THE Queen flies to Rome today for a four-day state visit to a
nation that still resolutely refuses to let its own royal family set foot
in the country. On her first visit to Italy for 20 years, the Queen
will be the guest of the popular President Ciampi, 79, a former
Prime Minister, elected last year as Italy’s tenth President since the
end of the Second World War, when the country was being run
by its fifty-eighth Government in the same comparative period.
As often happens in republics that have shuffled off constitutional
monarchy, the royal visit is causing excitement, particularly among
women invited to royal functions, who are in a lather of indecision
after being given misleading advice by Rome newspapers that they
should not wear red or black.
Italy’s view of its own royal House of Savoy is in contrast. The
country has never forgiven its wartime king, Victor Emmanuel III,
for collusion with Mussolini and for assenting to the fascist
dictator’s anti-Jewish laws. The King ordered Mussolini’s arrest in
1943, but was too late to save the Crown’s reputation.
Monarchy was abolished after a 1946 referendum, and Victor
Emmanuel and his male heirs in perpetuity were banned from
setting foot in Italy. The present generation takes holidays in
French-owned Corsica.
Citing European human rights legislation, the King’s 63-year-old
grandson and namesake has been waging a campaign in the Italian
and European Parliaments, with the aid of his son, Emmanuel
Filiberto, 28, to have the Constitution changed to enable his right
to an Italian passport and citizenship to be restored.
The man who would be Victor Emmanuel IV insists he does not
want to restore the monarchy; from his home in Geneva he claims
that he wants only the right to live in Naples, from where he sailed
at the age of nine into exile with his father, Italy’s brief last
monarch, Umberto II.
So far the Emmanuels have had little success, despite sympathetic
backing from Romano Prodi, the former Italian Prime Minister and
now President of the European Commission.
A Bill to allow the Emmanuels back came before the Italian
Parliament but is now stuck in the Senate. A similar Bill in the
European Parliament failed earlier this year.
If Italy’s right-wing opposition, led by Silvio Berlusconi, wins next
year’s elections, prospects for the House of Savoy are likely to
improve. But any agreement on their return is likely to be hedged
with conditions barring them from entering politics or attempting to
reclaim palaces.
But the House of Savoy has far from given up. This summer it
moved its campaign to the European Court of Justice, which has
six months to decide whether the case is admissible. It is being
asked to consider Victor Emmanuel’s claim that permanent exile
of the Savoy male line is “cruel and unusual punishment with no
place in a modern Europe”, and that European treaties require
citizens to be allowed to enter their country of origin freely.
The most recent opinion poll, conducted earlier this year, showed
86 per cent of Italians in favour of the Emmanuels’ return,
suggesting that they are no longer regarded as a threat to
democracy. They figure endlessly in Italian gossip columns, fuelling
the typical republican craving for royalty, provided it is other
people’s or at arm’s length.
As the Queen progresses through Rome and Milan, pays a
courtesy call on the Pope, gazes at the Sistine Chapel ceiling and
attends a concert at La Scala, older Italians will recall that her
parents remained in London during the war and suffered the Blitz,
while the Savoys slipped out of Rome when the going got tough.
~*~
Warm welcome as prince goes back to
Belgrade(Electronic Telegraph)
By Julius Strauss in Belgrade
CROWN Prince Alexander II was welcomed to Belgrade yesterday by allies
of President Vojislav Kostunica who say they will support a referendum on
re-establishing a constitutional monarchy in Yugoslavia.
The prince was greeted at Belgrade's
Surcin airport by a small but enthusiastic
crowd of royalists, Chetniks and admirers.
Among them was the new mayor of
Belgrade, Milan St Protic. Mr St Protic, a
close ally of Mr Kostunica, said a
referendum could be held "in the near
future". He added: "The question of
monarchy will be decided by the people.
We who believe in it will accept the
decision of this nation."
As the crown prince arrived, supporters chanted slogans calling for the
monarchy to be restored. Some waved royalist flags or held photographs of
the royal family. Dragan Milosevic, leader of the royalist Serbia Together
movement, said monarchists were pushing for a referendum in about a year.
He said: "A referendum is the best democratic choice. But we should wait
about a year. The Communists destroyed the truth and educated people
against the monarchy and we need time to change this."
Leposava Mihailovic, a 62-year-old florist, could hardly contain her
excitement as the prince stepped out of the airport terminal. She said: "I have
been waiting for this moment for years. I'm so happy and I love him very
much. God has brought him back." As bodyguards struggled to control the
crowd, Roza Niksic, 68, a farmer's wife, waved an old royal flag. She said:
"This country has deteriorated so much without the king. We farmers have
been ruined.
"Ever since Tito came we have had no prosperity and no rights. All Milosevic
has brought us is Chinese immigrants." Some supporters held royalist
memorabilia, others flowers. Chants of "We want the king" and "Stay with us,
stay with us" went up. A 71-year-old man wearing traditional Serbian folk
dress with embroidered royal emblems proudly showed off photographs of
the former king's royal coach, which he said he was rebuilding in his back
yard.
Borislav Djekovic, a heavily tattooed punk rocker, was wearing dirty jeans
and an American silver dollar on a chain around his neck. He carried a carpet
bearing the royal crest. He said: "We will crown Alexander king and if that
fails we will crown his son Petar."
Royalist sentiment has been strong in Serbia in the past decade. When
protesters stormed the federal parliament on Oct 5, some carried copies of
the old royal flag. Many opposition leaders are sympathetic to reinstating a
constitutional monarchy.
Last night, the crown prince was due to meet Mr Kostunica, the opposition
co-ordinator Zoran Djindjic, students from the resistance movement Otpor,
and Patriarch Pavle, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Alexander was born in Claridges Hotel in 1945 in a suite declared Yugoslav
territory for the day four years after his father, King Peter II, fled when his
country was overrun by Nazi Germany. Yugoslav kings must be born on
Yugoslav soil. He has spent most of his life in Britain and America working as
a businessman. He sought to play down talk of an immediate restoration of
the monarchy, suggesting that Serbia had other, more pressing problems.
He begged the West to help Serbs recover from Milosevic's rule. He said:
"The most important thing today is to bring help to the people, and that
Europe and America keep their word. Where are the pensions to come from,
where is the medical aid to come from?"
Yugoslav reformers and Milosevic loyalists have agreed to hold elections on
Dec 24, Serbian president Milan Milutinovic announced. But reformers
centred on Mr Kostunica say hardliners are still blocking the formation of an
interim government. Mr Kostunica's allies have announced a new deadline of
10am today for talks to be completed. If the Socialists fail to agree to their
demands, anti-Milosevic party leaders have said they will call for new
demonstrations.
~*~
Charles in Dewar funeral tribute(BBC News)
Prince Charles will represent the Queen at the
funeral of Scottish First Minister Donald Dewar
who died last week.
Hundreds of people will attend the ecumenical
service on Wednesday, in which both the prime
minister and the chancellor of the exchequer
will play key parts.
Glasgow Cathedral is expected to be filled to
its 1,300 capacity for the service as respects
are paid to the first minister.
There will be an overspill facility for mourners
at the nearby Barony Hall and a video link to
Knightswood Community Centre, in Mr Dewar's
Glasgow Anniesland constituency.
Chancellor Gordon
Brown will deliver the
main eulogy, while
Prime Minister Tony
Blair will read a
passage from the Old
Testament.
The passage from the
book of Isaiah was
chosen for its
relevance to the theme
of social inclusion, a
theme which the first
minister and Scottish Labour leader had
championed throughout his life.
The passage includes the verse: "They shall
build the old wastes, they shall raise up the
former desolations, and they shall repair the
waste cities, the desolation of many
generations."
Mr Dewar died on Wednesday at Edinburgh's
Western General Hospital from a brain
haemorrhage after falling outside his official
residence in the capital, Bute House, the day
before.
He had undergone major heart surgery in May
to replace a leaking heart valve which required
him to take anticoagulant drugs to thin his
blood, making him more susceptible to internal
bleeding.
The funeral service is due to begin at 1430
BST and mourners will be led by his son Ian
and daughter Marion who were at his bedside
in his final hours.
It will also include a
personal tribute from
broadcaster Ruth
Wishart, a Scottish
ballad sung by Falkirk
East MSP Cathy Peattie
and the Glasgow
University hymn Thou
Art The Way.
Mr Dewar's body will then be transported via
his constituency and Glasgow University,
where he studied, to Clydebank Crematorium
for a private family service.
The Queen, who is known to have regarded Mr
Dewar with great affection, will be represented
at the service by Prince Charles, whose official
Scottish title is the Duke of Rothesay.
The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, is to cut
short a visit to the United States to attend
the funeral with his wife Alison, who was
previously married to Mr Dewar.
Mr Dewar's media spokesman David Whitton
said the first minister's two children were
aware from the start that the funeral would be
a public event.
He said: "Marion and Ian have been fully
involved with the decisions that have been
taken around the ways we have constructed
the service itself.
"The Church of
Scotland will be acting
as hosts, but it will be
a service that will be
inclusive, but also
reflective.
"Representatives of all
faith communities have
been invited to the
service.
"We are looking to
reflect the many faces
of a very good man, someone who gave great
public service."
The Reverend Douglas Alexander, a
long-standing friend of Mr Dewar and father of
Communities Minister Wendy Alexander and
Paisley South MSP Douglas Alexander, is to
conduct the service.
Prayers will be said by friends the Right
Reverend Andrew McLellan, Moderator of the
Church of Scotland, and Father Joseph Mills of
Corpus Christi church in Knightswood.