Mr and Mrs Helle Thorning-SchmidtThe newly-elected Danish PM is married to the son of Neil and Glenys Kinnock, heralding a new age of political interbreeding not seen since Princess Maud of Wales married her first cousin Prince Carl of Denmark, later to become King Harald of Norway and echoing the tactical alliances of the descendants of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (including Wales) and King Christian IX of Denmark into virtually every royal house in Europe. It makes one wonder about the political possibilities of betrothing (for example) 11-year-old Leo Blair and 10-year-old Sasha Obama.
This also puts young Kinnock into a position of "First Husband". He could do worse than to consult the Duke of Edinburgh on the duties of a male consort (since Denis Thatcher is no longer with us). Philip, of course, knows all about this as well as the dangers of inbreeding. He is a cousin of his wife thanks to the generations of strategic coupling that went on between descendants of Queen Victoria and King Christian IX of Denmark.
In recent years some younger royals have avoided the temptation to inbreed by choosing muscular sportsmen or women as spouses - Princess Cristina of Spain courted controversy by marrying a Basque handball champion, Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips tied the knot with rugby captain Mike Tindall, and Prince Albert of Monaco has recently married South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock following in the Grimaldi tradition of marrying for looks rather than breeding. This of course can backfire - as seen with Albert's youngest sister, Her Serene Chavness Princess Stephanie,
Which of Albert's two escorts do you think was born into a royal household?
This also puts young Kinnock into a position of "First Husband". He could do worse than to consult the Duke of Edinburgh on the duties of a male consort (since Denis Thatcher is no longer with us). Philip, of course, knows all about this as well as the dangers of inbreeding. He is a cousin of his wife thanks to the generations of strategic coupling that went on between descendants of Queen Victoria and King Christian IX of Denmark.
In recent years some younger royals have avoided the temptation to inbreed by choosing muscular sportsmen or women as spouses - Princess Cristina of Spain courted controversy by marrying a Basque handball champion, Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips tied the knot with rugby captain Mike Tindall, and Prince Albert of Monaco has recently married South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock following in the Grimaldi tradition of marrying for looks rather than breeding. This of course can backfire - as seen with Albert's youngest sister, Her Serene Chavness Princess Stephanie,
Which of Albert's two escorts do you think was born into a royal household?Political dynasties are crumbling in the Middle East, where the last of the Assad crime syndicate is clinging on by his privates, and it looks like the Gaddafi boys are not now going to inherit the earth. In the moderate Arab monarchies such as Jordan and Morocco, the smart young kings know it's a case of modernize or die, and are keeping their turbans down.
But elsewhere dynasties are back in fashion. In France, Marine Le Pen, daughter of the odious Jean-Marie, is now at the head of the National Front and looking like a serious threat -- to France as a whole, not just to Sarkozy. She may find herself up against Socialist Martine Aubry, herself the daughter of Jacques "Up Yours" Delors.
The Americas favour a Mr & Mrs alternation -- particularly in Argentina where President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the wife of previous President, has followed in the teetering stilettoes of Eva Peron, as well she might; and north of the border we all know about Billary Clinton. The Far East likes a bit of sibling rivalry - 44-year old Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of the disgraced and exiled former PM Thaksin, has just won the Thai elections. Some cynics have inferred it's a way for politicos to remain in power past their mandate. I couldn't possibly comment.
Thaksin's little sisterEveryone loves a grieving widow - Sonia Gandhi is the President of the Indian National Congress Party and de facto Mother of All India, Corazon Aquino surfed into power in the Philippines on the waves of grief following her husband's assassination, as did the disgraced husband of the late Benazir Bhutto. India is into its fourth generation of nepotism, Nehru-Indira Gandhi-Rajiv/Sonia - Rahul, whereas in Pakistan there seems to be a power-sharing agreement between the Bhuttos and the Zias.
All this is quite unBritish - we haven't gone in for political dynasties in this country since the William Pitts Elder and Younger.
All this is quite unBritish - we haven't gone in for political dynasties in this country since the William Pitts Elder and Younger.
Milibands minor and major
Benns senior and junior
Sir Herbert Morrison - former Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and DeputyPrime Minister (1940-51) -- remind you of anyone?
Grandson Mandy - a chip off the old block (except grandpa was a Socialist)
5 comments:
You forget to mention Il Duce's granddaughter, milady. Italian women get very shirty if you snub them. Who would be the perfect surrogate mother to produce a new heir for the Mandy dynasty?
Dynasties are one thing, Kinnocks are another. Denmark is, next to oral sex and Canada, the nicest thing in the world. That is about to change.
Reminds me of the old Polish joke.
First Pole: "You heard the Soviets have landed on the Moon?"
Second Pole: "Wow, what an achievement for Socialist science. So, what's the Moon like? Is it a nice place?"
First Pole: "Not anymore it's not."
At the risk of sounding pedantic (why change the habit of a lifetime), may I point out that you forgot the Churchills? Papa Lord Randolph and son Winston (who was in part fired by a desire to live up to, avenge and surpass his father); it all started to tail off a bit with his son Randolph (whose cancer scare was greated by Evelyn Waugh with the immortal "What a marvel of medical science to find the one part of Randolph that isn't malignant, and remove it"), and grandson Winston, who was an MP but achieved little but a few headlines for a spot of rumpy-pumpy, as I recall. But trading on your father's name isn't really the done thing, is it? Unless you're a royal, I suppose.
I detect an air of distain in your essay. Please remedy this.
At least you had the good grace not to drag Jesus into this sorry catalogue.
GB, indeed la Mussolini and Marine Le Pen are great friends, they go jackboot shopping together. Did you know Alessandra's mum is the sister of Sophia Loren?
Boyo, that is a very typically Polish joke. They have perfected the art of making a story fall completely flat on the punchline. One "joke" I heard involved a Jew queueing for the gas chambers, but I won't go into details. It was told to me as an example of anti semitism, but the teller spoiled it by sniggering at the end.
Lycus, of course, how could I have forgotten the amazing Churchills. Proof that greatness isn't hereditary.
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