FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - Prince of Peace: Open Letter to Prince Charles

Rant Number 379 7 January 2009

Your Highness,

Ich dien. ‘I serve’. The motto on your coat of arms. The slogan of the Princes of Wales since the days of Edward, the Black Prince. Of all your ancestors, the greatest warrior. Slaughtered the French at the battle of Crecy. ‘Prince of War’ may as well have been his nickname, so fond was he of the sword. This priest, a born pussycat, confesses admiration for the man. But much more does he now admire you, Prince Charles – a worthy Prince of Peace, I joyfully learn.

You opposed Tony Blair’s war on Iraq. Behind the scenes, you campaigned against the invasion of a nation with which this country was not at war. In that, you showed yourself a true Briton, because waging an aggressive, unjustified war like that is not the British way. Blair’s war was ‘a big mistake’, you reportedly said.

A mistake? Perhaps but, glossing what Talleyrand said to Napoleon, it was worse than a mistake. It was a crime. And the criminal is still at large.

Ich dien. I serve. Critics say as heir to the throne you gone beyond your constitutional remit. Ignore them. In actively agitating against the unjust aggression you have truly lived up to your maxim. You have served the nation well. The war has opened the Middle East’s Pandora ’s Box. A deluge of evils has been unleashed on the wretched people of Iraq. The human cost has been horrendous. Britain has gained nothing from the intervention. Her prestige has been tarnished and she is more exposed to terrorism than ever.

Ich dien. Your Highness, in opposing the war you have served Britain actually better than the British parliament has. MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of Blair’s adventure. A foolish, servile and self-damaging act. They, the democratically chosen people’s representatives, were blind to the crime. More, they colluded with the criminals. Verily, democracy, how many crimes are committed in your name! The people must guard against such sinful democratic actions. Such as unjust wars. That is why news of your Royal opposition to the war cheered me up no end. Checks and balances all right. And a Royal check in this case turns out to be a very good thing.

Defensor Fidei. ‘Defender of the Faith’. Another famous Royal motto. The British monarch’s. Your Highness, when you will ascend to the throne as Charles III, defending the Faith will become part of your own rule of conduct. Indeed, a continuation of your Ich dien. Because faith matters. Not just to us Christians but also to Arabs, to Persians, to all Muslims. The assault on Iraq has been an assault on faith, too. Not because it was another Western ‘crusade’, in any meaningful sense of the word. That is part of Bin Laden’s, of the Islamists’ self-interested self-delusions. Rather, it was an act detrimental to the Christian faith and Christians in general. Whatever the reality today, Britain is still perceived by Muslims as a Christian nation. Inevitably, they saw the war also as an act against Islam. But no such war would be in the interest of Christianity. On the contrary, good believers of both religions should combine against the forces of darkness that threaten them. That is why being against the unjust Iraqi war also will serve your future role of Fidei Defensor.

As a title, a bit paradoxical. Conferred by Pope Leo X (whose person and life probably did more to damage the Faith than heresiarchs like Arius and Apollinaris) on the hideous Henry VIII. Who went on to disown the Papacy and usurp the arrogant and blasphemous title of Supreme Head of the Church of England – as if the Church’s Head was not Jesus Christ! Thank God Elizabeth I had the good sense of changing the title to the more acceptable ‘Supreme Governor’. Good, sensible Queen Bess! Despite my being a romantic Jacobite, a big cheer for her.

Defender of the Faith, but which faith? For centuries, it meant the Protestant faith. The faith of most English people. (‘Scratch an Englishman, you find a Protestant’, G.B. Shaw quipped.) Today, it should be the Christian Faith, full stop. I know Your Highness once averred a preference for being called Defender of Faiths, in the plural. Laudable sentiment but the matter is tricky. The Hindu faith and the Buddhist faith are not the same, nor are the faiths of Islam and of Christianity. There are overlaps but they still differ. And sometimes may even conflict. Nonetheless, defending the Faith can also be a defence of the common good. A good common to all Britons, whatever their faith or lack of it. In that sense, as King you will be upholding the good, the welfare of the whole nation. A good both national and international. The crowning of which is Peace. Again, that is why being actively against an ugly war which has so undermined the universal common good justly bestows on you the tile of Prince of Peace. Well done.

Dear Prince Charles, this is not a fawning letter – I do not aspire to any honours, believe you me - so you will not mind my saying that you are not perfect. I mean your conduct towards your former wife, Princess Diana. But I have no doubt whatever that, from God’s eternity where she now resides, she would fully approve of your campaigning against the Iraqi aggression. Can anyone doubt she would have hated the war? For her wonderful children’s sake. And all the British people. She too was Princess of Peace.

Your Highness, the other day this priest was in Canterbury Cathedral, where Edward, the Black Prince, rests. His fine tomb inspired me to meditate on the evils of war and the blessings of peace. In Canterbury, the cradle of English Christianity, I was moved at the thought of so many great and pious English monarchs, who stood and fought for England and St George. But the end of war, however just, can only be peace. I pray God that you, the Prince of Peace, may live up their example. I invoke God’s blessings upon you.

Revd Frank Julian Gelli