase the heir to the throne, king as
statesman, etc). It works well and I think it could be an
interesting change to the Grenada website. It would also make
the text and button overlaying the image a non-issue
(although adding a shadow box to increase readability would
be good too).

The next section on the Grenada Monarchy League website
details the king, governor general, the constitution, the king's
role, royal visits, and awards and honours of Grenada. The
Monarchist League of Canada takes a different approach in
that the first section is on supporting the cause. The royal
family (not just an individual) is listed fourth. I'm not going to
say one approach is better than the other as both have merits
and it really comes down to how best to advocate for
monarchy in differing social and political circumstances.

The Grenada website finishes off with a quotation by T.A.
Marryshow who was an important figure in Grenadian
history. While the Canadian website has a page of quotations,
it is in a sub-menu.

In conclusion I think there is a lot that both League's could
learn from each other in how to put together an effective
homepage.

About Us Section
Its clean, simple, and to-the-point description of the League.

Our Mission
This section is interesting and is much more fleshed out than
anything on the Monarchist League of Canada website. You
have the general support for the monarchy, governor general,
and status quo but then it gets into more specific policies the
Grenada League supports. There is nothing like this on the
Canadian website. The Monarchist League of Canada may call
for specific policies in emails but never lists them on their
website. On this front I think the Grenada League has the
right idea; be bold.

Our Logo

This is so good. So good I posted it twice. From their website:

As much as I like the Canadian Monarchist League's
armorial bearings, simply reusing the image from the
grant of arms was a poor choice. Red and gold should look
bright but in reusing the image from the grant it comes out
looking a little staid. And while ​the grant of arms is probably
too complex for how its used on the Home page, the badge is
the perfect level of complexity.

Getting back to the Grenada League's logo; its S-tier work and
if you ever apply for a grant of arms integrate this somehow.
Simply beautiful.

What We Propose
This section goes a bit more into detail on the more ambitious
ideas the Grenada Monarchist League wants to see adopted.
First off is a suggestion that a Grenadian Privy Council be
created and that it take on the role of advising the monarch on
appointments of governors general. The third proposal (I'll
come back to the second) is the creation of a royal standard
for the King in Grenada. Both of these proposals are for things
Canada more-or-less has and I support them. The second
proposal is that the heir to the throne should have a unique
title in Grenada similar to how in the United Kingdom it is
the Prince of Wales. I've secretly wanted something similar
for Canada and I am glad they are going for it.

I'm not going to go through each tab in the header as there is
not anything too surprising. The Canadian League has a heavy
focus on fund-raising but its my understanding the Grenada
League hasn't quite got that aspect of their organization set up
yet so its absence is understandable.

A final point is making sure the website looks good on a
desktop computer as well as a smartphone. On this point the
Grenada website looks even better on mobile while the
Canadian website looks about the same. My blog is tooled
towards being viewed on a desktop and tends to look bad on
mobile devices.

As the Grenada Monarchist League is, as of today, one week
old and its membership spread out over several islands and
the wider diaspora it should come as no surprise its activities
are a bit limited. The following are a series of suggestions that
are based on what the Monarchist League of Canada does and
what I, myself, have done before.

Email Updates
The Monarchist League of Canada keeps its membership
constantly updated on things effecting the monarchy, fund-
raising drives, and membership initiatives. It is hard to
communicate too much with the membership and sadly very
easy to communicate too little. I should note that one type of
email the League sends out frequently is a letter-writing
campaign (usually to members of parliament).

Being a Resource
The Monarchist League of Canada publishes flyers and
booklets explaining the Canadian Monarchy as part of their
dedication to education. I've requested such publications from
time-to-time in order to distribute. Because its an issue in the
Canadian context, this has included doing full reports on how
much the monarchy costs Canadians which is published every
few years. The Grenada Monarchist League doesn't have to do
​any of these things specifically but the League should be able to support monarchists in advocacy and education.

​Leadership Surveys
One thing I have done for several years now is 'leadership
surveys' such as these ones. It is important to know who 
can be counted on to support the monarchy. Do note that it is
recommended that monarchist league remain non-partisan.
The Monarchist League of Canada has benefitted from having
members in every party and not being seen as being 'out to
get anyone'. Which brings us to...

Forge Links
Members of the Monarchist League of Canada are often called
on to speak to the media when an issue concerning the
monarchy comes up. Publishing the reports on the
monarchy's cost is only possible because it has the trust of
multiple departments to let them see how money is spent.

Social Media
The Monarchist League of Canada has an extensive social
media profile but they are also able to get someone to look
after it full-time. In terms of organizing people I'm a bit of a
sceptic on how useful it can be.

It is good to see people coming together in a shared love of the
Grenadian Monarchy and I look forward to their future
success.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour 

Since the end of decolonization in the 1960s the number of 
monarchies in the world hasn't changed all that much. While 
the expectation of modernists has been for the slow 
disappearance of monarchy as a government form it has
proven to be surprisingly resilient (to the modernists, if no 
one else). The 20th century saw two restorations; Spain and
Cambodia. Now that we are well into the 21st century the
​question becomes where the first restoration is likely to occur.
Below I have gathered some likely candidates with a short
​look at each.

After the fall of Gaddafi there was
hope that the monarchy might be
restored. However, the UN has
​largely left monarchists out of
the discussion on the country's
future. What makes Libya's
prospects for restoration better
than most is the active advocacy
of both the heir to the throne and
civil society groups within Libya.
Rallies in support of a restored
monarchy have occurred from
time to time. The cause is helped by there being very little
​agreement on an alternative system.

Nepal abolished its monarchy fairly recently and the country
has been in protracted political turmoil ever since. Advocacy
for the monarchy has been largely left to the politicians with
the former king focusing on the religious aspects of his role.
In November of 2023 protests in favour of restoring the
monarchy broke out in the country's capital. These protests
caught everyone by surprise as, unlike previously, these
protests were organized by a grassroots movement. In 2008
​a poll showed the monarchy's support at 49%.

Iran has been at a slow burn for a
while now with periodic protests
over various issues using phrases
supportive of the old monarchy.
Support for the monarchy sits at
around 60% of the population in
Iran. Monarchist groups also abound in the Iranian diaspora
with Prince Reza Pahlavi being a vocal opponent of Iran's
regime. Ultimately, monarchism is held back by the regime's
​ability to do whatever it takes to hold onto power.

A bit of an oddity on this list. Hungary, Croatia, and Austria
all have recent polling showing there are sizable minorities in
favour of restoration.

In 2021 a poll found 46% of Hungarians were in favour of
restoring the monarchy. Hungary is also historically where
the most recent attempt to restore the Habsburg's occurred,
during the inter-war years.

In 2019 a poll found 40% of Croatians would support the
country becoming a monarchy. This is impressive as the
prospective heir to the throne, Karl Habsburg-Lothringian
doesn't advocate for the idea and there ​are no monarchist
parties in the Croatian Parliament.

Compared to the previous two countries, Austria only 
manages 20% support for restoration. This is despite the fact
that the history of Austria largely is the history of the
Habsburgs.

Any list regarding restoration generally includes Georgia. This
is due to the simple fact it has polled highly. In 2013 one poll
put support at 56% while a second showed a staggering 78%
in favour of restoring the monarchy. Georgia's Orthodox 
Patriarch came out in favour of the move. The response from
the political establishment has largely been to suggest it occur
at some point in the future, just not now. Previously there
were concerns about there being different claimants to the
throne. This issue was largely addressed by the birth of Giorgi
Bagrationi in 2011 as he unites in his person the two main
branches of the family. In 2018 his father, Prince David
Bagrationi Mukhrani attended the inauguration of Georgia's
​first female prime minister. He remains active in the country.

There are, of course, other republics with sizable monarchist
movements. But if I had to put my money on restoration it
would be one of these seven candidates.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

A few years ago there was a bit of a scandal involving Justin 
Trudeau's Caribbean vacation to visit Aga Khan's private 
residence. This article isn't about Justin Trudeau or the 
trouble he got himself into though. Rather, I wanted to look at
the hereditary succession of the Aga Khans (which is not a
name but a title for the leader of the Nizari Ismaili Muslims).
I hope everyone will agree its actually a more interesting
topic.

I'm going to be very brief here as it concerns theological issues
within a religious tradition which I do not belong. Simply put,
the Nizari Ismailis are the second largest branch of Shia Islam
after the Twelvers. Shia Islam places great importance on
the imams, who are descended from the prophet Mohammed,
and who lead the Shia community. The current leader of the
Nizari is the 49th imam. At various times the imams have
held temporal power; most notably the Fatimids. I am not
going back that far. Rather, I am going to start with the first
imam to hold the title of Aga Khan and go from there. 

Hasan Ali Shah was born in 1804
in Kahak, Iran. His father was
killed in 1957 by a radical Twelver
after which he inherited the
position of imam at the age of 14.
While his father had resided in
Iran on a permanent basis, the
growing Nizari community in
India would continue to pull the
young Hasan towards the
subcontinent (as would his
eventual status as an outlaw). Imam Hasan Ali Shah would
marry the daughter of the Persian Shah, Princess Sarv-i-
Jahan Khanum. Along with a large dowry he was granted the
governorship of Qumm and was bestowed the honorific of 
Aga Khan. Imam Hasan Ali Shah was appointed governor
of Kerman in 1835.

This appointment was less cushy than the previous one as
Kerman was occupied by a rebel pretender the the throne and
was subject to raids from Afghanistan. Despite restoring order
to Kerman and two neighbouring districts his efforts went
unappreciated and he was removed from the position in 1837.
Or he would have been except he refused to step down and
with the assistance of his two brothers prepared to be put
under siege by government forces. He was besieged at Bam
for 14 months before realizing further resistance would be
pointless. Following attempts to secure safe passage, betrayal,
imprisonment, and trial before the Shah he was pardoned on
the condition he return peacefully to Mahallat. He did, and
resided there two years while quietly raising an army (as you
do). Following Treason: Part Two (Electric Boogaloo) Imam
Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan escaped to Afghanistan with his
family and some followers.

He arrived in the midst of the First Anglo-Afghan War and
offered to capture Herat for the British. However, the British
would discover why Afghanistan is known as the Graveyard of
Empires before he could. Imam Hasan would help the British
take Sindh. For his assistance the grateful British granted him
a £2,000 pension.

Imam Hasan would then travel to Bombay, visiting Nizari
​communities along the way. He arrived in 1846 just in time to
be met with an extradition request to Persia. The British were
not having it but moved him to Calcutta where it would be
harder for him to stir up trouble. While there was some
negotiations so that he could return ultimately they fell
through and he became a permanent resident of India.

He maintained a close relationship with the British and even
met the Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII). His
presence in India did create some conflict within the Nizari
community as some dissenting members felt they stood to
lose some prestige. This eventually resulted in a court case
that ruled Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan was the head of
the Nizari community. The Imam would die at Bombay in
1881.

Aqa Ali Shah was born in 1830. As
​a son of Princess Sarv-i-Jahan
Khanum he was a member of the
Royal Family of Persia. During
Imam Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan's
1840 attempt at regaining his
governorship, his wife and son
were taken to Iraq for safety
reasons. There he received an
education in Arabic, Persian,
metaphysics and Nizari Ismaili
doctrine and would become an
acknowledged expert on Arabic
and Persian literature. Changing
political circumstances would
allow him to return to Persia in
the late 1840s. Once there he would take over some of the
responsibilities his father had possessed before his revolt. He
would rejoin his father in Bombay in 1853. As his father's heir
apparent he would frequently visit the Ismaili communities in
South Asia, particularly in Sindh & Kathiawar.

​Upon his fathers death, Aqa Ali Shah took over the position of
imam. He maintained the good relations his father had with
the British and had been appointed to the Bombay Legislative
Council in 1880. He opened several schools for the Nizari community in Bombay and elsewheres. Using his position on
the council he was able to remedy a situation where his
followers were governed partly by Muslim law and partly by
Hindu law. He also sought to improve the conditions in other
Muslim communities which made him a popular leader. 

In 1885 Imam Aqa Ali Shah Aga Khan came down with a case
of pneumonia and passed away. His imamate had lasted four
years. 

Born in 1877, Sultan Mahomed Shah
was only 7 when he took over from his father as Imam. He would marry his
first wife, Shahzadi Begum, in 1896. As
​imam, Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga
Khan travelled widely (I should take a
moment to note that 'Sultan' is a given
name in this instance, not a title).
While in England during the year of
1897 Sultan was made a Knight
Commander of the Order of the Star of
India (he was promoted within the
order in 1902). In 1906 Sir Sultan
became one of the founders of the All
India Muslim League (a political party) and its first president.
Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan supported a separate
homeland for India's Muslims and would be involved in three
round table conferences (1930-32) that brought about
constitutional reforms in the British Raj. In 1934 he was made
a member of the Privy Council and that same year became a
member of the Assembly of the League of Nations. He would
hold this post until 1937 when he became the President of the
Assembly. Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan followed a
modernist approach to Islam and encouraged both education
and women's rights. This has contributed to the Nizari being
one of the most progressive branches of Islam. He died in
1957 at a village near Geneva, Switzerland.

Strictly speaking the imams had the authority to name any
member of their family as heir. Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah
Aga Khan opted to in this instance and laid out his reasoning
in his will:

Shah Karim al-Husayni was born
in Geneva in 1936. His mother
was the eldest daughter of the 3rd
Baron Churston. Despite these
European connections, and family
history in Asia, he would spend
his early childhood in Nairobi,
Kenya. He would be accepted into
MIT and intended to study
science but his grandfather vetoed
this idea. He would instead attend
Harvard where he studied Islamic
history. At the age of 20, and while still in university, Shah
Karim al-Husayni became imam after the death of his
grandfather. "Overnight, my whole life changed completely. I
woke up with serious responsibilities toward millions of
other human beings. I knew I would have to abandon my
hopes of studying for a doctorate in History". Shah Karim al-
Husayni Aga Khan graduated two years later. During Takht
nashini ceremonies at various locations in 1957 and 1958 the
new imam spoke repeatedly on the importance of fostering
positive relationships among different ethnicities.

The new Imam is sometimes referred to as the 'Imam of the
Atomic Age' as it was the development of atomic weapons and
other new technologies that led his grandfather to believe a
younger heir would be better able to face the challenges these
presented. And while the family had been slowly moving away
from Persia (now Iran) over the generations he was still one of
the athletes representing the country in the 1964 Olympics.

In 1972, under the regime of President Idi Amin of Uganda,
people of South Asian origin, including Nizari Ismailis, were
expelled. They were given 90 days to leave the country. Shah
Karim al-Husayni Aga Khan had befriended Pierre Trudeau at
an earlier date and was able to call him and ask for assistance.
The Trudeau government would allow thousands of Nizari to
immigrate to Canada. Shah Karim would also facilitate the
resettlement of his people from various countries. The focus
on education encouraged by the previous Aga Khans made
this task much easier and they were resettled across North
​America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Today, Nizari Ismaili
Muslims number 80,000 in Canada. 

In 1998 Shah Karim al-Husayni Aga Khan would enact the
Ismaili Constitution in Lisbon, Portugal. This formalized
matters that had been left up to tradition for hundreds of
years.

Shah Karim al-Husayni Aga Khan is considered one of the top
fifteen richest royals and the only one who does not preside
over a geographic territory. His net worth was last estimated
at over 13 billion dollars. Non-profits connected to the Aga
Khan spend about 600 million dollars per year (mainly in
Africa, Asia, and the Middle East). This includes the Aga
Khan Development Network. As an interesting aside, a
large part of his income comes from horse breeding and
racing which was a cultural activity of the Persian nobility and
​which the family has continued to be involved in.

In 2009 the Aga Khan was given honourary Canadian
citizenship. He also has citizenship from the United Kingdom,
France, Switzerland, and Portugal. The Aga Khan would
accept an invitation from Prime Minister Harper in 2014 to
address the Canadian Parliament.

​Shah Karim al-Husayni Aga Khan has four children.

There are some who may be loudly proclaiming "He is not a
monarch!" Admittedly, the Aga Khan sits in a weird middle
ground between landed monarchs and solely spiritual leaders.
It can't be denied he is a leader of his people and this isn't the
only time a status usually associated with having land is
attributed to an entity that does not have land (I'm looking at
you, Sovereign Order of Malta).

For starters, the Aga Khans have royal status as both being a
part of House Fatimid and through descent from the former
Persian royal house. The Aga Khan and his immediate family
are styled as princes and princesses. This style was first
recognized by the UK in 1938. The Aga Khan's form of
address is 'His Highness' which Queen Elizabeth II formally
granted in 1957, although it had been used as a courtesy title
since the time of Aga Khan I.

So if anyone ever gets to wondering who Justin Trudeau was
visiting in 2016, now you know.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Alternative History is a popular sub-genre of historical fiction 
that asked 'what if' some key event had gone differently. This 
can be a lot of fun as you imagine history unfolding in new, 
and probably strange, directions. While the entertainment 
value of alternative history is well understood, does it have 
any value to a monarchist or to monarchism in general? 

Certainly, the Monarchism subreddit doesn't think so and
bans alternative history posts out-right. And so I am making
this post as a defence of alt history as a useful tool to better
understanding monarchies, monarchs, and monarchists.

Perhaps the foremost benefit of alt history is that it invites the
person to dive into a historical event and ask why it turned
out that way in the first place. After all, you can't change
something unless you know what you are changing. And often
you will find that historical figures in fact did make the best
decisions available to them at the time. A surprising finding is
a lot of the time the answer to why someone didn't choose a
different option is it was a suboptimal to do so or unlikely to
succeed. It leads to the recognition that history is a lot more
complex than it can appear on the surface and just because
one factor would seem to indicate there are other options
doesn't make it so. The YouTube channel History Matters
goes into these types of questions a lot.

To sum up; to do alt history well you need to know history.

Monarchs can often seem distant, almost unreal characters in
some story rather than real people who faced real challenges.
By asking what would happen if a monarch had chosen to act 
differently we implicitly are asking why they were the way 
they were. This brings into focus the oft forgotten fact that as
much as history can be viewed as great clash of social and
economic forces, personalities still matter. Another YouTube
channel, Possible History, noted that this made creating
alt history of that period very difficult as a single marriage,
death, or birth (or lack there of) could have wide, and largely
unpredictable, effects. As such, while they made a video that
looked at what would have happened if the Crusade of Varna
had succeeded but didn't take the alt history beyond the
immediate aftermath as there were too many people to keep
track of even though the social factors were relatively simple.

To sum up; alt history refocuses back onto the people who
were actually making history rather than abstract causes.

Both of the above points are needed to do alt history well, and
in a way that is useful to monarchists. Take speculating on
what would have happened if King Charles II had fled to
North America after he escaped England as an example. On
paper it seems like it might have been feasible strategy to 
continue the fight. There is circumstantial evidence that the
governor of Newfoundland was creating a small fleet and the
Royal Navy even deserted the republican government for a
time. But at the end of the day the North American colonies
were too dependent on England for supplies, too poor to
support a large navy, and too under-equipped to form the
backbone of a royalist army. If the idea crossed the King's
mind he would have been weighted against seeking funding
from sympathetic monarchs on the European continent. 
Monarchs that could be both a source of money and men
that far exceeded what the colonies could offer. And in the
end, even if King Charles II had gone the colonial route it is
​still likely he would be invited back after Cromwell's death. 

But. Perhaps the distances involved or simple inertia results
in King Charles II ruling in North America while England
becomes firmly established as a republic. A weird scenario
but this is similar to how Brazil ended up as an independent
​empire. It is also true that there is a very real reason I might
think of this scenario out of some longing for a resident
Canadian monarch. That is fine. That alt history can help a
person learn about their own psyche as well as real history is
why I think it holds value as a learning tool.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour 

The month of September saw the Roman Empire as a topic of 
discussion. Although this is apparently because women had 
discovered men actually think about it quite a lot. 

Now, there are numerous videos looking at exactly why this is 
the case (and several compilation videos) but explanations 
have varied. People Magazine suggested Rome has
historically been over-emphasized in Western Societies. The
Washington Post suggested its about the over-emphasis of 
the masculinity of Rome. Others have suggested that men
and women are essentially 'built different' mentally and that
Rome hits a sweet spot of all the things men care about. 

I'm not sure I completely buy any of these explanations. For
myself, I'm a monarchist and a student of history; Rome
comes up a lot. But if I were into sports, engineering,
linguistics, or economics, Rome would be unavoidable in
those fields as well. 

I think the quest to find the equivalent 'Rome Question' for
women is indicative. Some popular suggestions are the Salem
Witch Trials or Princess Diana. Fair enough, I don't think
about either topic all that much. But the question that I think
is probably the closest female equivalent is "How often do 
you think about your ex-best friend?" And honestly, until I
saw that question I couldn't remember the last time I
thought about them but to an extent I had never put someone
in that box as an 'ex-best friend'. As a test I actually asked a
female coworker familiar with the meme when they last
thought about their ex-bestfriend and she said it was just the
other day. I asked a male coworker and he paused for a
second and replied, "I think the question is how often do I
think about my current best friend, because its not a lot." 

And in a way the questions are the same. One's best friend can
shape your life in ways that are both subtle and profound. In
a similar vein, Roman influence permeates Western society in
ways we aren't always fully aware of.

A few years back a solicitor in
Ireland drew a straight line from
space shuttle design back to
Roman chariot standards. Now,
while cute, this line isn't as clear
as the meme would seem to
suggest. Still, it would seem that
in the modern world, at least on a
conceptual level, all roads do still lead to Rome.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

The Royal St. John's Regatta is North America's oldest annual
sporting competition. It also has had interesting ties to the
​monarchy since its earliest days. 

The earliest records for the event date from 1816 but there is
credible conjecture that the event was held earlier. Ship crews
would often compete against each other in rowing
competitions as a form of entertainment. It is from these
informal matches that the regatta originated.

The 1818 regatta was more put together affair. It was held on
September 22nd to coincide with the 57th anniversary of King
George III's coronation. It is from this date that the organizers
of the regatta mark their anniversary with the regatta
celebrating its 200 year anniversary in 2018.

Since 1818, there was a tradition
of using coronation anniversaries
 to set ​the date of the regatta as
this pictured betting slip from
1937 attests.

Members of the Royal Family who
have attended the regatta include
Prince Albert Edward (later King
Edward VII) in 1860 and Queen
Elizabeth II in 1978. In 2016
Princess Anne visited St. John's to
unveil the championship rings to
​be given out in 2018.

In 1993 the regatta was given its royal
designation through the efforts of Don
Johnson, Frederick Russel, and Geoff
Carnell. As a result a new crest was
developed incorporating Saint Edward's
Crown above a fixed-seat row boat. The
Royal St. John's Regatta is one of only
four organizations in Newfoundland to
have a royal designation. 

The regatta also has a coat of arms which can be seen here.

The Royal St. John's Regatta is held on the first Wednesday
of August, weather permitting. It is a civic holiday in the city
of St. John's but is unique in that the day off is entirely
dependent on whether the weather is suitable for rowing or
not. If called off the regatta will be held on the next suitable
day.

Besides the rowing there are many food stalls and games of
chance along the shoreline as well as live music provided by
the Church Lads Brigade Regimental Band which gives the
event a festival atmosphere. Hope to see you there.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour