Page from history

“Do you know that there is a duke in Scotland who can ride 90 miles without leaving his own estate?” asks a man in Victor Hugo’s 1869 novel, The Man Who Laughs.

“Do you know that Her Majesty has £700,000 sterling from the Civil List, besides castles, forests, domains, fiefs, tenancies, freeholds, prebendaries, tithes, rent, confiscations and fines, which bring in over a million pounds sterling?”

“Yes,” comes the reply, “The paradise of the rich is made out of the hell of the poor.”

With thanks to Victor Hugo, who also wrote Les Misérables, and Aditya Chakrabortty, columnist of the London Guardian.

Embarrassing shambles kicked off in the Scottish capital

It is a matter of public record that the late Queen Elizabeth II, aka Mrs Betty Windsor, didn’t like Balmoral Castle, nor the Scottish people. When she wanted some time off from official duties at Buck House in central London, she much preferred to go to Windsor Castle in Surrey or, even better, to Sandringham Castle where she could ride horses while her late husband, Prince Philip, shot birds.

In Edinburgh, a yet-unnamed 22-year-old man in a Melbourne FC shirt was punched and kicked by burly ex-servicemen, many of whom had served in Northern Ireland killing and torturing Irish patriots.  The heckler objected to the presence of Prince Andrew in the column of mourners and shouted, “Andrew, you’re a sick old man”. Instead of being applauded for telling the truth about Prince Andrew, known as the Pedophile Prince, the protester was tackled to the ground, beaten up, arrested and charged. In his footy shirt, he was hustled away to cheers and booes.

King Charles III walked behind the hearse alongside Princess Anne and Prince Edward. At first, the disgraced Prince Andrew was nowhere to be seen. Then, suddenly, he came into view. Stripped of his military titles, he marched in a business suit. A few months earlier, he had paid a huge cash sum of “hush money” to Virginia Giuffre who threatened to tell a New York court how she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew when she was under-age.

As he was taken away by police, the heckler shouted: “I’ve done nothing wrong.” But he had; he had spoiled the party by telling the truth. Media lackeys supplied the headline: “Idiot runs towards King Charles’ car”.

And it continued in London

There were gasps of amazement when the latest records showed Queen Elizabeth was served by 430 staff, according to official records filed by Whitehall.

Most people were horrified. Their horror would have turned to anger had they been told all of the facts: the Queen did not pay for the staff, they were paid for by British taxpayers. They always have been.

A handful of royal family flunkies were placed in front microphones and cameras to say that Mrs Windsor was worth “billions” to the British economy because she drew tourists from all around the world. But other official statistics showed that tourists favoured the Tower of London, London Bridge, West End theatres, the British Museum, Wimbledon, Twickenham and Oxford Street shopping.

I am grateful to the Queensland professional and mother of three children who stormed onto her mobile to send a message referring to my previous blog, saying: “Well, folks, the Queen is dead. It’s the best media commentary on the demise of Lilibet. It cheered my day. If I hear again how ‘hard working’ she was, I will scream even louder! She didn’t do a single load of washing, make a meal, do the grocery shopping, make a bed, vacuum a floor, scrub a toilet, iron a school uniform, have to decide what to wear to work, clean her shoes, get to the bus stop, walk through town to get to her office, sort out an IT problem, wait online to speak to Telstra, pay a power bill, get the car serviced, mow the lawn, sit in the waiting room at the doctor’s surgery, line-up overnight to buy a ticket to her favourite band but miss out, make a bed, clean the kitchen (several times a day), make a simple cup of tea. No, she was not hard working – she had people do everything for her which then allowed her to read some mail and go to some functions all at taxpayers’ expense. Give me a break!”

British royals’ vast taxation swindle

But royal rorting does not end there. Did the mainstream media report that King Charles III will not have to pay a penny of inheritance tax on the vast estates passed to him by one of the wealthiest women in the world? No, they didn’t.

Nor is King Charles III under any legal obligation to pay income tax; but he does so on a voluntary basis. This arrangement has been in place since 1993 when his marriage to Princess Diana was on the rocks. For decades previously the British royal family paid no tax at all.

British citizens are being put through a period of “enforced mourning” because bizarre regulations have been introduced all over mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. For example, Norwich City Council has closed its bicycle racks, and Morrisons supermarkets have turned down the beeping at its check-out points.

These shocking attempts to impose royalty on daily lives has failed to impress Paul Morrison, a policy adviser to the Methodist church. His diaries are filled with commitments to visit food banks, debt clinics, and a variety of other church projects.

An alarming 56% of his “flock” are just able to carry on without falling into debt. They can spend an hour walking to the nearest Job Centre (rather than taking a bus where they can be thrown off for the smallest incident).

England’s Northern cities told to shut down

Communities around the North of England, along with the rest of the country. face massive disruption as the Queen is laid to rest at Westminster Abbey. Council services will be closed, NHS appointments postponed and supermarkets shut.

In the North East, confectionary giant Nestle has come under fire for not halting production at its Newcastle factory.

While the factory does normally operate on bank holidays and the sweets manufacturer says it must continue operations to “ensure the continued supply of food and drink”, some employees had hoped the company would make an exception for the historic occasion.

One worker called the decision “another kick in the teeth” for staff already reeling from the decision to shut down the plant in 2023, as production is shifted to facilities in the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, and West Yorkshire.

On Merseyside, the South Sefton Foodbank has come under fire after confirming that it will be shut for the day.

In South Yorkshire, as with most of the North, NHS appointments across South Yorkshire will not go ahead as planned on Monday. Instead, outpatient appointments, GP appointments and other routine appointments will be rescheduled, and the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board warns that urgent and emergency services are likely to be “busier than usual”.

There are reports of funerals being cancelled around the country. But Manchester Crematorium – which holds services next to Southern Cemetery –  told the Manchester Evening News it would be “business as usual” on Monday.

Comrade Starmer becomes Führer of the British Labour Party

British Labour MPs have been warned to shut their mouths and mobiles during the government-imposed period of national mourning for the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The extraordinary diktat comes from Labour leader Keir Starmer, who has vacated all his Leftist positions to place his party on a right-centrist position for the sake of occupying No 10 Downing Street.

Many shadow ministers and Labour MPs want to use all their spare time – following parliament’s lockdown – to talk to constituents and the media about the cost-of-living crisis.

But no. They are forbidden to do so. Starmer’s message to MPs says bluntly that they must “suspend all campaigning and party activity, and stop all communications with constituents, including email updates and newsletters”.

He also orders, “You should not post anything on social media, except your own tribute (to the dead queen) … you should make sure any posts on social media do not include any political branding (i.e. the Labour Party emblem). You should not do any media, except for your own tribute to local outlets” and encourages MPs to cancel any local constituency events during the State funeral.

The directive has annoyed some MPs who expressed frustration at the “enforced radio silence”, while another said, “Labour is being outflanked by (the Murdoch-owned) Sky News and it isn’t a good look.”

Starmer reinforced his message to MPs by going on morning BBC radio to say that those people who wanted to protest against the monarchy should “respect people mourning the queen” and any protest should be conducted in the “British tradition” in the “spirit of respect”, adding: “Respect the fact that hundreds of thousands of people do want to come forward … Don’t ruin it for them.”

Starmer forgot to mention the millions of British people, and the BILLIONS of people in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Pacific, North and South America who were suffering from famine, flood and fire. Their thoughts are on surviving and not mourning the richest woman in the world.

The Australian plane of shame

Prime Minister Albanese has a guest list for Mrs Windsor’s funeral (on Monday, 19 September) that will make Australians cringe. They are supposed to be handpicked “worthy citizens” who represent “the best of Australia”.

Instead, we have Ben Roberts-Smith, VC, alleged by fellow soldiers to have executed Afghan civilians, and convicted bookie Robbie Waterhouse and his wife Gai Waterhouse, who called themselves “racing’s royalty”.

Why didn’t they ask serial killer Ivan Milat? (They couldn’t. He’s dead).

With the verdict pending in his action against three Australian newspapers for their reports on the allegations against him, Roberts-Smith will be favourably viewed by many people when they see him in full regalia rubbing shoulders with royalty and heads of state.

Robbie Waterhouse was the queen’s bookie in Sydney and Britain and always had a “hot tip” for her. He took her SP bets at trackside. Gai is the daughter of the late Tommy Smith, whose expertise at allegedly pulling a horse or bribing a jockey was notorious. The late queen always found time to talk to  Robbie or Tommy, and not only before the Melbourne Cup.

Meanwhile, the ABC is ramping up its coverage of Monday’s funeral: money has been found to fly a dozen extra reporters into London. The collapse in ABC ratings will be spectacular and its budget will be squeezed even tighter.

Stories you may have missed

• Sweden’s first female Prime Minister, Magdalena Andersson, resigned after losing a General Election to the right-wing, racist, anti-refugee, pro-American Opposition. The Opposition received immense financial support from the CIA after Ms Andersson suspended persecution of Australian journalist Julian Assange.
• As teenagers, Prime Minister Liz Truss and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer were both Republicans and in favour of abolishing the monarchy. Now they are huge fans of the British royal family and have signalled their support for the continuation of Britain’s royal robbery.
• As Britain’s Prime Minister, John Major was a roaring royalist. When Labour MP Dennis Skinner asked if the royal family should be taxed like other citizens. Major exploded: “Only the fact that it was the Honourable Member’s birthday stopped me from responding to his beastly and ludicrous suggestion.” Announcing his financial deal with Mrs Windsor which excluded inheritance tax, John Major told MPs it was “the overwhelming wish of people in this country”. The “people in this country” were, of course, never asked or consulted.
• The full weight of the British State is being deployed in order to impose mourning on Monday when Mrs Windsor’s funeral takes place in London. It will be the first State funeral since the death in 1965 of Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s wartime leader.

The royal story they don’t want you to know

My new book Mountbatten: Britain’s Warlord lifts the veil on some of the dirtiest episodes of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Read the endorsements by Tony Whitlam, Professor Stuart Rees and some very distinguished journalists here.

ORDER YOUR COPY HERE