There’s been an interesting energy around the British Commonwealth and the United Kingdom this year. The energy is… chickens coming home to roost. Dominos beginning to fall. A weakened monarchy and a weakened Tory government. While commonwealth nations will probably leave the British commonwealth en masse when Queen Liz passes, it’s pretty curious to check in on the Scottish independence movement from time to time. Scotland has had one independence vote and it didn’t pass, but that was before Brexit and that was before Covid. The Windsors know that Scottish independence is a movement which grows in popularity with each passing year too. They were so worried, there was even a short-lived plan to send the Earl and Countess of Wessex to live in Scotland full-time. Now the Queen has appointed Prince Baldingham and the Angry Inch to be the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Prince William was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2020, but the General Assembly was cancelled last May due to COVID-19.
Find out more 👇https://t.co/YaPU7FjUYU
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 22, 2021
At first I thought this was, like, a permanent position? Or that he would have this for a while? But no, it seems like an annual thing and various royals or Scots are appointed each year to act as “Lord High Commissioner to represent the Sovereign at the General Assembly.” In years past, Prince Anne, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward have all taken the annual position. William was supposed to do it last year but the pandemic happened (and William covered up his own Covid diagnosis). I was curious about this so I actually read the link to the royal website and here’s part of it:
Monarchs have sworn to maintain the Church of Scotland since the sixteenth century. The duty to “preserve the settlement of the true Protestant religion as established by the laws made in Scotland” was affirmed in the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland.
The Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian church and recognises only Jesus Christ as ‘King and Head of the Church’. The Queen therefore does not hold the title ‘Supreme Governor’ of the Church of Scotland; when attending Church services in Scotland Her Majesty does so as an ordinary member.
The Church of Scotland is entirely self-governing. It is managed on a local level by kirk sessions, at a district level by presbyteries, and at a national level by the General Assembly, which comprises 850 commissioners and meets each May, generally in Edinburgh.
The Sovereign is represented at the General Assembly by the Lord High Commissioner, who attends as an observer and is appointed by Her Majesty on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Lord High Commissioner’s role is to maintain the relationship between the State and the Church, and a long-standing tradition of appointing a Lord High Commissioner originated in the latter part of the 16th Century.
The Lord High Commissioner makes opening and closing addresses to the General Assembly and reports to Her Majesty on its proceedings. For the duration of the General Assembly, the Sovereign grants the Lord High Commissioner permission to reside at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and, during this time, His or Her Grace receives a Guard of Honour, a 21-Gun Salute and the keys to the City of Edinburgh. It is also customary for the Lord High Commissioner to invite distinguished guests to stay at the Palace, and to offer hospitality to Commissioners to the Assembly and those who have contributed to public life in Scotland.
“For the duration of the General Assembly, the Sovereign grants the Lord High Commissioner permission to reside at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.” Interesting. Anyway, after all of that… it turns out that this year’s Church of Scotland General Assembly will be entirely online this year in May. They’re still keeping things on lockdown (as they should) so everything will be livestreamed. So William doesn’t even have to physically show up. He gets to Zoom in from Anmer Hall (or Houghton Hall). Anyway, just a reminder that the Windsors keep trying to insert themselves into Scotland and making Wandering Workshy Willy any kind of representative to the Church of Scotland will probably be a disaster!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
First thing that popped into my mind when i read this: “Give ’em the old razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle ’em.”
Unfortunately for Mssrs William, Queen & Co there is no dazzle in their razzle so it’s all too easy to see through it.
How is this going over in Scotland?
I think the people who are interested in this whole church of scotland thing probably see no problem with it.
I don’t think anyone is paying any attention TBH – the elections are coming up so I think there attention will be on that and the pandemic.
It has made the same impact as their COVID Choo-Choo visit.
Aw, you know he was looking forward to being the lord of the castle for a week and now its completely virtual, so he has to attend from Sandringham, lol.
So the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland will babysit William for a little while so he can get a photo op. Because what exactly will William contribute?
A rose garden?
Oh wait he failed the agriculture course.
So its not permanent then?
Unrelated but am i going crazy or are the engagement numbers on mean & keen’s social media going down?
The bots are busy with Roya Nikkah’s article. “With the support of the Queen and Prince Philip and the Prince of Wales and the corgis and …… Prince William wil grow into becoming a great king who will rule us all with an iron fist!”
LOL
@Kalana LOL. Im sure they are. But seriously i feel like their engagement numbers have been going down a bit. Maybe im just imagining things
It’s an honorary position that is appointed to someone each year. Will had it last year also and, aside from reporting he had the position, there was nothing else said about it. In the past the longest someone has served has been 2 years, I think.
I feel like this was already announced a while back? Or did I just imagine that? Or did KP put out a “feeler” story to see how people would react?
It was announced last year, bc he was supposed to do it then, but then it got canceled.
Ah! That makes sense!
I just came here to laugh about the use of “Baldingham.” 😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂😂
He really should let his scalpside hair grow out a little to balance that xtralong face with narrow temples (as in the recent, photoshopped T of L magazine cover lol). The super-cropped do is no bueno on Baldi.
I guess for me, I just don’t understand he or Harry can’t use some Do-Gro, some Chibe stuff that the people of Chad use. Why not support a Blacked owned business and grow your hair back with Canvas Beauty Hair’s Growth Serum or Follicle Booster.
There is no reason for men with money be bald. Women have to do everything well into their twilight years to look fresh and keep their edges, but the men get to walk around like Baldy Beans and it’s maddening.
If Joey Fatone and the guy from 90210 could do it with a fourth of the money these two have, then there are no excuses.
Didn’t they threaten to send Edward and Sophie to live in Holyrood Palace like a month ago? Now Will is going to be staying there?
Satan has no place in churches so zoom church is best for him. Least the ground open up and claim his evil ass.
“The Lord High Commissioner’s role is to maintain the relationship…”
I mean, the idea of Will-Jong-Un (thanks to whoever shared that yesterday) maintaining any kind of relationship with someone other than with a mistress is laughable. Good job it sounds totally ceremonial.
Unfortunately it’s really expensive to write out the Royals as head of state here in Canada. There may be a lot of talk but I am extremely cynical it would ever actually happen. Some Commonwealth countries may have more independence minded politicians who find it resonates with their voters to leave. My guess would be white settler colonial societies will be less motivated than formerly colonized or formerly enslaved peoples, especially once it’s William as king. But we shall see. Small c conservatism and fiscal savings will be major friction in some places to republicanism.
Yup – it would be a long drawn-out mess. Every province would have to weigh in on it, and I believe both Quebec and Alberta would have to have a referendum. Then there are the many First Nations peoples who have separate and distinct agreements with the monarchy, so yes, it would be a gong show.