Smoky Mountains Sunrise

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Her Majesty Strips Mugabe of Knighthood


The following is from the superb blog, The Monarchist.

This is not the right time for the mangy old British lion to rise to its height and say this election is not good enough so we'll strip you of your knighthood. — Lord Malloch Brown, British Foreign Office Minister

Robert Mugabe pictured with the Queen during his state visit to Britain in 1994, when he was awarded the honorary knighthood

Robert Mugabe pictured with the Queen during his state visit to Britain in 1994, when he was awarded the honorary knighthood

Despite both Gordon Brown and Lord Malloch Brown, the Foreign Office Minister, indicating in recent days that there would be little point in stripping him of the knighthood, the decision has been taken in view of the extreme nature of his actions in Zimbabwe and the way his regime has attacked opposition members.

The Foreign Office has been in discussions with Buckingham Palace over the move and it has just been agreed that the Zimbabwe president will no longer have the title that was bestowed on him in 1994. The Queen is stripping Robert Mugabe of his knighthood for 'abject disregard for democracy'.

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "He has mutated into something quite unbelievable. He has turned into a kind of Frankenstein for his people."

In 1994, during the Premiership of John Major, Mugabe was bestowed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by the Queen. It entitles him to use the letters KCB, but not to use the title "Sir."



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