Monday, July 28, 2008

Monarchs in exile in WW2

George II, King of the Hellenes left the Greek mainland for Crete with the government on April 23 1941 but after the German airborne attack on the island he was evacuated to Egypt, and went into exile to Great Britain. He returned to Greece on September 26 1946, after the referendum on the monarchy, which resulted 69% in favour of the King's return on a 90% turnout.

King Haakon VII of Norway was evacuated from Tromsø on June 7 1940 aboard HMS Devonshire and safely arrived in London. He was an important national symbol in the Norwegian resistance. After the end of the war, Haakon and the Norwegian royal family returned to Norway arriving to cheering crowds in Oslo on 7 June 1945.


Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her family were evacuated to the United Kingdom on 13 May 1940. Prior to the end of the war, in mid-March 1945, she returned to the Allied occupied areas of southern Holland visiting the region of Walcheren and the city of Eindhoven where she received a rapturous welcome from the local population.

Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, was exiled in London during the German occupation in World War II and became an important symbol of national unity.

Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia departed the country with his family before invading Italian forces, boarding a British ship bound for Palestine at Djibouti, on 5 May 1936. He spent his exile years in Bath, United Kingdom. On 18 January 1941, during the East African Campaign, Haile Selassie crossed the border between the Sudan and Ethiopia. Two days later, he and a force of Ethiopian patriots joined Gideon Force which was already in Ethiopia and preparing the way. On 5 May 1941, Haile Selassie entered Addis Ababa, five years to the day since his 1936 exile.

Four republics also established their governments in exile in the United Kingdom after loss of sovereignty in World War II:

  • Poland (invaded 1 September 1939)
  • Czechoslovakia (est. gov. in October 1939)
  • France (est. gov. in September 1941)
  • Philippines (invaded 8 December 1941)

King Peter II of Yugoslavia was forced to leave the country with the Yugoslav Government on April 17 1941 following the Axis invasion; initially the King went with his government to Greece, then to Palestine and Egypt. He went to England in June 1941, where he joined numerous other governments in exile from Nazi-occupied Europe. The King completed his education at Cambridge University and joined the Royal Air Force. At the invitation of the US president Roosevelt he travelled to Washington DC, where he addressed the Congress on June 25 1942, asking support and aid for the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland.

He never returned to the country because the monarchy was illegally abolished by Yugoslavia's Communist Constituent Assembly, without a referendum, in November 1945 and the country remained under a totalitarian regime for more than five decades.

Friday, July 25, 2008

THE OBRENOVIC VILLA



Former summer residence of the Serbian ruling family of Obrenovic, known also as „the King’s vineyard“, was a country house of the princely couples Miloš and Ljubica, Mihailo and Julia, as well as the royal couples Milan and Natalia and Aleksandar and Draga Obrenovic. It is situated in the most beautiful location in Smederevo region, on Plavinac hill, from which there is a spectacular view on the Danube and Banat plains.

The 36 ha large estate was purchased by Prince Miloš Obrenovic in 1829. Dating from that period is a plane tree named after him, a stone that the Prince used for horse-mounting and a night table, his gift to Princess Ljubica. The appearance of the villa during the reign of Prince Michael was described by the Austrian travel writer Felix Kanitz. Around a modest ground floor pavilion with a salon and other buildings, the Prince planted about 2,000 vines. When he had not been getting on well with his spouse, Princess Julia, he used to find refuge in the villa in Smederevo. The estate had a golf course, tennis courts and a croquet field, as well as a horse stable. The Prince also established a three hectares park with rare specimens of cedar, Russian olive, magnolia, Judas tree, black pine, chestnut and plane tree. Just like British lords, he loved reading newspapers in a specially made iron-cast baroque gazebo in the middle of the park.

The villa became a true royal resort during the reign of King Milan and Queen Natalia. After their divorce the entire estate became the property of Natalia, and in 1897 she engaged the famous Serbian architect Jovan Ilkić to renovate the quite modest-looking villa. By adding two wings with wooden balconies and a central double staircase with exquisite wooden carvings, the villa acquired then modern French-Swiss style, and a total area of 1,200 sq/m. Two representative halls were built in the central part of the ground floor – winter and summer, with French windows. The interior was enriched with period furniture made in Vienna. It was Queen Natalia who introduced a true court protocol in the villa.

The salon, paved with marble, has gilded furniture and portraits of two Serbian princes - Miloš and Mihailo, and two kings – Milan and Aleksandar. There are two sumptuous apartments upstairs, which belonged to the old and young king.

According to Queen Natalia’s letters, it was in the Smederevo villa that she learned about her son’s wedding to the lady-in-waiting Draga Mašin. The new royal couple used to come to Plavinac to hide from prying eyes of the judgmental public. There they organized parties that were attended by famous Serbian writers and artists like Milan Rakić, Laza Kostić, Milovan Glišić, Stevan Sremac, Branislav Nušić, Paja Jovanović, Marko Murat and Vlaho Bukovac. The desk of Milan Rakić at which he wrote poems is still in the villa, but his writings are regrettably lost.

The royal couple spent their last summer in the villa in 1902. Ana Lunjevica, Queen Draga’s sister, wrote in her memoires that the King liked playing croquet, and that the couple went swimming in the Danube.

After the assassination of Aleksandar and Draga in 1903, the sole heir of the Obrenovic estate became Queen Natalia. She bestowed the Smederevo estate to Colonel Antonije Orešković, commander of the Drina division of the Army. Her daughter Mica Cukić was the lady-in-waiting to Queen Draga, and he himself was an Obrenovic dynasty loyalist. The estate consisted of 30 ha of land, the villa and all of its mobiliaria – furniture, paintings, library, silverware, weapons collection, the gilded carriage… It is estimated that the entire gift was worth a million Serbian dinars in gold. The villa remained in property of Oreškovič family until 1945.

After the WWII it became a representative residence of the then regime in Serbia – completely isolated, mysterious house, off the limits to the public. During the next thirty years it served for the state protocol and was occasionally visited by the lifelong president of the republic, for whom some rooms were specially redecorated. A local legend says that he used to order a bouquet of freshly picked flowers to be placed in front of Queen Draga’s portrait every morning.

Today it is the property of the Government of Serbia. Once a remarkable structure, built on the model of the then most modern European villas, it clearly shows the traces of time. Although the Obrenovic villa is undisputedly a historical building of utmost importance, it has not been classified as an official monument of Serbian culture.

Monday, July 21, 2008

The Gini index of income and wealth distribution

The first two countries in the world with the most equal income and wealth distribution are constitutional monarchies!

The Gini coefficient was developed by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini and published in his 1912 paper „Variability and Mutability“ (Variabilità e mutabilità). It is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth distribution. It is defined as a ratio with values between 0 and 1: A low Gini coefficient indicates more equal income or wealth distribution, while a high Gini coefficient indicates more unequal distribution. 0 corresponds to perfect equality (everyone having exactly the same income) and 1 corresponds to perfect inequality (where one person has all the income, while everyone else has zero income). The Gini coefficient requires that no one have a negative net income or wealth. Worldwide, Gini coefficients range from 0.23 in Sweden to 0.707 in Namibia.

The Gini index is the Gini coefficient expressed as a percentage, thus Serbia’s Gini index is 30% (Mathematically, this is equal to the Gini coefficient of 0.3, but the percentage sign is often omitted in the Gini index.)

Rank

Country

Gini index (by CIA)

Year

of est.

1.

Sweden

23

2005

2.

Denmark

24

2005

3.

Slovenia

24

2005

4.

Iceland

25

2005

5.

Luxembourg

26

2005

6.

Czech Republic

26

2005

7.

Slovakia

26

2005

8.

Finland

26

2005

9.

Austria

26

2005

10.

B and H

26.2

2001

11.

Albania

26.7

2005

12.

Norway

28

2005

13.

Belgium

28

2005

14.

Hungary

28

2005

15.

Germany

28

2005

16.

France

28

2005

17.

Malta

28

2005

18.

Croatia

29

2001

19.

Cyprus

29

2005

20.

Belarus

29.7

2002

21.

Ethiopia

30

2000

22.

Montenegro

30

2003

23.

Serbia

30

2003

24.

Kyrgyzstan

30.3

2003

25.

Pakistan

30.6

2002

26.

Netherlands

30.9

2005

27.

Ukraine

31

2006

28.

Romania

31

2005

29.

Bulgaria

31.6

2005

30.

Spain

32

2005

Friday, July 18, 2008

IN MEMORIAM

Dragoljub Mihailovich (April 26, 1893–July 18, 1946)

We shall carry on towards our goal today, too. Our struggle and our sufferings are for the human rights, which are God given. We may perish in that struggle, but our victory is certain, as is the blessing for those who will survive and those who will come after.“

MAY HE HAVE THE ETERNAL GLORY AND OUR ETERNAL GRATITUDE!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Happy birthday, Your Royal Highness!

The Monarchist Initiative wishes a very happy birthday to His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander II of Serbia


Monday, July 14, 2008

The Global Peace Index

Six out of ten most peaceful countries in the world are constitutional monarchies!

The Global Peace Index is an attempt to measure the relative position of nations’ and regions’ peacefulness. It is maintained by the Institute for Economics and Peace (www.visionofhumanity.org/peace-initiatives/4/institute-for-economics-and-peace/) and developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks, together with the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, Australia with data analysed by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Countrie's eacefulness is measured based on wide range of indicators, 24 in all. Serbia is 84th in the 2007 ranking.

Rank

Country

Global Peace Index 2007

1.

Norway

1.357

2.

New Zealand

1.363

3.

Denmark

1.377

4.

Ireland

1.396

5.

Japan

1.413

6.

Finland

1.447

7.

Sweden

1.478

8.

Canada

1.481

9.

Portugal

1.481

10.

Austria

1.483

11.

Belgium

1.498

12.

Germany

1.523

13.

Czech Republic

1.524

14.

Switzerland

1.526

15.

Slovenia

1.539

16.

Chile

1.568

17.

Slovakia

1.571

18.

Hungary

1.575

19.

Bhutan

1.611

20.

Netherlands

1.620

21.

Spain

1.633

22.

Oman

1.641

23.

Uruguay

1.661

24.

Australia

1.664

25.

Romania

1.682

26.

Poland

1.683

27.

Estonia

1.684

28.

Singapore

1.692

29.

Qatar

1.702

30.

Costa Rica

1.702