Tea at Trianon: King Charles Receives Royal Confrater Title

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, October 26, 2025

King Charles Receives Royal Confrater Title

From Vatican News:

Ut unum sint – “That they may they one.” A horizon of “hope” for the future characterized the atmosphere in the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, during the ceremony conferring the title of Royal Confrater on King Charles III of England took place at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, during his state visit to the Vatican alongside Queen Camilla. The ecumenical celebration was presided over by Abbot Donato Ogliari, in the presence of Cardinal Archpriest of the Papal Basilica James Michael Harvey; the Archbishop of York and Primate of England, Stephen Cottrell; and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Rosie Frew.
The Royals entered the basilica through the Holy Door, then were accompanied down the aisle by Cardinal Harvey, Abbot Ogliari, Archbishop Cottrell, and Moderator Frew while the congregation sang Hosanna to the Son of David in the version of Orlando Gibbons, Gentleman of the Chapel Royal from 1605 to 1625. The music was performed by the Schola of the Abbey of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, the lay clerks of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, and the children of St. James’s Royal Chapel in London; at the organ was Christian Almada, Titular Organist of the Papal Basilica.

After a brief stop in front of the altar, Cardinal Harvey and Abbot Ogliari led the monarchs in a moment of prayer at the tomb of the Apostle Paul. Here, Archbishop Cottrell prayed that the congregation may bear witness to the Gospel “in the darkness of our time.” King Charles and Queen Camilla then took their seats as the choir sang Sing Joyfully by William Byrd, also a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. (Read more.)