Britain: On the Queen’s Death
By Adam Smith, Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 13 September 2022, www.thecommunists.net
“God save the queen/The fascist regime/They made you a moron/A potential H bomb
God save the queen/She's not a human being/and There's no future/And England's dreaming”
Queen Elizabeth is dead, Prince Charles is to become the next King. A 10-day public plan has been announced. We can learn a lot about the priorities of the media from what it chooses to focus on and what it doesn’t focus on - many people even today die from hunger, war, or car accidents, and none receive special attention. The answer is obvious, but we must still ask what role still the Queen does have today for the bourgeoisie. Its main role is to facilitate tax-evasion and to whip up patriotic support.
Let’s take a look at some of the recent scandals of the British monarchy.
1. “Former” Prince Andrew has been protected by the State Immunity Act of 1978 [1] from being handed over to the US for investigation
According to the Sky News Interview:
“Ms Roberts-Giuffre claims she and Prince Andrew dined and danced together at a nightclub in London before going on to have sex.
She said she remembered him sweating during their encounter.
But the duke, who denies ever meeting Ms Roberts-Giuffre, said in the interview that he had a "peculiar medical condition" which prevented him from sweating.
"I didn't sweat at the time because I had suffered what I would describe as an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War when I was shot at and I simply... it was almost impossible for me to sweat."
Instead he said he had been at Pizza Express in Woking that evening before going home.
He said: "I was with the children and I'd taken [daughter Princess] Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of 4pm or 5pm in the afternoon."
When asked why he would remember a meal at Pizza Express 18 years later, he said: "Because going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do, a very unusual thing for me to do."
Ms Roberts-Giuffre has claimed they went on to have sex on two other occasions - allegations the duke denies.
He was also asked about a photo of him and Ms Roberts-Giuffre, where he is pictured with his arm around her waist.
The photo was allegedly taken by Epstein at the house of the prince's friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, in London in March 2001.
He said: "Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored but I don't recollect that photograph ever being taken." [2]
If this is not an account of events that sounds like a pack of lies, then I don’t know what is!
“What have the British police said?
The Metropolitan Police in London initially chose not to look into Giuffre’s trafficking claims against Epstein, but in light of the civil case against Prince Andrew, the force decided to review the claims. “No one is above the law”, said Dame Cressida Dick, the Met Police Commissioner.
On Oct. 11, however, the force decided to take no further action on the allegations made against the Prince and Epstein’s sex trafficking ring in the U.K.” [3]
2. Anti-Democratic Repression
“The woman, called Mariángela and who had been seen holding a sign that said “Fuck imperialism, abolish monarchy”, was arrested moments before the reading of the proclamation. The incident took place outside the cathedral, where the Queen’s coffin lay on Monday.
On Monday night Global Majority Vs Campaign, the group Mariángela represents, released a statement following the arrest, saying it “condemned the centuries of colonial injustice, genocide, and unlawful extraction that have been – and continue to be – carried out in the name of the British Crown.”
“In London, a barrister and climate activist who had held up a blank piece of paper in Parliament Square said he had been threatened with arrest by a police officer under the Public Order Act.
“He confirmed that if I wrote, ‘Not My King’ on it, he would arrest me under the Public Order Act because someone might be offended,” the lawyer, Paul Powlesland, said on Twitter.” [4]
3. Legal Tax Evasion
“Ever wondered how much the royal family cost the taxpayer? Accounts for the Sovereign Grant, which funds the Queen and her household’s official expenses, released in June of 2022 show the monarchy cost the taxpayer £102.4m during 2021-22 – an increase of 17% from the previous financial year.”
From Wikipedia:
“The Crown has a legal tax-exempt status because certain Acts of Parliament do not apply to it. Crown bodies such as The Duchy of Lancaster are not subject to legislation concerning income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax. Furthermore, the Sovereign has no legal liability to pay such taxes. The Duchy of Cornwall claims a Crown exemption meaning the Prince of Wales is not legally liable to pay income or corporation tax on Duchy revenues, although this has been disputed. The prince voluntarily pays income tax, although questions have been raised about expense claims that would limit his tax liability.”
In November 1973, the Queen's private lawyer successfully lobbied the UK government to change proposed legislation in order to conceal her private wealth from the public. The government subsequently inserted a clause into the law granting itself the power to exempt companies used by “heads of state” from new transparency measures. This hid the Queen's private shareholdings and investments until 2011
On other occasions the monarch's advisers requested exclusions from proposed laws relating to road safety and land policy that might affect her estates, and pressed for government policy on historic sites to be altered
The Queen was exempted from the 2017 Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Act, a law that seeks to prevent the destruction of cultural heritage, such as archaeological sites, works of art and important books, in future wars. This means police are barred from searching the Queen's private estates for stolen or looted artefacts.” [6]
As well as retaining ownership over a lot of land:
“The Duchy of Lancaster consists of 18,433 hectares of land in England and Wales, the majority of which takes the form of rural estates in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire.
There is one major piece of property within the Duchy of Lancaster that is located in London - the Savoy Estate, home to one of the world’s most luxurious hotels. The Duchy had £519m of net assets under it control at the end of March last year, and made a profit of £19.2m in the same year.
Meanwhile, the Duchy of Cornwall consists of 53,000 hectares of land in 23 counties, mostly in the South West of England, including Cornwall, of course, and also the Isles of Scilly and Dartmoor. It also encompasses Highgrove, the private residence of the Prince of Wales and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
Outside of the duchies, the Queen owns the 8,000 hectare Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, which has been the private home of four generations of British monarchs since 1862, as well as Balmoral. The Scottish castle and surrounding estate is made up of more than 25,000 hectares of land including forests and moors. It has been widely reported as the Queen’s favourite residence - but then again, so have most of the others.” [7]
4. Racism
The British monarchy had historically some support for the Nazis. [8] We can also note the treatment of Meghan Merkal by the monarchy (no doubt the fact that they would have to report their shady finances to the IRS didn’t help - “US tax inspectors could even scrutinise the private wealth of Prince Charles and the Queen because they provide support and funding for the couple. Meghan has to pay tax in her home country on all income “available” to her so this could include to princess jewellery, travel expenses and royal accommodation. The Royal Family is so concerned about the issue they have even asked a US financial consultancy firm for advice.” [9]). Another proof is the Barbados decision to leave the Crown.
One last thing to note is how the trade unions shamefully decided to halt their planned strikes because of the Queen’s death.
Abolish the British Monarchy!
Down with British Imperialism!
Footnotes
[1] https://www.gherson.com/blog/could-prince-andrew-be-extradited-to-the-us/
[2] https://time.com/6107815/prince-andrew-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-allegations/
[5] https://britishheritage.com/royals/royal-family-cost-british-taxpayer
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finances_of_the_British_royal_family
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_tour_of_Germany_by_the_Duke_and_Duchess_of_Windsor