Royal Birthday and Other Honorary Awards
It's All Smoke and Mirrors – According to Prince Phillip (deceased)
When the annual, Queen Elizabeth of Australia Birthday Honours, were once again announced, I noticed that an ever-increasing variety of Honour Awards were bestowed to an even greater variety of Australians, all of whom had contributed something substantial to our community, in one way or another.
There was also much media attention highlighting the number of politicians, both ex and serving ones, amongst the list of 710 Award recipients. This led me to wonder just exactly how does one qualify, or come to the attention of Her Majesty’s Australian proxy, the Governor General, in order to receive a Queen’s Honour Award? Who nominates them and who decides who gets what Award?
It seems that anyone can nominate anyone free of charge by filling in an online application form. Nominations should outline the contributions the nominee has made for the betterment of Australia, for example in politics, sport, science, the arts and so on. The Council for the Order of Australia then recommends to the Queen’s representative, the Australian Governor General, who is worthy of being awarded an Honour. The Council mostly consists of high-level public servants, previous Award recipients, a few serving politicians and a selection of business men and women.
I recently watched, for the second time, the entire 30 episodes of the award-winning TV series, The Crown during the Corona Virus lockdown. It’s a wonderful historical drama laying bare the everyday life and tribulations of the British Royal family. I can still hear the words that an exasperated Prince Phillip exclaimed on several occasions echoing in my head. “It’s all smoke and mirrors. It’s all a big circus”.
Prince Phillip would exclaim these and similar sentiments when attending the seemingly endless occasions of awarding titles, attending pageants and complex ancient rituals. He also made similar comments regarding his Family’s titles, regalia, uniforms, medals, swords, jewels, symbols, real estate and other royal accruements. It’s clear from his comments that he was trying to make it obvious to all concerned that there was no real substance or power connected to any of the aforementioned, and that it was all an illusion of Godliness, power and importance, and that the only power is found solely with how others viewed or perceived them. It’s all about perceptions.
But of course the TV series, The Crown, is only a TV series.
I’ve sometimes wondered about the various awards bestowed throughout the world as there are so many nowadays. I also wondered whether the awards and their recipients were worthy of any merit whatsoever.
I once knew a religious cult leader whose main selling point was his rare and coveted Saint Denis of Zante medallion that he proudly wore upon his chest that he claimed to have been awarded for his great humanitarian works. Upon investigation into this award I discovered that President Bush senior was also a recipient along with other very influential people. Further investigation revealed that in order to receive this rare award was simply a matter of making a one-off monetary payment and nothing more. If you look carefully, as I once did, you might even find a Saint Denis of Zante award medallion for sale on Ebay.
By chance, a few years ago, I came across the website of The Principality of Hutt River (PHR). Here I learnt about a quirky self-proclaimed and independent Principality, or micro-nation located about 500 kilometres north of Perth in Western Australia. Founded in 1970 by Leonard Casley, this huge cattle and sheep station, comprising of 75 square kilometres (18,500 acres), proclaims itself a separate and sovereign nation within mainland Australia, and is currently ruled by His Royal Highness Prince Graeme, Duke of Gilboa, Earl of Canan, Prince and Sovereign of the Principality of Hutt River and its Territories.
The (PHR) sells its own postage stamps, coins, passports, visas and other collectables. It also offers a variety of Royal Awards or Orders of Merit too numerous to list here. Scrolling through their website I further discovered that anyone can nominate anyone, by using an online application form, for an Order of Merit similar to the selection procedure of the Council of the Order of Australia.
Unable to contain my curiosity at the time, I asked a friend of mine to nominate me and in return I would nominated her for a PHR award: besides, it’s free. If our nominations were successful the type of Orders or Awards that we would receive would be selected personally by Prince Graeme on New Year’s Day – only a month henceforth.
Surprise, surprise, we were both awarded Companions of the Order of Wisdom and Learning (COWL) - for the pursuit of excellence in education, the advancement of knowledge and the encouragement of rational discourse.
We were also presented with Certificates of Authenticity and a catalogue from which we could buy a limited edition COWL Medal, with ribbon, in a special velvet case with the Principality Great Seal printed in gold inside the lid.
Seriously: just call me Garry.
Garry Greenwood
Update: it was closed to tourists in 31 January 2020, shortly after the death of Leonard Casley in 13 February 2019.