In Defence of the Nutmeg Crown

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.

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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 & Sub-Menus

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:

"The logo consists most prominently of Saint Edward’s Crown, the coronation
crown of the King. Saint Edward’s Crown adorns the emblems and insignia of
institutions such as the Royal Grenada Police Force and His Majesty’s Prison
Service, the ceremonial maces of the Houses of Parliament, and the badge of the
Order of the Nation. It is the most recognisable emblem of the Grenadian
monarchy.
The crown is surrounded by a garland of Bougainvillea, Grenada’s national flower.
Along the bottom of the garland is arrayed 7 red roses, representing the 6 parishes
of Grenada and the sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
Along the bottom of the garland can be found two cacao pods, representing
Grenada’s long agricultural history. Near the mid and top of the garland can be
found 4 nutmeg pods, representing Grenada’s most important and defining spice."

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.

Activities

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