Piper Bill- Update

One of my readers very kindly sent me the link to Ronald Reagan's speech delivered on the 40th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1984. I thought it may be of interest to some of you.

Regardless of what you may think of Reagan it was a brilliant speech in which he mentions Mr Millin and Lord Lovat by name.

Here's an excerpt but do read the whole thing:

Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren’t. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him. Lord Lovat was with him — Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, “Sorry I’m a few minutes late,” as if he’d been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he’d just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.

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Brown's Snub to the Queen

Sometimes if I waken in the night I listen to TalkSport, mainly for its soporific value, but on occasion the main topic is quite interesting.  That was the case yesterday morning when Mike Graham's anger was evident.  What was his topic?  The fact that the Queen has not been invited to the 65th commemorations of the D-Day Landings.

He strongly felt that Gordon Brown had acted improperly by ignoring the Royal Family.  As I said in this post, protocol requires the government to invite royalty to such occasions.  No such invitation has been received by Buckingham Palace.

It has been said that Mr Sarkozy wanted the event to be primarily a Franco-American ceremony. Once Mr Brown heard this he ought to have contacted Mr Sarkozy and informed him that British and Canadian forces were the majority and he must include a royal representative from Britain.  It has been reported France said it was not up to France to determine the British representation.  Then, if you remember, when France announced Barack Obama would be present, Gordon Brown decided he would attend.

As some of you may know, I'm not an avid royalist but I am a fervent support of HM Forces and those few remaining veterans who will be attending this ceremony are of a generation which hold the Queen in the highest regard.  That is why I think she should have been invited.

Gordon Brown has proved himself to be possibly the worst PM in history but he'll certainly also be recorded as the least diplomatic.  We pay a fortune for him to have advisers - what do they do for their massive salaries?

Update:  After the intervention of the White House, it now appears Prince Charles will attend and represent the Queen.  Now Brown needs the help of the US with his basic PR.  Shameful.

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