5 May 2021

BBC

 I've just heard a news bulletin from our national broadcaster informing us that today is the 200th anniversary of the death of "France's Last Emperor".

What a pathetically ignorant little country "Great Britain" is.

20 comments:

motuproprio said...

Perhaps they never went to Farnborough Abbey.

davidmorourke said...

It seems to me that the only French emperor of real note was Napoleon Bonaparte. As far as the emperors that followed are concerned the only thing worthy of note that I'm aware of is that one of them gave a very fine High Mass set of vestments to a church in France which is now still in use at an Episcopalian church in the U.S.A.

But aside from the Revolution and the dreadful period that followed it I know little if anything about French history.

Voice from the roof top said...

Napoleon III was the last Emperor of France.

Tom Mushroom said...

You ok, Father?

You need to clarify the point you’re making.

Socrate d'Aquin said...

Perhaps the BBC took into account the fact the next Emperor of the French had Swiss nationality.

B flat said...

Dear Tom Mushroom,

Perhaps you have not followed this Blog for long, but the key to the point Fr Hunwicke is making may very well be in the comment immediately preceding your question. Look up Napoleon III of France in Wikipedia and it will give you the dates of his life (20 April 1808 to 9 January 1870). Being in 2021, we fall woefully of the 200th anniversary of his death or even of his birth with any approximation of truth. One facet of the reason for Father's complaint, is therefore found in the arithmetic involved in calculating what the BBC claims. But then even the day and month are quite different. Perhaps the Emperor too. Does this have anything to do with France? Or with our concerns for the UK, or history in general?
The BBC was a prized institution in Fr Hunwicke's youth and early middle age. It is now a disgrace in itself. It pathetically promotes and exemplifies the decay of the country (UK) and nations which it was founded to inform and lead out of darkness into the enlightenment of Christian education, and to entertain.
It is become a miserable whore of the "woke" revolution, like the Metropolitan Police
of London and the main political parties in Britain. I cannot speak with respect to Northern Ireland, because of my ignorance. But I am not the BBC which can, but doesn't.

Retired Judge said...

At the funeral service for the Duke of Edinburgh the first lesson was from Ecclesiasticus. In his post-funeral observations, the BBC commentator said that the reading had been from ‘Ecclesiastes, The Preacher.’

Zephyrinus said...

Dear “B flat”.

With respect, you are incorrect when you state that: “Look up Napoleon III of France in Wikipedia and it will give you the dates of his life (20 April 1808 to 9 January 1870).”

The date “9 January 1870”, that you quote, is NOT the date of his departure from this life. That departure date is, of course, 9 January 1873”.

1870, that you quote, was the date (4 September 1870) that his Reign, as Emperor of France, came to an end after the disastrous result (for France) of The Franco-Prussian War.

Richard said...

Please note, NIII lost his throne in 1870, but died in Chislehurst on January 9 three years later.

Christophorus said...

Napoleon I obviously the one in the fool's mind died 5 May 1821
Napoleon II died 22 July 1832
The Last Emperor, Napoleon III, died 9 January 1873

Pat & Bonus

Grant Milburn said...

For future reference:

Last Emperor of France
Relinquished title 1870, died 1873

Last Emperor of Austria:
Relinquished title 1919, died 1922

Last Emperor of China
Relinquished title 1912, died 1967

Last Emperor of India
Relinquished title 1947, died 1952

Grant Milburn said...

I don't know much about the BBC. I recently watched their coverage of the funeral of Prince Philip on YouTube and noted that one commentator confused the book of Ecclesiasticus, from which the first lesson was taken, with Ecclesiastes. But this is an excusable mistake, especially if your Bible lacks Ecclesiasticus, or refers to it as Sirach.

Dr Paul Scott said...

Voice from the roof top said...

Napoleon III was the last Emperor of France.

Correction: He was the last Emperor of the French.

Ben of the Bayou said...

Dear Mr. Milburn,

It must be some honest mistake, truly. You say that, among others listed, the last Emperor of Austria, i.e. Blessed Karl (Charles), relinquished his title in 1919. Are you quite certain of that? I do not believe that I am wrong in thinking that this was the very point of dispute he had with the new Government of Austria after the end of the War. He refused categorically to renounce the title.

May I ask that you would kindly either support your assertion or withdraw it?

John Vasc said...

It is true that the latest generation of professionals no longer benefits from a general educational grounding and general knowledge, but it is an extraordinary mistake for BBC News to make. Bulletins normally go pas several pairs of eyes, and News has factcheckers galore, nor is this some obscure detail but mainstream history. I can only assume the BBC's production and editorial infrastructure must have broken down under the disruptions of the past twelve months.

Wynn said...

Not sure why you want to slur the entire nation based upon the failings of the BBC, an institution which routinely goes out of its way to denigrate the country whose name it bears.

Grant Milburn said...

Dear Ben,

I apologize and stand corrected. I knew that Karl had ceased to be be Emperor de facto by 1919, and wrote vaguely "relinquished title" as with the other three Emperors on my list. But of course Karl never formally renounced his title.

shrink said...

It was a German-French War. Without the brave and victorious Bavarian army Prussia could not defend herself. Keep in mind that France declared the war and was the agressor.

John Nolan said...

Every year on the anniversary of his death (5 May 1821) there is a Requiem Mass at St Michael's Abbey Farnborough for Napoleon I.

When Empress Eugenie died in 1920 King George V and Queen Mary attended her Pontifical Requiem Mass. In those non-ecumenical days many Anglicans were not best pleased.

E sapelion said...

Last Holy Roman Emperor
relinquished title 1806
became Emperor of Austria died 1835