Queen Marie of Roumania's Appreciation of Beauty

Queen Marie of Roumania - herself one of the most beautiful princesses of her age - was cousin to Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia: "The most beautiful princess in Europe". She wrote of her:

"...This faculty of enjoying beauty as a whole and in detail has followed me all through life. Line, colour, form, and the sounds and scents belonging to each picture, have made life extraordinarily rich, and with every one of those unforgettable impressions comes always that feeling of gratitude for each new beauty revealed to my soul.

Today I still feel grateful to beloved Queen Alexandra for the vision of beauty she was to me...This other beautiful woman had a tragic and terrible fate. She was the Grand Duchess Elisabeth of Russia, my cousin, sister of the late Czarina. She had married one of my mother's younger brothers, the Grand Duke Serge. He was blown up by Nihilists, long, long before the revolution, whilst governor of Moscow. She then entered holy orders, building a convent in which she lived; but her holy life brought her no mercy from the Bolsheviks. She was abominably slaughtered in Siberia, but, curiously enough, her body was found and later on transported to Jerusalem, where it now lies in the Holy Land.
She was quite newly married when her beauty burst upon me as a marvellous revelation. Her loveliness was of what used to be called the "angelic" kind. Her eyes, her lips, her smile, her hands, the way she looked at you, the way she talked, the way she moved, all was exquisite beyond words; it almost brought tears to your eyes."

Shattered Crowns: The Scapegoats

I am very happy to say that "Shattered Crowns: The Scapegoats" is now available in paperback.

Shattered Crowns: The Scapegoats

'In England Now'

Some years ago someone whose opinion, spirituality and intelligence I trust said that there is a small group of people (eight families, I believe) who wish to control the world and this group of people have been working through various means to achieve that end for the past 150 years or more. It seemed so bizarre and contrary to all I had learned, lived by, my spirituality and my world-view that I couldn’t make sense of it and so, without disputing it, I simply decided to watch from an impartial standpoint and see what I saw. Since then, I have discovered and seen many things. I have read the biographies of people who, with amazing courage and great honesty, wrote of how they were hired by various government agencies to incite revolutions (notably in South America in the 1980s) in order to pressurise the presidents or governments there into handing over their most arable land to fruit producing companies. I have read sermons from priests about their work among the poor of Africa and how the people have been deprived of their usual crops and compelled to buy seed from big companies who have genetically manipulated those seeds so that they do not naturally reproduce the following year. I have observed the way in which animals are appalling treated and how pharmaceutical companies introduce dangerous toxins into the food chain, then provide cures for the results and keep people on medication for their entire lives (at great profit to themselves). I have seen, too, how the American Constitution – that flagship of freedom!! - appears to be being deliberately dismantled and how the countries of Europe are being compelled to hand over their independence to a central body in Brussels and how just about everything I was taught about the history of the world since about 1789 was inaccurate or, to be honest, a lie.

To be frank, I am not a conspiracy theorist – not because I doubt that there are conspiracies but because I not really very interested in what politicians do or don’t do and who is right and who is wrong. Most of the time it seems a bit silly to me – little boys (and now girls) playing little power games. I would much rather walk in the woods, look at trees, ducks, flowers, goats, dogs, the sky and read poetry, listen to music and commune with nature; and I believe – or rather know with all my heart and soul – that there is a far greater and more beautiful power beyond all the childishness of power-seekers - but sometimes it just feels right to speak out.

In the light of recent events, England must appear as a very sorry place to

be: a place of mindless violence, unrest, riots and discord. Firstly, these events took place in relatively small areas of the country. Secondly, is it really possible that this violence erupted spontaneously and on such a scale from people who – let’s be honest – appear to be so easily led by a mass mentality and not to be able to think for themselves. Something or someone co-ordinated it. Thirdly, what is the significance and relation to this of the recent Bilderberg meetings? Is there a connection or not? Why is Bilderberg so secret? Why are we suddenly intervening in Libya? Why are we in Afghanistan? Why is someone creating a constant climate of fear? Why are people like Peter Mandelson (one time member of the Young Communist League) living in luxury and appearing at Bilderberg meetings, created as Peers of the Realm? Why is Tony Blair, who lied to Parliament about Iraq’s supposed W.M.D.s making a fortune from oil-producing countries now? Why was President Obama awarded the Nobel Peace Prize simply for being elected president? We have let things go on unchecked for too long and now, this past week's chaos appears like the oubreak of a fever that signifies the bringing to a head of an illness that is being cured.

Happily, something really wonderful is coming out of all of this mayhem. If you want to destroy a nation – as Russia was destroyed in 1917 and Germany a year later, and as many S. American countries were destroyed in the 1980s – first you must create chaos. The South American countries, re-invented themselves. Now, they seem like the safest places on earth. The recent chaos in England has brought out the true English and wonderfully multi-cultural character! Far from creating a climate of fear, these events have created an amazing awareness of who we really are! I have yet to see a more dignified response to something so horrific, as the response of

Mr. Tariq Jahan to the murder of his son. This Moslem gentleman, to whom all our hearts and love go out, spoke so powerfully as he called for peace and of his faith. Then there were the Sikhs who silently stood outside their Temple to prevent any attack. They did not want violence. They simple stood there to protect what was sacred to them. The brilliantly outspoken Christian Archbishop of York, John Sentamu,

who cut up his clerical collar and refuses to wear it again until there is freedom in Zimbabwe, and who has done so much for the local community, appeared on the BBC saying that if attackers approached his door, he would defend his family and his home with a cricket bat if necessary. And hundreds of ordinary English people appeared on the streets not to act as vigilantes but to protect their own communities and clear up the mess left by the riots. This is England. Immediately we all step into the ‘spirit of the blitz’ and this normally reserved nation suddenly remembers that we are proud of our communities and our tolerance and way of life. It might take a riot or two to remind us who we are but, after years of socialist propaganda and the attempts to create fear, we are still a nation of eccentrics and communities; a tolerant nation and a nation of individuals.

It seems to me that these recent events have achieved the very opposite effect than was planned. Now, perhaps, they will attempt to police the internet in the name of protecting us, but really it won’t work. There is a power far greater than any material, financial or political machine, and it simply cannot be eradicated. That is the power that lives within all of us -the beauty and divinity and sacredness of humanity and the soul that cannot be crushed.

The Art of Distraction

A conjuror appears on the stage and, with dance-like movements, draws our attention to his right hand while his left hand – unseen – cleverly conceals the trickery that leaves us amazed by his magic. Sometimes I try to look away from what the right hand is doing or from what we are being guided to see, but most accomplished conjurors are so skilled in the art of distraction that their performances are successfully deceptive and we see only what they want us to see.

Since the advent of newspapers and, more effectively, since the advent of televised news and 24 hour news, the art of the political conjuror has been honed in to perfection. It used to seem odd to me that one day there would be some ‘major’ government crisis in the news or, more poignantly, some jiggery-pokey with financial markets and within a day or two we were threatened by a terrible health scare or some outside threat that drove all coverage of the government/banking mess from the headlines. At one time there was SARS (and we would within a few weeks all be walking around wearing masks). Then there was bird flu – which would wipe out half the country if we weren’t careful. More recently (during our last Labour government’s mess) there was swine flu – the threat of which was so great that the government saw fit to put a glossy leaflet through the letter box of every house in the country, telling us to ‘dispose of tissues carefully’ and wash our hands after blowing our noses. Dear me, we must have been in a very sorry state to have to be taught basic hygiene! I also recall various bombings of embassies and even a war or two, when a British Prime Minister or an American President was coming under attack. On a wider scale, this goes beyond presidents and Prime Ministers, to what led to the outbreak of the First and Second World Wars – who had anything to gain? What was happening with the financial markets?

For the past few nights England, it seems, is being distracted by the riots in the cities – or at least in some parts of some cities. I do not underestimate the extent of the damage, or the horrendousness of what is happening, the devastation to some people’s businesses and their loss of livelihood and the fear evoked in particularly in some parts of London. If you look at the British newspapers’ headlines, you see images of burning buildings, looted shops and lines that shout ANARCHY! What is making everyone aghast is that there seems to be no reason behind this outbreak of madness. Those involved are mostly children or teenagers, running amok through their own communities and creating misery and terror. Here are some thoughts, though:

This is not about starving people looting shops because they are hungry; nor is it about government cuts or anything of the sort. This is a well-orchestrated series of events, led by people who are, according to eye-witnesses, guiding the rioters away from the police and who are in constant communication with each other. Who are these people and who is behind them? Children are very easy to lead; disaffected youths are even easier to provoke into violence, as Hitler knew so well. And while we are distracted by this mayhem – this orchestrated work of destruction – what is happening in the financial world? (Interesting that only a few months before the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the outbreak of WW1, the Federal Reserve was set up in America?).

A great light in the middle of this: today in Chapeltown, Leeds – an area of the city that was involved in the 1981 riots – a peace rally was held by local business people and residents of all ages, stating their commitment to their community and demonstrating a spirit that goes beyond the manipulation of trouble-makers. In London, many young people went out into the streets to clear up the mess left by the nights of rioting. No matter how this is reported in the media and no matter how widespread it appears, this is not the true face of England, which remains filled with people who do care for one another and do not live by this manipulated mentality. England today still look like this:

and this:





And, turning from the distraction, what is going on with the financiers and the small group of people who would like to destroy the individuality of nations and the freedom of individuals?