Cherie's Papal Protocal Gaffe
The Queen is apparently amused by Cherie's stiff leg syndrome, which is obviously the reason she is unable to curtsey before her. Hilary Clinton, when First Lady, quite properly did not curtsey to the Queen either. Guido respects them for their republicanism. However, surely as a practising Catholic, Cherie is willing to show the proper respect to His Holiness?
Tradition requires Catholic woman to wear modest black. Pictured on the left is Queen Sophia of Spain exercising her Privilege du blanc as a Catholic monarch, a privilege conferred by the papacy on the historical Catholic monarchies, the Queens of Belgium and the Grand Duchesses of Luxembourg having been the other royalty granted the white privilege. Cherie appears to have seized for herself the privilege of Queens.
32 comments:
What is wrong with her? Is there no-one to advise her against such things?
Isn't Cherie the one wearing the 'stole' on her shoulder that only priests, bishops (or popes) can normally wear ? Maybe Tony is due for a Big Surprise; Pope Benedict looks amazingly tolerant ( a bit unusual for him.)
Or maybe she doesn't value arcane, sexist traditions?
Hilary a Republican? I knew she was positioning herself more to the right nowadays, but still, are you sure?
Is it just me or do Herr Pope and that ugly looking old dog look like brother and sister?
As an aside that fat arsed, huge gobbed childrens cancer charity raiding bitch isnt so fussy about curtseying to the mass murdering c**** who is president of China is she?
so much for her principles.
I just hope that she was able to let out a cracking fart, as is the usual protocol when caught up in such pomp and circumstance.
Am I alone in thinking that Cherie would look fantastic in a burka?
If she didn't value arcane traditions, she wouldn't have asked for an audience with the Pope now, would she?
Anonymous said...
Or maybe she doesn't value arcane, sexist traditions?
Then why is she a Catholic?
I think it's dreadful Cherie doesn't curtsey to the Queen. My PM's wife (Janette Howard) does, and so she should. Hillary doesn't count as she was (a) foreign and (b) wife of another head of state. Cherie Blair and Janette Howard are subjects.
Of course, Guido, as an Irishman I am sure you'd get up Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson for not wearing black when they had papal audiences either...at least according to Wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_privilege_%28royalty%29
Well, she certainly has a queens sized hairdressing budget, (shame she would have looked better with a grade 1 buzz cut). Why would she wear black and show respect for tradition, according to her lot history began in 1997.
Cherie was handing out condoms recently. Don't think she cares about Catholic teaching. Nor do you, putting up pictures of naked women on your blog!
Oh come on this is hardly a story. If she doesn't curtsey, so what? Maybe she didn't remember to? After all, she has other things on her mind at the moment no doubt...
Anon,
She didn't forget. She made a big thing about her socalist principles compelling her to refuse to curtsey to the Queen. I may not agree that she is right, but at least she appeared to have some principles.
But then she grovels in the approved manner to the Pope (the undemocratic leader of a male hierachy that espouses many illiberal ideas) and now we hear she curtseyed to the President of China (supposedly the leader of an egalitarian people's republic, with the blood of millions on his hands).
I'll bet she'll be more keen than the Dear Leader himself to accept the ermine that will be his due (by tradition if not personal conduct) when he eventually leaves No10.
No, to my mind, Cherry is simply a grandstanding scouse slapper on the make. IMHO She has no principle except the enrichment and agrandissement of Cherry.
RM
I just can't get over how ugly she is. She should be put in cage in the circus to be stared at.
Behold, the ugliest woman in the world!
This is interesting...
It's a thread on my own blog at the moment because Her Majesty wore black when she met the Pope on his visit to the UK. What exactly is the protocol here? That all women should wear black? That Catholic women should wear black? That anyone considered of inferior gender or faith should wear black?
How does it look when the Supreme Governor of the Church of England wears black in her own realm when receiving the Supreme Pontiff? Is it a symbolic submission? Is it the colour of heresy or 'separated brethren'? Does Cherie (wearing white) consider herself superior to Her Majesty (who wears black)?
Bearing in mind the foul Cherie's total arrogance towards just about everyone else on the planet it can't really come as a surprise that that same arrogance came to the fore when meeting the top civil servant of her religion. She no doubt considers the Pope to be somewhere around the Alistair Campbell level in relation to her, i.e. only around to make her look "good".
I'm A - a republican, and B - a secular humanist, so none of this is any of my concern, frankly. However, there is a philosophical difference between the Irish approach - not wearing black, and that of CB, as while the former might be interpretable as a lack of respect for decorum, the CB approach would appear to be demanding a status to which she is self-evidently not entitled.
As a side point, do non-Anglican heads of state etc bother to visit the Archbishop of Canterbury or if they do, dress up? Similar questions might apply to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the head of the Methodist conference etc etc? In addition what I find interesting is that there seems to be a de facto crowning of the Pope as the head of Christianity per se, rather than of one of its variants.
I think there is a story here...
It has been a lively issue on my blog for a few weeks, prior to this story.
The Queen wears black when she meets the Pope. In 1982, there was much fuss made of the Supreme Governor of the Church of England having to wear a 'submissive' black against the Pope's 'radiant' white. Whatever the facts behind the decision, the symbolism was considered significant - black being the colour worn by heretics as well as by (some) women. That Her Majesty is a heretic (or now 'separated brethren') and excommunicated from the Church is not in doubt.
What is the protocol here? That all women should wear black? That all Catholic women should wear black? Does Cherie (wearing white) consider herself superior to the Queen (in black)? Is it simply an assertion of feminism?
When she meets heads of state or government, she is there as the wife of the British Prime Minister, and she should behave as diplomatic convention dictates, whatever her own feelings - if the protocol for meeting the Rajah of Bhong is that visitors wear red shoes and stratch their left ears while shaking hands with him, then that is what she should do. It's called courtesy, just as curtseying to Her Majesty the Queen is courteous.
I have heard that she curtseyed to the Queen of Jordan, which is, of course, correct. It is arrogant ill-manners that she does not do so to Queen Elizabeth.
If she is actually Catholic (which her association with strange practices involving nudity and crystals certainly calls into question) then His Holiness is the Vicar of Christ on earth for her, and she should show him the respect that any Catholic should, on top of the normal diplomatic procedure.
I do wonder if her respect for HM the Queen of Jordan is part of her typical left-wing, pro-Arab, anti-Israel stance. She did, IIRC, praise Palestinian terrorists and suicide bombers. I am sure Lord Levy was very happy about that, as he was for the anti-semitic 'Fagan' slurs cast by senior Labour figures at Conservatives who happened to be Jewish. He will, no doubt, be proud to carry the can for such wonderful people as Blair and co.
Cherie needs to wear white to cover a black soul.................put it down to ignorance..............she is after all ignorant.
"strange practices involving nudity and crystals"
Bloody great, Fergusmac. Now I can't put a whole series of images of a naked Cherry out of my mind. And they've put me right off my sunday roast. Thanks a bunch.
RM
PS the Fearsome Hounds of Remittance say thank you for their unexpected bonus dinner.
As much as I dislike Cherie, Cant say as I blame her for taking a nice shower with Carol Caplin (wonder if tony watched?)
Come on, folks, Cherie is only following NuLabour policy that white IS black (and vv) ... "Best year yet.." "...private matter..." "belongs to someone else..." and so on
Is this some sort of conspiracy to send me bonkers? First Fergusmac and now JP's Hamster.
I'm so glad tommorrow's a holiday because I'm going to be spending the rest of the night with a bottle of Bushmills and www.bigandbouncy.com trying to get rid of these images of Cherry, naked and debauched.
RM
Hang on, Fergusmac. If she curtsied to the Queen of Jordan, she was grossly incorrect, unless she was in Jordan at the time. Only subjects of a monarch curtsey to that monarch, generally speaking.
And if she couldn't meet the queen properly (ie with a curtsey), she should not have met her at all. But of course, that would really cut down on the photo ops.
I'm not British, so I don't capitalize "the queen" when I write it. And as a Canadian, it's up to me whether or not to curtsey or capitalize. All those Americans you see dropping down are waaaaaaay out of bounds and I bet she laughs at their social-climbing ways behind their backs.
Went through an etiquette phase a few years ago, and still have Debrett's and Miss Manners lying around the house. Finally found a use for them! Thanks!
"She didn't forget. She made a big thing about her socalist principles compelling her to refuse to curtsey to the Queen."
Right, I want sources backing this up. Provide them please :o)
raincoaster, if she curtseyed incorrectly to the Queen of Jordan, as you say (and I do not know the exact details), then that makes the point yet again that she is neglecting or ignoring correct protocol, to make her own political points. She has had nine years in the job of being the British Prime Minister's wife, and I cannot believe that the Foreign Office does not provide advice on correct behaviour. There is no excuse for her arrogance and bad manners. Cherie Blair is the perfect example of someone who is 'neither use nor ornament'.
I am not criticising you in saying this, I am just asking - is not HM the Queen the Head of State of Canada, as she is of Australia, New Zealand and sundry other dominions and territories? If that is the case, I would have thought that a Canadian is a subject of Her Majesty, and the normal rules of etiquette apply. Is there some other constitutional arrangement in force?
Even if it is correct that, on a personal level, you are free to do what you like, if your wife/husband (I don't know if you are a man or a woman) held high public office, and you had to meet foreign dignatories, you would surely behave correctly, knowing that any insults given or bad manners displayed would reflect badly on Canada?
I don't follow your point on capitalisation being optional - I would always write 'the President of the USA', 'the President of Finland', 'the King of Sweden', 'the Prime Minister of Canada' and so on. All the newspapers and magazines I read do so as well.
Oh! and by the way you asked for references, Anon.
A quick google of "Cherie Blair"+Curtsey gives us five pages of results including the following:
www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006180302,00.html
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A8466339
I also refer you to: "Tony and Cherie: A Special Relationship", Paul Scott; Sedgwick and Jackson; 2005
I couldn't be arsed to dig further as I think my case is proven.
Face it she is intentionally rude to her own Head of State based on some sort of principle, but then grovels and kowtows to all sorts of other, possibly less deserving figures. Hardly consistent actions I would have thought.
RM
flying fuck?
couldn't give one
If only queens are allowed to wear white in the presence of the Pope, then Tony should have been the one wearing white.
On the other hand, do you have to be a Catholic queen in order to wear white to meet the Pope? Or do you have to be queen of a Catholic country. Oh, dear, it's all so difficult.
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