On this day, the 28th March in the Year of our Lord 1972, J.R.R Tolkien, by now a highly decorated and accomplished octogenarian, received his CBE medal from our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for services to English Literature, an occasion, he wrote letter, which he found both memorable and delightful. As arranged by Rayner Unwin, a car collected Tolkien, Fr John and Priscilla (Edith had died the year before) from Brown's Hotel at 9.45am and drove them to Buckingham Palace where, he wrote later, ''inside...the ceremonies were, especially for recipients, accompanied by some tedium (with a few touches of the comic). But I was very deeply moved by my brief meeting with the Queen, & our few words together. Quite unlike anything that I had expected.'' (The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien, no.334).
Blessed John Tolkien, pray for us.
O Lord, save the Queen.
Was he not a Jacobite?!?
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Patricius, why aren't you a Jacobite? Surely if your constitutional views are anything like your liturgical views you would never accept the Hanoverian dynasty as legitimate sovereigns? (I'm a republican myself and despise the Stuarts, but I'm just curious at this seeming inconsistency.)
Shane, I don't know where you got that idea from. Tolkien was a faithful Catholic, according to his 20th century fashion, and a loyal subject of the Crown.
ReplyDeleteMy parents are Jacobites, but we don't, to preserve peace, talk about religion or the Royal Family. As for me, I am a traditional High Tory. I believe in God, Church, State, Monarchy, Aristocracy, Monasticism and Family. Anything else is an affront to the authority of God in Heaven. Democratia, to the Greeks, meant ''mob rule'' - as Tolkien himself pointed out.
Nay, it is behoveful that we thank God for the British Royal Family, probably the last bastion of traditional Catholicism in the land - you won't find that in the established church, or the Italian Mission to the Irish.
I am a great admirer of Her Majesty, but she certainly is not a traditional Catholic. She is a somewhat old-fashioned Protestant---I say "somewhat" because of her acquiescence over female "ordination".
ReplyDelete+ I love Tolkiens books especially the Hobbit,the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. You are correct that he was a devout Catholic. He received the Sacraments regularly. I encourage all to pray the Rosary especially if you have very difficult situations. THanks! -Mike M. www.murraycavanaugh.com
ReplyDelete