Childhood Days

The third in line to the throne has turned six on Monday!

Boy, don’t we know that. The ABS, ever so loyal, virtually adopted Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge from the moment he was born on 22 July 2013.

Six times we have already gathered in his honour, starting with the Kattus Sektkellerei, the week he was born in 2013, twice at the Cobenzl, twice also on top of the Hochhaus, then the British Embassy last year and now, the seventh time, amongst the grandiose Imperial & Royal architecture, in front of the Café Ministerium.

Once we had started in 2013, we continued to the day tasting our way through three exclusive red wines, which star vintner Willi Opitz has previously chosen, and under the gaze of his beady eyes and the resolute encouragement of our President Prof Dr Kurt Tiroch, thus selecting the annual “Prince George Cuvée”, which, once bottled and labelled, is being presented by the Austrian Ambassador to the happy parents. Not surprisingly a much loved tradition by our members that surely will continue into the future.

An enchanting land that time forgot

“Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.”

Every English speaking person will fondly remember this old nursery rhyme from childhood days. There is a theory, unsubstantiated, but traditional in families which supported the Stuart line to the throne, that this is an old Jacobite rhyme that relates to the 1745 rebellion. In this account the rhyme relates to King George II. It incorrectly implies that as the Jacobite army headed further and further south ("When the boys came out to play"), King George fled England for the safety of mainland Europe ("Georgie Porgie ran away").

Who ever has read the lovingly produced monthly Newsletter by our Secretary General Fred Fruth cannot help being enchanted by the beautiful drawings at the start, always depicting a romanticised scene of an England long past.

Candida Yates, Professor of Culture and Communication at Bournemouth University writes of “a fantasy of a home that is located in a past less complex age, long before globalization. It is a time when street parties are held with bunting, communities compete in sports competitions, and class differences are still intact. The vote for Brexit is the ultimate expression of this aspiration.”

And so we touch base once more, even on this day, George’s Birthday, with Brexit!

Voting will have closed later on Monday in the Conservative leadership contest, with the UK's next prime minister set to be announced on Tuesday. At the time of writing and having patiently waited until 13:00h for the result to be conveyed, we now know that the next occupant of Number 10 will be Boris Johnson and as the winner and successor to Theresa May is due to take office on Wednesday.

But ahead of the polls, which closed Monday at 18:00 h CET, Sir Alan Duncan quit as a Foreign Office minister in protest against a possible Boris Johnson victory.

Chancellor Philip Hammond told the BBC on Sunday he intends to resign as chancellor if Mr Johnson becomes prime minister.

Justice Secretary David Gauke also reiterated in the Sunday Times that he would also resign this week for the same reason.
BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said the ministers could not stomach the prospect of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, which they think Mr Johnson is increasingly likely to oversee.

So the story continues as the Brexit chaos rolls on… 

Wolfgang Geißler

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