Weekly Comments Archive
Archived Issue
Saturday, May 6, 2023
ISSUE #1158
King Charles III Crowned; Will’s friend Edward, Prince of Wales; Army Troops Sent to Mexican Border  

King Charles III was crowned today. It’s the first Coronation in the United Kingdom in 70 years.

Now, I never met a British Royal. But Will Rogers did.

Will Rogers became friends with Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1924. Before I tell you why Edward liked Will, let me remind why you might know about him. He became King Edward VIII in January 1936 (5 months after Will’s death). Eleven months later, Edward abdicated the throne to “marry the woman I love,” a twice-divorced American socialite, Wallis Simpson.

Prince Edward visited the United States often and was treated like, well, like Royalty. As a 30-year-old bachelor prince, he received adoring attention from women. However, newspapers and comedians made fun of him for frequently falling off his horse during steeplechase races and while playing polo.

Will Rogers frequently defended him on the Ziegfeld Follies and in his syndicated newspaper columns. Will spent one 15-minute radio broadcast entirely on Prince Edward, May 18, 1930. Here’s one segment: “Now, I suppose, according to the usual run of American humor, I am supposed to tell you some jokes here tonight, Prince, about your falling off your horse.  Well, I have never seen a picture of you where you had fallen that the horse hadn’t fallen too. I am not much of a horseman, but all these people that joke about your falling off, what do they expect a man to do when his horse falls?  Is he supposed to remain up in the air until the horse comes back up under him? I saw one picture where you had fallen in a creek. We haven’t got a comedian in this country that could swim across this creek, much less try to jump it on a horse, and we haven’t got an editorial writer that could row across it. So, I am afraid we are going to have to find something else to kid the Englishman about besides his horsemanship.” Will closed with, “Fine fellow! Very, very human. No wonder they like him over there, for he is a regular guy.”

Will Rogers said Edward didn’t want to become King. He was having too much fun as a Prince. But, as mentioned above, he did become King, for 11 months.

Here’s an interesting angle to consider. When Edward abdicated the throne, his younger brother became King George VI. When George VI died in 1952 at age 56, his 27-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, became Queen.

Now, suppose Edward VIII had remained King, married an “acceptable” woman, and had a child. Edward lived until 1972, and that child, in his/her early 30s, would have become King or Queen. In this rewrite of history, Elizabeth would not have been a Queen, and there would have been no coronation today of King Charles III. (The Church of England policy has changed in 85 years. No problem with King Charles being divorced and married to a divorcee.)

Meanwhile, along our border with Mexico, officials are preparing for a surge of illegal immigrants after May 11. As if the absurd numbers we have allowed into the country already are not enough, more than 10,000 a day are expected to overwhelm Border Patrol agents and towns and ranches along the border. The Biden Administration has done nothing to discourage the 90% of asylum seekers who do not qualify for asylum.

About 1500 Army troops will arrive at the border. That sounds like a great idea until you hear they are only serving in a clerical role. Instead of using them to support the Border Patrol in keeping illegal immigrants from entering, their role is to rapidly register and welcome them into our country.

It is high time for President Biden to go to the border, stand along the Rio Grande River for a full day, and personally greet a few thousand. At the end of the visit, he could take a couple dozen with him on Air Force One. Half could stay in the White House, the others at his Delaware homes. With luck, none would be a Cartel drug dealer or Chinese spy.

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