“The Leader of the Tribe”
Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee
Edgar Lowe
In 1977, the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, Derek Jarman’s film Jubilee seemed to epitomize the seismic shift that punk had caused to the cultural landscape. Violent, nihilistic, and filthy, Jubilee raised the aesthetic potential of punk to a higher artistic form.
In the film, Elizabeth I is transported to the England of the late 1970s by the angel Aerial who is evoked by her astrologer-magician John Dee. Walking around this wasteland, aurally punctuated by gunshots and billowing with smoke, they seem to have entered a different world.
Indeed, it is an alternate reality, one in which the monarchy has long since disappeared, and where Buckingham Palace has been bought by the monopolistic and creepy entertainment impresario, Borgia Ginz.
But there are portentous undertones to the film that ring true. “As long as the music’s loud enough we won’t hear the world falling apart,” Ginz says at one point. All of the characters utter platitudinous slogans, sometimes giggling as they do so. The scenario resembles Godard’s One Plus One, the Black Panthers replaced by King’s Road punks, The Rolling Stones replaced by Adam and the Ants, French pretension replaced by a two-fingered Anglo Saxon salute. The film oozes a dark nihilism entirely in keeping with the subcultural ethos of the time.
Thirty-five years on, Derek Jarman is dead but the Queen still reigns and is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee. A post-monarchist future for England seems, if anything, less likely now than it did 35 years ago. Whereas in the 1970s the Queen seemed to be the ultimate embodiment of everything relating to the establishment, and a pertinent hate figure for punks, there has been an extraordinary turnaround in recent years, largely inspired by the death of Diana.
It is probably true to say that people generally now feel more embittered towards politicians than they do towards the Royal Family, and there seems to be a feeling that there is a need for a symbolic head of state who can stand above the grubby corruption of the Westminster class. This idea of the Royal Family as a higher, more trustworthy, representative of the people is essentially a mythic, or Traditionalist, view. It is a view that was shared by a recent Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes, who described the Queen as, “the leader of the tribe.”
The arguments of republicans are becoming increasingly stale, partly because their idea of what should replace monarchy appeals to no one at an instinctive level. When republicans complain that the monarchy is not democratic, everyone looks to the fruits of democracy (money corruption, national debt, unemployment, immigration, etc.) and feels that we could live without further democratization. When republicans complain that the Catholics are forbidden from succession to the throne, we may find this restriction unfair but we secretly enjoy the fact that at least some discrimination and self-assertion is still legally sanctioned. The republican argument against male priority to succession is also a weak argument against monarchy. If ideas of gender equality should be applied to the process then why not extend equality further and question why it should be restricted to one particular family and based on the hereditary principle? Ultimately, this would lead to an elected monarchy and the absolute nightmare scenario of politicians or pop stars fulfilling the role.
Republicans are arguing for the wrong things. They can see that the present system of monarchy is flawed but they wish to destroy everything good about it and replace it with something much worse. The important thing about a monarchical regime is that it should be filled with the best members of the aristocracy and that it should act as a mediator between a tribe and their gods.
During the Anglo Saxon period (449–1066) Kingship was a fundamentally important part of social organization. The Anglo Saxon Kings all traced their ancestry back to the god Woden, and it was by virtue of this divine legitimacy that they were able to become leaders. The question of lineage was not deterministic, however. The King was supported as long as he could demonstrate that he could maintain the favor of the god, but he would be overthrown if the god deserted him. A successful king would become more popular and more secure by demonstrating that he was channeling the luck of the god. Success would be demonstrated by the outcomes of battles. Kings who were poor warriors clearly did not have the support of the warrior god, Woden, and would have a short career.
If the king had to be disposed of, a replacement could be found from the same family, or perhaps from other members of the aristocracy. The aristocratic families really were representative of the best of society as they had achieved their position by proving themselves as warriors. They all claimed descent from Woden, so that if King was replaced, he would be succeeded by another Woden descended King, and one who had proved himself to have greater durability. Thus, there was an unbreachable sense of elitism to the institution, but it was a healthy elitism validated by warrior virtue rather than by convention.
Due to the highly militaristic nature of Anglo Saxon society, and the consequent fact that the king had to be a proven warrior, leadership was almost exclusively male. But this was not an abstract rule imposed dogmatically. In 911 Æðelflæd took over the leadership of the Mercian kingdom from her husband Æðelred. There were political factors at play here, most importantly the political alliance with Wessex (Æðelflæd’s father was Alfred the Great of Wessex and her mother was Mercian). And it is also true that she never had the title “queen,” although her husband was never known as “king” either. But nonetheless it is the case that she was the ruler of Mercia for several years at a time when England was under assault from the most effective Viking attacks it had ever faced. By 918 when Æðelflæd died the future of Mercia, and England as a whole, was secure. Her reign as ruler of Mercia demonstrates that the Anglo Saxons had no particular taboo against women being leaders, but the scarcity of such female rulers attests to the fact that the best military leader in a warrior society is always likely to be a man. This situation is quite distinct from that found in other institutions that have a specific doctrinal prohibition on women taking certain roles, such as the church. The Anglo Saxon position is primarily one of pragmatism, choosing the best person from an existing elite, and allowing the hereditary principle to continue as long as it continues to show results.
The problem with the present system of monarchy is that the principles of excellence on which Kingship was originally based have become ossified. The ethos of excellence has become codified into strict laws about succession and precedence. And the role of the monarch as the head of the Church of England is no longer a fit reflection of the monarch’s duty to mediate with the gods, although it does at least retain a residual sense of this function. The hereditary principle of Kingship is a sound one in a relatively dangerous society as it provides a continuity of leadership through an aristocratic elite. When the family in question can face no possible challenge to their position then it becomes problematic as there is no longer a need for them to maintain their warrior standards. The present Royal Family have actually done a great deal to maintain their commitment to the armed services and this attachment is certainly genuine, and it demonstrates their willingness to fulfil the continuation of the King’s warrior role.
But the big question that may determine the future shape of the monarchy has to do with the constitutional basis of the Union. With the very real possibility of Scotland becoming independent in the next few years the entire basis of the present monarchical system may be undermined, and it may even possible for England to regain its own independence. Even if this scenario should come to pass we will still be left to suffer under the sort of politicians who have pursued the disastrously selfish and divisive economic and social policies that have destroyed England. Perhaps though, if there could be found some way of re-establishing an English King in this imagined future, we might be able to rediscover some of the spirit that made England great so long ago, and perhaps even begin once more to assert the power of blood over that of money.
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20 comments
Interesting article.
After all, the Norman conquest was an illegal occupation, which we get to celebrate this weekend at vast expense to the British taxpayer.
I like the idea of the constitutional basis of the monarchy being weakened – that would hopefully undermine the power of the politicians.
The problem with the Queen and the royal family in general is that they have no spiritual authority which really was the mark of the king in the olden days. They are celebrities. Diana had some vitality to her. I remember seeing Princess Anne when I was younger. She did have a regal air, but she also looked stupid. My favourite Celtic Queen was Boadicea. I also regret to inform you that in 2011, they changed the rules of succession. They have succumbed. I think the facebook account did it. It’s a pity.
She is still the Head of The Church of England, too bad Anglicanism is almost dead…. but is not her fault
Well, there is the problem. How can a woman be the head of a male religion? Is she supposed to be some kind of Shakti? The protestants did away with Mary after all. She was way too catholic.
While it is true that many if not most representations of Mary were physically destroyed by Cromwell’s forces, it is a common misconception that the Church of England is Protestant or that it proscribes veneration of Mary. By the terms of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, the Anglican Church is self-conceived as Catholic and Reformed but not Protestant.
Supremacy is vested in the monarch, originally the Supreme Head but eventually Supreme Governor, to make allowances for Elizabeth I femaleness. I do not think English theologians of this period could avail themselves of the profounder forms of Indian theology such as Siva- or Shaktism, since the full religious harvest yielded from colonization of the subcontinent was still centuries in the future.
Edgar Lowe in blockquote:
This is a joke, right?
Blair pushed HARD for Affirmative Action to apply to the SAS. The Regiment noted that it would not lower its standards – there were women in the Regiment, one of whom served in Northern Ireland and wrote a book about it. The SAS won that round, but the reduction in British forces to the point they call on us for helicopter transport in Afghanistan, as they are stuck with clapped out Warrior vehicles – easily neutralized to devastating effect by cheap, modern IEDs – and apparently are stuck with clapped-out Browning Hi-Powers because they can not afford Glocks – one damn critical shortcoming after another.
Their one aircraft carrier is heading into an engagement that they “won” the last time because our intel services kept them up to date on the opposition, which struck a stunning blow with an old Mirage airframe and “an” – as in ONE – Exocet missile. Hopefully, the aircraft carrier they will be sharing with France will come with instructions in English.
Elizabeth II became Queen just in time to see the fading away of the last of the Empire – Suez – and the power of the newest form of 4G warfare – Gandhi. Withdrawing the consent of the governed worked, as the new medium of fast worldwide communications showed one and all that the Empire was a Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth something worthy of pity, rather than respect, rather like the seedy old man at the bar telling you his tales of glory when he was a young man.
Culturally, yob culture has taken over, and will triumph over mighty Londonistan. The day might come when Kate’s daughter will take office as the last stanza of the National Anthem is change to “God save our Graaaa-cious Queen….Innnnnshaaaaaalaaaaah.”
Politically, the SNP has moved for referendums for years, and, now that England can not afford to sustain it for much longer, will be granted separation, if it wants it, at a price it might not be able to afford. I suspect there are more energy resources attached to the North Sea than many might think, else the Game would be more fully played out by now.
Gerry Adams sits in Stormont. Irish independence is a possibility as well, such is the rate of political change.
The economic map of Formerly Great Britain changes daily, with an economy of people too old, to soft, too weak, too “tolerant” and particularly too gelded to deal with the yobs, and the “Asian” gangs growing by leaps in bounds, and acting with near-total impunity. Might we consider Emma West lucky to get off as light as she has? Think we have seen pretty much the last of such “luck?”
I suppose Kate’s daughter will become Queen just in time for a true Constitutional Monarchy to come into being, but it will be at time where the independence of England will not be sought, as, after all, what would they do with it?
Whatever The City allows, I suppose.
The “warriors,” of course, will continue to execute parade smartly, as the leaders of the military will look and ask themselves, “What advice would we give the young men we used to be, if we knew then what Formerly Great Britain would be today?”
If memory serves, Elizabeth I did not have the money to pay the Navy that had defeated the Armada. She placed the Army on the docks, and forbade the sailors, who had just given her the greatest victory imaginable, to leave the ships, where many, far too many of them, died. Warrior?
Hell, the Prime Warrior.
What advice do you suppose SHE would offer Kate, and/or Kate’s daughter? Where should Kate’s daughter look for a Prince Consort worthy of her, should she choose to take this whole “warrior” business seriously?
I suggest USMC OCS Quantico.
Great finale. William and Harry are both fine young men, both qualified to lead a Counter Revolution. But alas, they appear to be thoroughly gelded in Spirit. Thus Kate’s daughter will probably marry a Pakistani Prince a la Raspail – thus making official what has already become the Reality.
Started Cosmogenesis from Solar General. Nice writing but no surprises yet. I still prefer Farnham O’Reilly’s vision as opposed to your genetically engineered one. You are a Draka Philosopher. Don’t get me wrong – I love the Drakas. But are they still human? I found myself rooting for the Yankees – especially the Samothracian Cyber Warrior from the future.
Ward Kendall’s vision may still be a future option if private space flight takes off. Last week’s success was small but inspiring.
Camp of the Saints is such a classic… How about a review/essay/analysis of the book?
Jaego in blockquote:
It would be nice if she married a son of the New RUSSIAN aristocracy. THAT would be quite consistent with the metapolitical perspective. They are being developed, as Faye implies. We are simply too narrow-minded to see it happening. We will pay the price of ignorance one day, as have the heirs to Victoria.
William and Harry seem to be placeholders for someone who has The Right Stuff. Note how they are butching up the work of Harry, as if to compensate for the fact that the energy that made them has gone. Kate’s daughter shall certainly face exciting times, and many opportunities. Perhaps she might reform the MoD into a New Model – sorry, bit too close to home, that!
I haven’t read Cosmogenesis, and I invite you to consider a review for the Pierce Seminar. The review can extend to what Pierce might have been able to do with a religion, particularly a very forward-facing one.
There is genetic engineering going on all the time. The Jews abort the moment amniocentesis is positive for Tay-Sachs, and demographers are stunned at how that genetic trait is being wiped out among European Jewry. As well, as I have said, the Chinese are working full sped on this. Incidentally, biological computing is on the way. It has been estimated that one strand of DNA holds five gigabytes of information. Along those lines, search for “mousebrain,” and note that 500 terabytes of mouse brain has been mapped, and THAT is what they are telling us about. I saw a talk Cray gave where he (VERY briefly referred to biological computing, and I think he was using it as a model of general computing.
Consider the recent statement by the head of robotics research at MIT that right now, given current technology, they could replace 80 PERCENT of the world’s workers. Keep an eye of Honda’s ASIMO robot, by the way. That has been developing at breakneck speeds. I expect to see them in nursing homes by the hundreds of thousands in less than a decade. My God, they are resolving the issues of spinal cord paralysis with exoskeletons, and prosthesis, manipulated by the human mind.
Consider the Vision offered by Gwendolyn Ingolfsson, of a Sereneti Plain uncluttered by, well, us. A clean and beautiful Haiti, all based on a world where the human population is gone (these are Drakensis, remember), pollution does not exist, and everyone enjoys a very high standard of living.
We see this in microcosm every day, when someone from a Third World country has a child in America, goes on welfare, and multiplies her standard of living by more than a magnitude….
Draka society is simply much more forthright about this sort of thing. In time, we might have to be, as well.
I keep asking people to write out the view from their bedroom window fifty years from now. Only two have tried at all, and that is on several boards. The reason is obvious. Things will get so bad, they feel helpless – this is a learned helplessness – in the face of it.
Yet, every day the world begins anew; someone dies, but children are born, and we should certainly try to insure they will have it much better than we did. If that means genetic engineering so your Children, and their Children, never get Alzheimer’s, diabetes, you name it, wouldn’t it be worth it?
Yes.
You would. You will speak with your partner, speak with the doctors, and tell God that he gave us free will for a reason, and that reason is to carry forward the process of Civilization, so our Posterity may again walk Among The Stars. Period. (HT: Kevin Alfred Strom)
The Path Forward, given the need for the density of relationships, and high quality relationships at that, requires an incubator, and the Northwest Republic supplies the only opportunity for that. If our first starship takes off from the Starport in Kalispell, and we can watch it live from the William Pierce Memorial Chapel at the Sandpoint Military Academy, so much the better. (That’s SandPOINT, not SandHURST. By that time, Sandhurst will be a wonderful museum.)
Speaking of Kendall’s Vision, do you think it is at all incompatible with Gwendolyn’s Vision for Mars?
Neither do I.
Andrew Fraser in his The Wasp Question famously described our queen as Elizabeth the Useless . The problem is only partly hers for like Gulliver, she is tied down by all those Lilliputians. America too, is part of the problem for just as her departure weakened the empire the way we protestants weakened the church by our separation, we are hanging separately rather than standing together.
For our race to survive focal points are required and throne and altar have yet to be bettered. As a Brit I hate to say it but Hitler had it right when he proposed a European continental bloc and a British Empire existing side by side.
Well said Sandy. You’ve highlighted the salient points. ‘For our race to survive focal points are required and throne and altar have yet to be bettered’. Like the Papacy, the quality of Monarchs will be variable, but the institution is metaphysical and metapolitical.
If New Zealand (and Australia) ever become Republics, and it is very likely within a few generations, then we will stagnant like every other such dung-heap and our presidents will be banalities such as retired sports ‘celebrities’ , in keeping with the increasingly pathetic characters of Antipodeans, who lack identity other than as eocnomic automatons, while increasing numbers come from cultures that have no connections with the founding traditions.
Just as Andrew Hamilton’s Hitler’s Speeches touched on the difficulty of obtaining copies of his speeches, does anyone know where a copy of the complete and unadulterated Queen’s coronation ceremony can be obtained?
Sandy, there is no complete version of the ceremony, since at one crucial moment they turned off the cameras. It was deemed too sacred.
Fourmyle: Natural Eugenics, both positive and negative is one thing. But tampering with what we don’t understand is quite another. By all means let the gifted breed and let the unfit be guided towards sterilization. But not forced: do we trust ourselves that much?
But actually recreating ourselves a la the Draka or the Daleks? I say our whole Evolutionary Future is already implicit within us as the Oak is within the Acorn – and that it will unfold in God’s good time if we do the proper pruning as you indicated. To tamper would be hubris and likely to create monsters of imbalance devoid of wisdom or humanity.
Speaking of the Draka: the Church needs an order of Drakul as old Romania had. Why the exclusive focus on the Dove? Christ said also to be a wise as serpents. Let us bring back the brazen serpent or dragon, a dragon being a serpent that has grown legs and wings. And let the dragon fly towards the stars. Kalispell would be a fine launching place. And yes, a new place like Mars would need a new people purified of our genetic deficiencies and fantasies of egalitarianism, be it of individuals or races.
Judaism is the serpent but Christianity enriched by Paganism is the Dragon.
Jaego Scornze in blockquote:
I don’t say we SHOULD; I say we WILL, just as a technological imperative. I am opposed to it as rule, as “selecting for the best” may work for one generation. Yet, as just Zinajnthropus would never have designed homo sapiens, so we could not design the organic homo novus. That will take care of itself, in the fullness of time, as a manifestation of the outworking of very subtle, and very powerful, spiritual forces.
I could not agree more, as a rule.
As an exception that proves the rule., consider than China is moving ahead on hukman eugenics at an amazing rate. Suppose the epigenetic mechanism for acceleration of “intelligence” were found? Extend that over three generations – literally, less than a blink of an eye in human evolution – and we would be seen as pets, at best, and very useless eaters, at worst.
There was a great video out called the Norse Serpent, if memory serves, which is well worth watching.
And the new Orders(s) of Priesthood should be distinctively Masculine, and have the Imperative of Conquest. Using the Dragon as the Inner Sigil – “In This Sign Conquer” – is a fascinating idea.
After all, the uniquely Masculine Northern Mysteries, referred to as “Paganism” by those who do not want us to look to closely, redeeemed Institutional Christianity when it was in danger of becoming overly materialistic, overly Feminine, overly Babylonian.
And needs to be so enriched again.
This wold be an excellent idea for you to do something along the lines of an outline – merely an outline – along the lines of alternative history timeline, for Dr. Johnson’s Pierce Symposium on the topics of Cosmotheism, and the development of a temporal Church with Orders that would grow, stably and organically, providing the living spiritual foundation for the new nation. OUR churches, OUR Sanctuaries, OUR boarding schools, OUR schools, colleges, and universities, devoted to something much damn Better than what we have.
The implications of this are profound.
You can just SEE Yockey shouting “YES! THAT is what I would do, if I was here, and had the chance.”
He didn’t, but you do.
I can’t say I understand white nationalists adoration for the British Empire.
jack in blockquote:
The triumph of marketing over reason, pure and simple.
What we are shown as “the British Empire” is a series of Symbols designed to make us admire and respect them; great military uniforms, lots of regalia, picture of Oxford, Cambridge and Parliament, and no awareness whatsoever for the process by which these came to be effective as Symbols of Power.
This is called The Consensus Trance (HT: Horus the Avenger), and the media does not show life in “average” Britain as it is today. Most people do not have the initiative to look for demographic and cultural analysis that dhows what is really going on behind the scenes. We are shown “Sherlock,” and not Onslow. There’s a reason for that. We are shown pretty little armies on parade, and not the painful drudgery of a country that had its best days early in the last century. We see where yob culture has triumphed over excellence, with one fascinating exception.
That exception is how the Elite has walled themselves off from the Commoners. Their own schools, clubs, country clubs, their own careers (not jobs, mind you), their own little parallel universe allows the Elite to continue their little (in)breeding project, with the Conquerors safely removed from the common view of the common man, the Conquered.
We are shown pictures of an old woman, kindly, sweet Ol’ Granma, and everyone smiles. “These MUST be Good People, mustn’t they?”
No, they are the manifestation of the Ruling Culture of disciplined ruthlessness, “Above All, US Above All.” Do you REALLY think the children of Diana are going to find Commoner Cinderella and marry her? No, of course not. Aristocratic Duty is much too important for that. No one in the media seems to have looked at Kate’s bloodline. Her “choice” might have been inspired by “accident.” Her approval was done to the highest, most ruthless standards. There is still the Remnant that founded one Empire, and dreams of founding another.
We can well learn from the means and ends of disciplined ruthlessness, by adopting the same Institutions and modifying them for our much better purposes. They do produce an excellent little Army, and the first rate Royal Marines. It does not serve them as much as they might have liked, Irish independence having been almost an accomplished fact less than a century ago.
They have the Form, but have lost the energy, the power, to transform the Substance effectively. They lost the power of young Masculine Energy at the Somme, and never really recovered. Their repeated failures at this are all you need to know. Incidentally, note how The Queen stated Kate’s daughter WILL be the Queen. Think changes are coming?
Students of How The World Really Works should get the dvds of a BBC series called “Spooks,” over there, and “MI-6” over here. Many, many excellent examples of how really smart people continue to rule their country abound in the series.
THOSE people aren’t “Onslow,” and we can learn from them.
*Rant Off*
jack pt 2:
Forgive my missing the obvious.
jack in blockquote, again:
The OTHER reason WNists adore the British Empire is William F. Buckley. His elite style impressed people who were not aware of the subtle nuances of class – see Fussell’s “Class” for a masterful introduction – and people whose children would use Birnbach’s “The Preppy Handbook” as a handbook for restyling their lives, and the material possessions they used to signal their admission into the Invisible Upper Class.
Buckley and his people hated the common man, and must have laughed among themselves as the proles emulated them. They could only adopt the matters of Form, and that only superficially.
Brilliant marketing, aimed at people who are barely schooled, and never educated, as to How The World Works.
Buckley is laughing in Hell tonight.
@Fourmyle of Ceres
Then they are fools as no force on Earth has been more disastrous among European nations and the US inciting conflict and Central Banking usury for economic domination through the City of London than the British Empire.
And we know who the real power behind the British Empire is.
jack:
And, what I like about counter-currents, and the Northwest Republic as proposed by Harold Covington, is that we can CHOOSE to Do Something about it, daily, rather than choosing the path of impotence and learned helplessness, that has been the hallmark of so many who self-identify as White Nationalists.
One small step is to send money to counter-currents, each and every month.
Cash is acceptable.
Very acceptable.
Even if it is only ten dollars, believe me, there is no greater way to say “Thank You!”
In THIS case, worse is not better. More is better. Much better. Isn’t it funny that people who moan and complain about the future of the Race won’t actually spend a few dollars of support the best of all possible Causes?
Even during the Great Deoression, the NSDAP charged dues, AND charged people to attend their public meetings. That having been said, they certainly got their money’s worth, even as we do from counter-currents.
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