Free Republic

President Biden may be the world’s most powerful man, but it didn’t ensure him a front-row seat at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London on Monday. The president and first lady Jill Biden were seated 14 rows back during the service at Westminster Abbey that drew 2,000 guests — including some 500 of the world’s presidents, kings, princes and prime ministers. Perhaps taken into consideration was that the couple was among the few dignitaries who were granted permission to travel in their own presidential limousine, nicknamed “The Beast,” for security reasons. Most other leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,...

Donald Trump mocked his successor Joe Biden for sitting 14 rows from the front at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral – and claimed he would not be seated so far ‘back there’ if he were still president. Trump sounded off on his Truth Social platform on Monday evening, shortly after the Queen was laid to rest in the UK. Trump posted an image highlighting Biden’s position behind more than a dozen rows. ‘This is what’s happened to America in just two short years. No respect! However, a good time for our President to get to know the leaders of certain Third...

Come Holy Spirit, fill us with the balm of your healing love. Amen. The pattern for many leaders is to be exalted in life and forgotten after death. The pattern for all who serve God – famous or obscure, respected or ignored – is that death is the door to glory. Her Late Majesty famously declared on a 21st birthday broadcast that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the Nation and Commonwealth. Rarely has such a promise been so well kept! Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen. Jesus – who in our reading...

I flew home to England from New York for Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral on Saturday. It was a snap decision, but after missing her historic Platinum Jubilee only months ago, I decided that I couldn’t possibly miss the funeral of the only Queen I’ve ever known. I arrived in London Gatwick and first made my way to Brighton before later planning to journey to London. I had an appointment at the Palace of Westminster to see the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall that afternoon.

Known for her pageantry as a royal queen, her exemplary leadership, and her public statements of faith in Jesus Christ, Queen Elizabeth even developed a friendship founded in faith with the late American evangelist Billy Graham. In The Queen's Christmas Message from 2000, she said, "For me, the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life... I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example." A rainbow appeared as people gathered outside Buckingham Palace in London, Sept. 8,...

Fans of the royal family might remember that when Platinum Jubilee celebrations took place for Queen Elizabeth II earlier this year, a special concert held in front of Buckingham Palace in her honor kicked off with a video of the queen and a special guest for tea — Paddington Bear — which both stunned and delighted both Prince George and Princess Charlotte, per Independent. The video had the queen reveal that, like Paddington, she kept marmalade sandwiches hidden in her signature Launer handbags "for later," per YouTube. The clip, as well as a previous revelation that the late monarch enjoyed...

King Charles III was officially proclaimed Britain’s monarch Saturday in a pomp-filled ceremony steeped in ancient tradition and political symbolism — and, for the first time, broadcast live online and on air. Scores of senior British politicians past and present, including new Prime Minister Liz Truss and five of her predecessors, gathered in the ornate state apartments at St. James’s Palace for the meeting of the Accession Council. They met without Charles, officially confirming his title, King Charles III. The king then joined them, vowing to follow his mother’s “inspiring example” as he took on the duties of monarch. The...

Hillary Clinton has a new Apple-tv series named “Gutsy”. Naturally, Hillary described Nancy Pelosi as “gutsy” on CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash on Sunday. I might have called San Fran Nan “ballsy”, and not in a good way. But, when Hillary compared Nancy to the late Queen Elizabeth II, just days after the Queen’s death, I responded, “Oh, no you dint”. Other than two XX Chromosomes, the two women have nothing in common. Zip, zilch, zero.Victory Girls’ Lisa is suffering through “Gutsy” and will review it soon. We thank her for her sacrifice. Watching the trailer for...

Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday after a historic reign as monarch of the United Kingdom, was a steadfast ally of the United States, notably breaking tradition by singing the U.S. national anthem just days after 9/11. The queen joined a crowd of thousands in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” during a memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London for the victims on Sept. 14, 2001. Richard Kay, a columnist for the Daily Mail, wrote at the time about how unusual this was for a monarch, saying, “The Queen does not ‘sing’ national anthems. Her mouth never opens when they...

Exciting times. By this scribbler’s tracking, the British just shuffled their head of state and their head of government in the same week for the first time since Oliver Cromwell. Of course, Boris Johnson is less fearsome than the Council of State, and Queen Elizabeth II by all accounts met a peaceful death after a long life, not the stuff of a proto-Los Zetas snuff film. On American Labor Day—the austere zenith of the British Empire (relocated) commemorating “labour”—we west of the Atlantic could read of Prime Minister Johnson and the Queen. By market close in London on Thursday, the...

Foreign leaders and their spouses attending Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in London on September 19 have been advised to fly to the UK on commercial flights and are banned from using helicopters, according to documents obtained by Politico. The documents from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office were sent from the UK to embassies, the outlet reported. The FCDO anticipates the funeral service will be at capacity, so no more than one representative per country and their spouse will be invited to attend. The department said it "regrets that, because of limited space at the state funeral service and associated...

The Countess of Wessex was pictured comforting Princess Anne today as members of the royal family watched Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrive in Edinburgh to lie in rest at the Palace of Holyroodhouse overnight. Sophie, 57, the wife of the Queen's youngest son Prince Edward, 58, was seen placing her hand on the Princess Royal's back in a supportive gesture after the coffin made the journey from Balmoral to the Scottish city. The Queen's children and their spouses - Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex - watched as...

Just after 6.30pm Buckingham Palace announced:The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.The King and the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.That is how swiftly the transition happens: The Queen is dead; long live the King. So the man and woman who arrived at a Scottish castle as Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will depart just hours later as "the King and the Queen Consort".Just forty-eight hours ago, the Queen was pictured with her newest prime minister, having invited her to form "a government in my name". At the top...

On Thursday, BBC News presenters wore black suits and ties as they announced the latest information on the health of the Queen – though much of what is still being reported remains vague, as no additional information has been provided by the Palace at this time. The BBC’s online graphics also switched from red to black, suggesting the possibility that Britain’s public service broadcaster has already been informed of the Queen’s passing.

Twenty years after Queen Elizabeth II requested The Star-Spangled Banner be played outside Buckingham Palace in solidarity with the United States, a day after 9/11, the U.S. anthem played once again in Britain. The U.S. national anthem was played outside Windsor Castle at the Changing of the Guard ceremony Saturday. The Queen broke with tradition by requesting the anthem be played by the Guard outside Buckingham Palace, the day after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. After the United States, the United Kingdom lost the most citizens on 9/11, with 67 killed. America’s representative in the U.K. thanked the monarch for...

The Queen wiped away tears and was forced to mourn alone away from her family in St George's Chapel during Prince Philip's Covid-hit Windsor Castle funeral today as she said an emotional final goodbye to her 'strength and stay' after their extraordinary 73-year life together. Her Majesty looked grief-stricken and bowed her head in reverence as she accompanied her beloved husband's coffin on its final journey while their eldest son Prince Charles cried as he walked behind the casket into church followed by other devastated royals. The Duke of Edinburgh's coffin was covered in his personal standard and carried his...

The latest installment of the Netflix chronicle of the royals seeks to slime Margaret Thatcher, but the Charles-Diana soap opera undermines the series’ political slant.Since its debut in 2016, fans of the Netflix series “The Crown” have been looking forward to when this depiction of the life of Queen Elizabeth II would take the story of the royal family and British politics into the 1980s. For Americans who love the show because it satisfies their yen for celebrity gossip with a gloss of politics and social commentary, the arrival of Princess Diana as a major character was highly anticipated.Much of...

Sept. 16 (UPI) — Barbados Governor-general Sandra Mason said Wednesday her Caribbean island nation has decided to remove Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and declare itself a republic. Barbados, a tourist destination in the eastern Caribbean 700 miles off the Venezuela coast, won independence from Britain in 1966 but has remained a British commonwealth realm.

The news media just won’t leave Duchess Meghan alone, and it is causing people to wonder if there is actually another, deeper reason. Are the attacks on Markle meant to actually protect Prince Andrew by deflecting attention away from his scandal? According to Reddit, the media is going after Duchess Meghan simply to keep the focus off of the Duke of York’s relationship with the convicted pedophile Epstein. Many feel that Prince Andrew’s friendship with Epstein is a much bigger deal than anything regarding Duchess Meghan and that the royal family doesn’t want the negative attention. Therefore, it could be...

Legal challenges to a no-deal Brexit centre on political matters which must be kept outside judicial examination, the High Court in Belfast has ruled. A senior judge has rejected all grounds of challenge to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's strategy for taking the UK out of the EU, including claims that it would threaten the Northern Ireland peace process. Lord Justice Bernard McCloskey delivered his ruling on Thursday morning. Dismissing cases brought by victims campaigner Raymond McCord and two other applicants, Lord Justice McCloskey held that they were non justiciable. According to his determination the actions indisputably focused on political...