Posted on 07/19/2015 11:09:29 AM PDT by Kaslin
They say some people are born great, whilst others have greatness thrust upon them. Perhaps one of the least likely 20th century heroes is HM The Queen, a woman whose father was forced to become King because of his brother's dereliction of duty. Had her uncle not wanted to marry Wallis Simpson our Queen would not be the woman who symbolizes Britain, but instead would have lived life as a minor Royal attracting little interest from the public.
The abdication of King Edward VIII gave Princess Elizabeth's immediate family the most poisonous of all poisoned chalices. Her father had a debilitating stammer, was not trained for the role of Commander in Chief and everyone knew war with Hitler was just around the corner; it was a war the British were likely to lose.
In 1939 the war came, and as predicted the British began losing badly. Within weeks allied forces were on the run, the British lost nearly 60,000 men on the first campaign in France. Even the 'victory' of the Dunkirk evacuation was a disaster: the British were forced to save three hundred thousand men trapped on a French beach by asking fishing boats to sail them back home.
Watching this from London was the British Royal Family, a city they only lived in because the King had refused to move the family to Canada ahead of the successful German invasion. In the end the Royal Air Force managed (somehow) to win the Battle of Britain, maintaining air superiority over the UK and making the invasion impossible. Later the Americans joined the war, raising the realistic possibility of an invasion of France.
This week a video has emerged of the Queen appearing to do a Nazi salute when she was a child, forcing Buckingham Palace to angrily deny she is a fascist. In, fact the Royal household are so angry they are threatening to press charges against whoever 'stole' the film. There is also talk of copywrite lawsuits, which are possible because the Queen enjoys special rights over video footage of the Royal family.
The footage first shows the late Queen Mother doing the Nazi salute, she is then followed by the Queen. The media have suggested this is evidence the Queen and the Royal Family had some sympathy with Nazism, but is this really possible?
The King appointed the hawkish Winston Churchill as Prime Minister once the war started. For years Churchill had argued war with Hitler was inevitable and British should strike first before the German war machine was up to full strength. Hardly the man a pro-Nazi King would have choose as his most significant military commander. The King also turned off the heating in Buckingham Palace and forced the family to live on the same rations as ordinary people to help the war effort.
An 18-year-old Princess Elizabeth became the first female Royal in living memory to join the military. She served in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service holding the rank of second subaltern, which is equivalent to second lieutenant. When the war was won she was given permission to join the crowds celebrating the victory outside Buckingham Palace, which she did with the aid of a disguise.
It is also said of the Queen Mother that she only blamed three things for the early death of the King at the age of 56: his brother Edward, Mrs. Wallis Simpson, and the entirety of the German nation. She was said to have refused to speak to any of them until the day she died. Her loathing of Germans was so deeply felt she tried in vain to prevent the Queen from marrying the Duke of Edinburgh because he had German relatives.
Some might make the point that the Queen made the salute sometime around 1933, and at the time, the family might not have realized the risk to the nation from the Nazis. So she could have supported the policies of the Nazis without feeling threatened by them, but equally in 1933 even the most pessimistic person could never have dreamed of the horrors Hitler would inflict on Europe, nor how offensive that salute would later become. It just does not make sense to suggest she was a fan of the Nazis, and as a small child, she could not really have been expected to know much about it anyway.
Next year the Queen will be 90-years-old, she ascended to the throne aged just 25. In all those years she has not put a foot wrong, instead giving her life to public service. It was one she was not born to do, but nonetheless has served with distinction. For the mainstream media to suggest she had sympathies with a murderous gang that caused the early death of her father, threatened the country she loves, and whom she herself volunteered for the military to stop is ridiculous.
She ought to be proud of her war record, and that of her family. They could have cut and run to Canada but they were made of sterner stuff, unlike those who now besmirch her.
He was once the leader of the Royal Navy, but he wound up third mate on an American tramp.
She has indeed
They weren’t photographs, there were films which were stolen
The salute was very common until it became associated with Hitler.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute
Very, very few in 1933 understood the menace that Hitler represented. Consider those in this country thrilled by Inaugural Day, 2009.
And now the DailyMail has reprinted the offensive photos, in which one can clearly see that QE2 is a small child playing with her little sister and mother in the garden, with her traitor uncle who would become king and then step down in the background, literally lifting her mother's arm to give the salute as a form of play, years before the actual war. The official story is that David stepped down because of Wallis Simpson; however, many believe the British elite forced him to step down because of his Nazi sympathies, and Simpson was his consolation prize.
Not only that, the DailyMail has now hired Piers Morgan as a columnist. Every time he writes something, most of the comments on both sides of the Atlantic are "You keep him." "No, you keep him."
Comments are blaming Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Sun newspaper, who, they claim, is an avid anti-royalist.
It was apparently a few moments within a longer film strip of family activities, and may not have been noticed or viewed for years. Personal family footage is the personal property of the Queen. Someone's employment is in jeopardy there in Windsorland.
At first I thought Francis Bellamy was the author of the hare-brained socialist utopian book “Looking Backward” but determined that was his cousin Edward Bellamy.
Heh, I see what you did there ;p
It should be pointed out that in the United States of America it was the practice of schoolchildren to raise their right arms in salute to the flag to begin the school day.
The practice was changed as a reaction to the NAZI during WWII.
It should also be pointed out that in 1933 when the now Queen gave that salute, Hitler and the Nazis had been in power barely a single year, and the NAZIS were regarded as basically uncouth louts around the world.
Also, if anyone saw the broadcast of the movie Gladiator last night, they saw THOUSANDS of Romans raising their right hand to Caesar in what sure looked like a NAZI salute.
Will that be made into a scandal, too? I wouldn’t doubt it.
Watch the newsreels of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies, many delegations saluted Hitler with the Nazi salute as they passed by. Namely, the French delegation.
I was in Victoria, B.C. when they had a royal family exhibit. I sat in a morris chair and listened to a tape of Elizabeth, a teenager, giving an uplifting talk to the country while bombs were falling in London. Her bravery brought tears to my eyes; I can only imagine how important those things were to the beleagured citizens.
Plus, Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth were not sent to the country while London was bombed. Most other families who could afford to sent their kids out of harms way.
Many prominent families in the US supported Hitler before the war. Some had come from German families a generation or two previously.
And some America kids just marched around playing Nazi for the fun of it. If you played “war,” someone had to play the bad guys.
Hitler looked like a joke with that stupid mustache. More a Hollywood villain than a real one.
There’s actually a reason she wears these colors. Every trip she takes, her clothes represent either a color of the region or the country she visits. The V&A had a fabulous exhibit a few years back of her various wardrobes.
The Queen is a very great woman and deserves honor and respect (this is NOT aimed at you, btw). The Sun is a real rag.
Just to be difficult ...
After viewing the Bellamy salute and Liz’s salute as a little girl, IMHO that’s a German party salute she’s giving.
She was being “egged-on” by her stammering uncle, a strong Germanophile who replaced Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg (the Windsor’s name before they changed it during WWI)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha
as king when Ed’s gonads distracted him from his sacred duty leeching off the English people for decades.
(Btw, he was vamped by an American divorcee-hussy.)
It doesn’t make HRH a Nazi, but let’s face it: she’s heiling all right.
But WTH do we care? We’re Americans! WE saved their bacon and will remind them of it every day until the Sun itself burns itself out into a little charcoal lump.
[See directly above, miss marmelstein.]
Um, she’s also 7 years old. And it wasn’t her uncle who stammered - it was her father. And very badly too.
I love Elizabeth and will continue to do so. She’s truly a great lady.
And in 1934, Hitler had a higher approval rate in Britain than Churchill.
That absured accusation is absolutely silly. Here in the US. As a kid playing around with others prior to the war starting and even during I and friends participated mocking that salute in fun. It was common here and I’m certain it was the same there.
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