US will not accept HRH President Meghan

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This column has previously raised concerns that the Duchess of Sussex risks a downfall in the way she brandishes her title in America. Apparently she started offering her opinions to the media there, using that name.

It is true that many Americans are interested in British royalty, often in an exaggerated way, but that does not mean that they really want the return of a monarchy or an aristocracy. They thrived without either for nearly 250 years. From the start, the Founding Fathers thought about it a lot. The Constitution of the United States states that: “No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States. “

This is not, in and of itself, a problem for Meghan since even she does not suggest that the Americans should ennoble her. But the relevant passage of the Constitution continues as follows: “… [the states] will accept, without the consent of Congress, any gift, fee, office or title of any kind whatsoever from any king, prince or foreign state.

This surely goes against the possible political ambitions of the Duchess of Sussex. She couldn’t become President of the United States, or even a humble member of Congress, if she held her current title. Worse yet, from a point of view of American law, she is His Royal Highness – a permanent declaration that she owes allegiance to a foreign state and to a king (or queen). She will likely keep that title unless she and Harry divorce. Her husband, of course, is His Royal Highness, so I don’t see how he could be the First Gentleman if his wife were to enter the White House: he too would “accept a function of profit or of trust” (the office of the First Lady is funded by the federal government).

We all know the term “Hollywood royalty,” but I don’t think the United States of America can have a real royal president, any more than the Archbishop of Canterbury could become pope. If she does seek the nomination, I hope Meghan will drop the HRH and my home county name, which never suited her, and introduce herself as Markle.

An unusual but necessary intervention

It is highly unusual for former National Trust bosses to break ranks, as privately critical as they may be of current trends, so I am interested in a recent intervention, never before seen in the press, by former NT president Sir William Proby.

Sir William was speaking at the annual general meeting of the Historic Houses Association (HHA), the union, one might say, of large country houses open to the public and occupied by their owner. Being private, they are not charities and therefore receive much less tax benefits and grants. Sir William is the boss of the HHA.

Normally emollient, Sir William was frank about the National Trust. He quoted Henry James: “’Of all the great things the English have invented … the most perfect, the most characteristic is the well-appointed, well-managed and well-stocked country house.’ It is a sobering thought that we are explaining here so much of the private part of this great legacy, ”added Sir William.

The responsibility of the HHA for this heritage has grown, he said, “from that great institution, the National Trust, which has done so much to save our great homes before and after the war for the benefit and pleasure of millions of our compatriots. and women seem to have turned their backs on this part of the national heritage, apparently wishing to present their homes as monuments to slavery, exploitation and inequality. “

These are strong words, not used lightly. They imply that the Trust, at least in part, is not fulfilling its charitable purposes: it is denying what it owns, despite knowing that it cannot, by law, sell the houses. Sir William’s argument implies that the people who run the Trust no longer like this most famous aspect of its heritage. The Trust’s position is almost as if the Royal Horticultural Society is preying on flowers or the RSPB is announcing that birds are a real nuisance.

Sir William deserves to be listened to. The National Trust is currently in the (secret) process of appointing its new chairman. Whoever he chooses must be someone who truly cares about the great houses he has done so much to save. If you don’t like one piece of our heritage, you probably don’t care much about the rest – gardens, landscapes, wilderness, farms, coastline – either.

Tommy’s true spirit

For some time now, a cottage along a farm road that I like to walk on has posted the following sign, painted in coarse red letters next to its fence, “SLOW! BLOODY BEGINS TO ASK kindly “.

Walking past the plaza last week, we noticed standing next to the sign one of those Tommy’s Remembrance Day silhouettes that have become very popular in recent years. He was surrounded by a tiny field of poppies.

My immediate reaction was to react prissily against this juxtaposition. Wasn’t it rather insulting for our war dead to commemorate them alongside such a mundane message?

Upon reflection, however, I realized that my objection was ridiculous. The original hand-painted view was perfectly in the tradition of the private soldier of these islands stretching back to Shakespeare’s Henry V and beyond – blunt, humorous, disrespectful.

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