Let me begin the new year with heartfelt good wishes to all readers, especially those who saw fit to support me in my quest to be elected as a delegate to the coming Constitutional Convention.
I am looking forward to taking my place at the convention in Canberra in February and doing battle with those who are seeking to destroy our long-standing system of British constitutional monarchy.
Regular readers of this column will know that I am unashamedly a supporter of the British Royal Family. It is the one subject on which I have never been hesitant about expressing a personal opinion during my career as an otherwise independent, apolitical bureaucrat serving governments of all persuasions.
I believe the Royal Family has, over generations, succeeded in representing and embodying all that is good about the British way of life, the proud British heritage, and the rights that go with it, which many Australians take for granted.
This attitude can be traced back through several generations of Badinages. I guess my family’s leanings towards the monarchy had their origins in the time of my great-grandfather Edward Badinage, who, as a newly married man in his early 20s, secured employment on the Royal Estate at Balmoral in Scotland during the grouse season.
Edward was employed as the personal beater for Prince Albert – a German, more correctly known as Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha who married his first cousin, Queen Victoria, to become Prince Consort. Victoria’s links by marriage to Germany were nothing unusual. In fact, since 1714, there had been a personal union between Great Britain and the German state of Hanover under which British kings also reigned over Hanover.
This arrangement began when the British crown passed, by Act of Parliament, to George I of Hanover on the death of his cousin, Queen Anne. From that time, Hanoverians played a significant role in the British monarchy. According to historians, George I and his son, George II, were “quite German”. George I spoke no English and George II spoke it only passingly. The direct link with Hanover came to an end in 1837 when Victoria assumed the throne.
Because she was a woman, Victoria could not reign over Hanover and so her uncle became King Ernest of Hanover. But many of Victoria and Albert’s children married into German nobility.
Our own Queen Elizabeth II is a product of this heritage. She herself married Philip – now Duke of Edinburgh – who came from the Greek royal family and is the grandson of one of Victoria’s daughters, Beatrice, who herself married into the Battenburgs of Germany. The family name was changed in 1917 to Mountbatten by its British descendants when relations started to get a bit strained between Britain and Germany.
At about the same time George V – the present Queen’s grandfather – declared his family name to be “Windsor”, rather than the more Germanic Saxe-Coburg.
But, I digress. Unfortunately Edward Badinage – a very tall man
– worked only part of one season as a game beater at Balmoral. Family
records show his heavily pregnant widow, Nellie Badinage, set sail for Australia
in 1858 – very soon after Edward’s death.
Family scuttlebutt says Edward died from gunshot wounds – a point I
have been unable to confirm in my efforts to trace the Badinage lineage,
because of the ban on access to certain records covering Royal Estates.
I have also yet to uncover how Nellie could afford the fare to Australia
and the large house she purchased in Sydney on her arrival.
Regardless of this family trivia, the Badinages’ support for the British Royal Family has continued to this day. I believe the present House of Windsor has served our country and the British Empire well and I look forward to defending its role in 21st Century Australia at the convention.
Before signing off, I must say that it was indeed unfortunate that I alone of the five candidates in my Protect the Empire team was successful in securing sufficient votes to win a place at the convention.
I want to take this opportunity pay tribute to the other four members of my team – Major General (Ret) Ernie “Bullets” Passmore, Dame Lorna Jenkins, the Reverend Neil Drouyn and Hettie Asquith-Hays.
All four would have been worthy delegates and I am indeed saddened that they will not be at my side when I take my place in the former House of Representatives chamber at Old Parliament House.
During our team’s campaign, Dame Lorna’s efforts could only
be described as “super-human”, especially given her advanced age.
Major General Passmore’s knowledge and advice on electoral tactics
was an inspiration, albeit somewhat misunderstood by certain sections of
the media – as evidenced by the highly coloured and, dare I say, prejudicial
reporting of his comments on the Aboriginal question.
Likewise, Mrs Asquith-Hayes – a woman with a long and distinguished history of community and charity work – suffered at the hands of young and inexperienced reporters over her statements about Mrs Camilla Parker-Bowles while drawing the sweep at our fundraising Melbourne Cup luncheon.
And it is undeniable that the court case involving the Reverend Drouyn had a negative impact on his chances. Its timing was very unfortunate, but could not be avoided due to the peculiar laws in the Philippines governing the evidence of minors.
Dr Rufus Badinage MBE, now retired, is one of Australia’s
leading experts
on politics and public administration having worked as a senior bureaucrat
for various state and federal governments.
