Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 475 Editor's Choice: 5
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The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is just another royal lackey who facilitated the marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-BowlesIt's a fairly complicated system but it's all about inerited privilege,
[Read the article: The troublesome priest]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Queen is the head of the Church of England but the Archbishop of Canterbury is the theologian of choice. As a member of the royal family and future king, Charles, was forbidden marrying his mistress and a divorced woman, Camilla. These were the rules as stipulated by the Anglican Church (Episcopalian in the US) and his mother is head of that Church. A massive theological/constitutional/legal poring over documents began so that Charles could fulfill his heart's desire - and he did. Camilla Parker-Bowles is now Duchess of Cornwall and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is Welsh and has fashioned himself to look like a Druid, blessed the (official union), However, Mohammad al-Fayed, owner of Harrods and a very wealthy Egyptian who's been living in England for many years, is still kicking up a dust about the car-crash in Paris in which his son, Dodi, and Princess Diana died. He is convinced, and so are many British people, that Ml6 was behind the crash because Diana had taken Dodi as her lover and had become an embarrassment to Prince Charles. An inquest on what happened that night in Paris over ten years ago is only taking place now. I don't know what game the Archbishop is playing but it's rebounded badly on him, with irate citizens bombarding radio/television statements about his phillipcs.. In Britain, Sharia law is associated particularly with s0-called "honour killings" in which a father, brother, any close male relative feels it incumbent to kill a woman who flouts the strictures of the most extreme interpretation of the Koran. The British value their civil liberties, do not want to commit cultural suicide just to be politically correct, and cannot understand how civil law could work in tandem with laws which prevail in utterly different societies. Not one British politician of any consequence has supported the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Queen is reported as being "embarrassed". It's all gone quiet now but Ronan Williams will retire and be given the title "Lord Williams" which will allow him to sit in the Second House of the British Parliament with all the others who are put out to grass where they can graze contentedly at the expense of the British taxpayer.
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Correction
[Read the article: The troublesome priest]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"inherited privilege".
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Please read today's TIMESONLINE to see what Trevor Phillips has to say on this vexed topic'
[Read the article: Is Obama playing the race card?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Trevor Phillips is British and is prominent in public life. I think his parents might have been from the West Indies and were immigrants to Britain. As a black Briton with strong opinions, Mr. Phillips offers a unique perspective on the subject.
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"The British royal family is quite forthright about the Araba line in its ancestry going back
[Read the article: Obama should be proud to be named Hussein]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]to Andalusia". Mr. Cole, I was reading your article with some interest, although I thought you were trying too hard, until I was taken completely aback by the above statement. I live in the neighbouring island to Britain -the journey from Dublin to Liverpool by ferry is just a couple of hours - and British newspapers, radio and television channels are as accessible as those of my home country. The British royal family is Germanic and all historical sources prove that. The family name is Saxe-Coburg (which was changed to Windsor during World War 1 at a time when Britain and Germany were fighting each other). To suggest that the British royal family derives from Andalusia must be one of the best-kept secrets of all time. There was historical enmity between Catholic Spain and Protestant England right up to the 20th century but that as dissipated for many reasons - both countries are members of the European Union, Spain is the most popular holiday destination for millions of Brits and so on.
As far as I can see, Mr. Cole, your throwaway remark about the British royal family is a fabrication and I'm definitely not a royalist. You can ignore me or provide clarification, whichever you wish.
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Corrections to my letter
[Read the article: Obama should be proud to be named Hussein]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Written in haste as I was so stunned by Juan Cole's assertion. "Arab" and "has dissipated". There is so much stretching of credulity in the article anyway that I'm not sure whether it is a joke.
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Samlor @ 7:36 a,m
[Read the article: Obama should be proud to be named Hussein]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Queen Mary was the daughter of Henry V111 and Catherine of Aragon (whose capital is Saragossa). Catherine of Aragon was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella (Los Reyes Catolicos). Not only did Ferdinand and Isabella drive the Moors (Arabs) from Andalucia but it was they who supported Christopher Columbus in the voyage that led to the discovery of the New World.
Queen Mary was nicknamed "Bloody Mary" because of her religious fanaticism. Her husband, Philip, was also descended from Ferdinand and Isabella so Mary and he were cousins. They had no children and there are some doubts on whether their marriage was ever consummated. Queen Mary was put to the chop by her half-sister Elizabeth I (daughter of 'orny 'Enry V111 and Ann Boleyn). Lovely people! There is no favourable connection to Andalusia which would advance Juan Cole's statement; Queen Mary and King Philip were descended from the couple who ran the Arabs and Jews out of Spain. The current royal family descends from Albert and Victoria (Germans).
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To say the Windsor are German in descent is not accurate" according to Ann H. @ 8:l3 am
[Read the article: Obama should be proud to be named Hussein]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry, Ann, but where are your facts? When Charles, Prince of Wales, married Lady Diana Spencer there was much rejoicing in the British media that the bride was actually English, that she was not a cousin, and, even more important, I suggest, that she was a very good-looking 20 year old virgin. There is Danish blood via Queen Alexandra who married Victoria's son, Edward V11, Queen Mary of Teck (which I think is German) but she was born in London.....All of this can cause people's eyes to glaze, but the British royal family was hardly "international" and the present queen is a direct descendant of Victoria and Albert. Albert was born in pre-united Germany and Victoria was of German lineage. I can make mistakes like everyone else but you have provided no facts whatever. "International", as you call it, would demand aristocratic ancestry, European and membership of the Anglican (Protestant) religion of which the queen is head. The ultimate WASPS really.