Christmas 2006

As Christmas approaches, I watched again the BBC's spectacular 1999 broadcast of a Westminster Abbey Christmas musical celebration including the abbey's always marvelous youth choir, soloists Bryn Terfel, Andrea Bocelli, and Charlotte Church.

The Westminster celebration included an unusual public reading from the Bible by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Britain's Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, whose reading from the King James Version's Gospel of John was a concise statement of Christian commitment:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came into his own, and his own received him not.

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory -- the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Prince Philip apparently purposely made a point for the Queen and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the British Labour Party that Christians were not going to stand by anymore and be driven into the dust by non-believers and enemies. Christ is our rudder, Prince Philip said in his reading, because he gave his life for us, went to heaven after being crucified, and he will come again to earth to redeem us. That is our Christian belief.

Queen Elizabeth II is the richest woman in the world, and the British empire, while diminished, is still not to be dismissed cavalierly by socialist tyrants who dismiss the historic truth of Britain's contributions, even in colonial days, to freedom and economic growth for the world's mass of unprivileged people.

So why the resentment and lack of gratitude?

Arabs have taken over British horseracing farms and studs in Newmarket and throughout England - a sure craw in the Queen's throat, as she loves horses and racing. But as in the aftermath of Princess Diana's love relationship with Dodi Al Fayed and her tragic death in Paris, the Queen and family have carried on.

After the Queen's son, Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and Princess Diana split up, the Queen was annoyed beyond belief by Diana's affair and engagement to Al Fayed, a dilettante Muslim rich-boy beach-bum, and what that marriage might have wrought regarding her grandsons Princes William and Harry and Britain generally if Arabs had moved into the royal British household.

It was that simple. I am told by someone close to Diana and her majesty the late Queen Mother that this was the Queen's personal anguish and regret before Diana's and Dodi's tragic demise together in the Paris tunnel.

Just ask Church of England Father Frank Julian Gelli, who was spiritual advisor to Lady Diana right up to her death, and he will tell you what was going on in the British royal family and among their worldwide network of supporters.

When the car carrying Princess Diana was pranged in the Paris tunnel, killing her and Al Fayed and their driver, the royal family and their very large Buckingham Palace establishment were in panic, but while the horrible tragic car accident in the Paris tunnel cemented the Queen's and Britain's quiet antipathy for royal Arabs, it also forged a closer U.S.-British relationship after 9/11.

And the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq forged a better, more determined and resilient Western partnership than since the good vibes between Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan, which Queen Elizabeth II also fostered.

Queen Elizabeth II also championed the close relationship between British Prime minister Tony Blair and Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The Queen is perhaps the one Western world leader of the last more than half century who almost alone in the Western alliance called the shots and made a difference for world liberty and economic opportunity. She works quietly in the shadows, but with determination and solid effect for human liberty and opportunity. We owe her great gratitude for being the strong monarch she is, albeit mostly behind the scenes.

Every time I hear the British national anthem and people saying "God Save the Queen," I say amen. Queen Elizabeth II is certainly the greatest pro-liberty national monarch in our lifetime, and she stacks up admirably as a much greater monarch than King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, her grandfather King George V, and her own father, King George VI - or any other Western monarch or leader in our lifetime.

Instead of being power-hungry or in the limelight, she opted for constant daily effort, without credit, behind the scenes, with help from Prince Philip and Prince Charles, and Lady Diana while she was alive, for individual liberty and human rights and opportunity as a way to fuel creativity and economic expansion everywhere.

Winston Churchill reported to Queen Elizabeth II at the end of his political career, as have all other British prime ministers since until Tony Blair.

Thank you, your majesty, for setting a reliable, stable tone for more than a half-century, and telling all your prime ministers what you wanted, and getting it.

Our system in America is not so tidy, as political people and leaders with help from meat-eating media organizations on their 24/7 news cycle constantly devour each other alive.

So even though we broke away from Britain in 1776 and created the United States of America, there is still a lot to say in favor of the old country and its values and verities, especially under the magnificent leadership of its monarch for the past half century, Queen Elizabeth II, certainly one of the greatest leaders of our lifetime.