Westminster Abbey, London
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
Hey, if I was here NOW I’d be in the Royal Wedding! But I’m not. This was from a 2003 trip to England and France.
Joe Duck
Have Blog. Will Travel. Vaccinate!
Westminster Abbey, London
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
Hey, if I was here NOW I’d be in the Royal Wedding! But I’m not. This was from a 2003 trip to England and France.
Joe Duck 
The Oppressor with a capital O, Duck. For that matter, the Roman Catholic Church claims that Abbey as its property, regardless of what the corpulent, mad Hank8 insisted upon.
Any recently married couple deserves a ..Bon Chance…..but Prince Windsor–aka saxe-gotha or somethin’–their Hanoverian name until WWI, when the Brit-germans didn’t care for being ID’d with their cuz, Kaiser Wilhelm….hitched to a bloody commoner? My word. She’s a nice looking birdy, tho, eh.
Wow, didn’t realize that Rome still lays claim to the Abbey..that’s neat and amazing! Do you have a good source for that?
Here’s Wikipedia on Westminster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Abbey
I was only there for a few hours but it was one of the most interesting places for me as there are so many famous folks scattered around inside in sarcophagi, walls, floor.
Although I agree that many of the roots of oppression can be traced to the royals, I see their role now mostly as somewhat reluctant pawns of national marketing and tourism efforts. Well compensated pawns for sure, but if you look at the sad lives of Diana and Sarah Ferguson it seems they hardly hit the jackpot with royal marriages. Cate, I predict, will have a much smoother transition.
That was the traditional view–ie, the heretic Henry VIII seized the catholics’ property, ended the monasteries, persecuted papists etc–as did his daughter Liz I. And the Abbey was a catholic church/monastery converted to protestantism, which with a few exceptions has been official doctrine–ie, William’s ancestors are the german Hanoverians, starting with William and Mary, not the mostly catholic Stuarts or jacobites..(tho’ some of the current Brit royals, including Liz II have some Stuart blood, via one of Chas II’s…mistresses ,IIRC. But few things are as boring or corrupt to me as royal pedigrees–in that I agree with Thomas Jefferson).
I doubt it’s a pressing matter but according to the RCC the CoE, along with all other protestant churches (and all other religions) are …not really legitimate, though the recent Popes have tried to reach out. Whether one agrees or not, that’s how most catholics in Ireland think as well–the CoE and protestants are considered well, not very highly. “Loyalist” is a dirty word for nearly all Irish ,excepting the scots-presbyterian-thugs in the north. :]
Yes the cathedral crypts are quite interesting. Havent been in UK since a kid, but a few years ago in Rhineland I took in some of the splendid german cathedrals–Cologne, Aachen, others–Charlemagne’s buried in the floor of Aachen Dom, reportedly (or was…they unearthed a large skeleton a few decades ago, like 6-5 with red hair–probably King Charles)
(That’s not to defend the R
CC across the board. They have issues).