Archaic Ritual of Royal Ascension

Despite humanity now having apparently entered the 21^st century, within the next few years what we’re told is a civilized country, namely the United Kingdom is likely to be confronted by, the extremely rare spectacle of archaic ritual, traditionally accompanying the accession and anointing of a Nations new divinely ordained Ruler.

Prince Charles is currently preparing to replace Queen Elizabeth II, and assume his hereditary privilege as the United Kingdom’s Head of State, “Defender of Faith” & “King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and other commonwealth realms”, a mouthful I know, but the British people have been taught to swallow it from a very early age.

Surely this has no significance to our lives today?

We’ve all heard the news: “Britain has progressed from the good old days, now our monarchy is merely symbolic!”.

In fact, far from politicians holding exclusive authority over the state, beyond even the hereditary peers; our lords temporal and spiritual, the British monarch represents the “Alpha and Omega” of the British Parliamentary process.

Without the “State Opening of Parliament” conducted by the monarch, (or agents empowered by her acting in her absence) and without her personal approval closing each individual bill from Parliament, no legislation can be passed. This means the “useless monarch” is actually a political bottleneck through which political decisions are achieved.

If the people were to petition for the dissolution of the monarchy, and it went through the two houses of Parliament, the monarch themselves would have to approve it: figuratively chopping off their own head. Thus it appears we are lumbered with this institutionalized relic for the foreseeable future.
On top of this, the British monarch theoretically has the power to:

-Select the Prime Minister.
-Dismiss ministers and governments.
-Dissolve Parliament.
-Refuse to agree to legislation passed by Parliament.
-Pardon convicted criminals.
-Issue “Royal Proclamations”, ie declaration of war, or state of emergency.
-Command the army, raise a personal militia and even avoid criminal prosecution in English Courts.

Considering the institution of monarchy in the UK retains these abilities (far in excess of any politician or President of the USA), to fundamentally rearrange the legal, economic or political landscape and could, through basic coordination of their resources, “re-balance the pendulum” in favour of their own personal aristocratic dictatorship, why are the public, activists, politicians and writers so quiet about the prospects for their new King’s rule, where is the scrutiny regarding the process of his ascension?
 
What do we actually know about our Royal overlords?

Some examples of the kind of causes Prince Charles is passionate about, betray the sort of primitive outlook one might expect to find in somebody whose position in life, is determined by virtue of their genetic link to various self-proclaimed “noble” German bloodlines.

Unsurprisingly, he is a vocal critic of the materialist, scientific worldview, publicly condemning industrialization and the material development of civilisation on numerous occasions in many countries. He advocates departing from technological progress and returning to a more fearful religious servility, to neutralize the potentially destructive nature of “the herd”. This is an attitude the West gladly relinquished in large part centuries ago, but which is still firmly enforced in the Islamic traditions this future King speaks a little too admiringly of.

In a speech at Wilton Park forum for global change on December 13th, 1996, Prince Charles laid out his objections towards the materialist world view, presenting a mischaracterized approximation of it in contrast to a positively enhanced and glowing appraisal of traditional Islamic customs and culture:

"I feel that we in the West could be helped to rediscover the roots of our own understanding by an appreciation of the Islamic tradition’s deep respect for the timeless traditions of the natural order…. Modern materialism is unbalanced and increasingly damaging in its long-term consequences. Yet nearly all the great religions of the world have held an integral view of the sanctity of the world. … I have always felt that tradition is not a man-made element in our lives, but a God-given intuition of natural rhythms."

When not recuperating the proceeds derived from his immense 208.9 square miles of landholdings in the “duchy of Cornwall”, which in it’s 2012 financial statements stated that it is; “not subject to corporation tax as it is not a separate legal entity for tax purposes”¹, the heir apparent enjoys a jet-set lifestyle visiting some of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. During his recent visit to Saudi Arabia he even managed to contribute towards BAE System’s latest multi billion weapons deal, so clearly his opposition of technology is highly selective.

These contacts have given him a great insight to the standards of living enjoyed by his counterparts in the Middle East, showing him through direct experience, the quality of life and superiority they derive from the state imposition of religious dogma, and how the laws of an outdated medieval society, in which its forced practice creates the atrophied and superstitious environment imperative for the flourishing of a hereditary monarch.

The patriarchal “holy” doctrines of all mystified religious systems are the refuge centuries of repressive hierarchies thrive upon. It is these doctrines themselves which have taught man violence, persecution, cruelty and murder while claiming to cure him of his original sin.

In 1993, well before the US embassy bombings in Nairobi, for which Islamist militants under Osama Bin Laden claimed direct responsibility, and prior to the devastating attacks launched by Islamist militants against the United States of America in 2001, Prince Charles gave a speech to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, in which he stated amongst many other outdated, doctrinaire opinions:

"many people in the Islamic world genuinely fear our own Western materialism and mass culture as a deadly challenge to their Islamic culture and way of life. Some of us may think the material trappings of Western society which we have exported to the Islamic world – television, fast-food, and the electronic gadgets of our everyday lifes – are a modernising, self-evidently good, influence. But we fall into the trap of dreadful arrogance if we confuse ‘modernity’ in other countries with their becoming more like us…..Among the many religious, social and political causes of what we might more accurately call the Islamic revival is a powerful feeling of disenchantment, of the realisation that Western technology and material things are insufficient, and that a deeper meaning to life lies elsewhere in the essence of Islamic belief."

Is this healthy?

Aside from his interest in religious ideology, Prince Charles retains an enthusiastic interest in “homeopathy”, the unproven pseudo-science he described to the World Health Assembly in Geneva in 2006 as being, “rooted in ancient traditions that intuitively understood the need to maintain balance and harmony with our minds, bodies and the natural world”.

Never being one to keep his opinions to himself, in 1993 the heir apparent set up a think tank and lobby group called, “the Foundation for Integrated Health” (FIH), the aims of this institution included creating awareness of complimentary therapies within medical schools, and promoting the availability of alternatives to the treatments used within the NHS.

Throughout the 00’s there were countless examples of HRH “meddling in parliament”, he met with then Health Secretary Andy Burnham to secure funding for the drive to standardize alternative therapies, also writing frequently to the MHRA prior to their adoption of a regulatory standard for “Traditional Herbal Medicine”, the result of the lobbying by the Prince’s various institutions has been a divergence from scientific reasoning in medical regulation, therefore greater freedom for snake oil salesmen to profit from people’s naivety. This includes the Prince’s own “Duchy of Cornwall,” which despite being free from corporation tax also mass produces “homeopathic remedies”.

This greater liberalization of standards in healthcare will inevitably lead to an increase in private practitioners, and new and exciting methods of extracting money from the NHS and sick people.

When the FIH closed amidst allegations of fraud in 2010, The College of Medicine emerged from the ashes, immediately attracting scrutiny from medical experts Edzard Ernst, and David Colquhoun over their promotion of potentially unsafe treatments.

In the last few years, despite his increasing responsibilities, the Prince has continued to exercise his unique influence on policy decision in Health, holding secret meetings in July 2013 with the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, after judges ruled the public has no right to know the contents of 27 letters he had written to ministers over several years. As the “ascension” gathers pace it is likely we will see the popularity of these pseudo-treatments, and pseudo-mystical religious ideologies grow, in unison with the influence and credence granted to Prince Charles.

“O gentlemen, the time of life is short!
An if we live, we live to tread on kings”
Shakespeare, Henry IV