Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Glorious Gloriana?

Empty gesture or constitutional statement?
A seemingly small detail amongst the whole Jubilee river pageant thing was the Royal barge Gloriana proudly displaying the national flags of the home countries of the UK. Amongst the many grand and populist gestures made on that day the significance of this outwardly tiny detail seems to have escaped the mainstream press to date.

For the few who are reading this blog that don't have a clue what I am on about, the apparently unthinkable has happened. Proudly displayed, on a par with the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish flag was the national flag of Cornwall. Surely a signal that the monarchy finally recognises the Conish nation as a nation in its own right - what other explanation could there be? After all there was no flag for Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Sussex, Devon (nor any other county of England) or even the Duchy of Lancaster.

I think that some caution is needed here before we all get too carried away. I would like to see some sort of official statement which backs up what Cornish nationalists everywhere hope that the flag gesture portends.

For me this incident raises many questions.

Was the gesture simply that - an empty gesture with no substance?

If the monarchy does indeed recognise the Cornish nation then how does this fit with the Duke's 'private estate' theory?

Why does the government consistently refuse to recognise (and indeed put obstacles in the way of) the Cornish claim to recognition under the FCPNM?

Until there is an official statement as to the significance of the Gloriana my bottle of cheap fizz is strictly on ice.

In the meantime Mebyon Kernow has a long standing policy of demanding that a full and independent official inquiry is made into the true constitutional status of the Duchy of Cornwall - perhaps, with recent events, now is the time to press even more for this inquiry.

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