Nothing ‘sad’ about free lawyer

Dear editor: Herald editor Joe Fries (Opinion, May 17) says the “sad part” is that Paul Braun is caught in the crossfire between two lawyers. I say most people caught in legal issues would be more than happy to have a free lawyer fighting for them.

After all, legal aid is hard to come by, and most people’s legal troubles are of much more importance: child custody, domestic violence, possible jail time, etc.

By the way, Braun should run for council, if not for name recognition alone. Joy Lang Penticton

Little historical snippets like these came to mind during last Saturday’s nuptials at Windsor Castle.

The blue-blooded and red-bearded groom is the great-grandson of a subsequent Duke Of York; he was second son of King George V, who died in 1936. His successor was eldest son, King Edward VIII, but he didn't stay around for long as his wish to marry an American divorcee was seen as unbefitting in the Church Of England, of which the monarch is titular head.

So his brother the Duke Of York became King George VI; that’s where the real intrigue started festering in that wizened little walnut suspended between my ears, while watching the British monarchy's latest extravagant bunfest.

Imagine, had King Edward VIII not abdicated, but married the American divorcee he loved and had a family of his own, then the blue-blooded red-head married with such fanfare on Saturday would have been virtually unknown and insignificant.

Not unlike so many of his “Royal” relatives who crawled out of the woodwork and turned up at Windsor Castle on Saturday, sporting their Sunday Best duds.

Another irony is that back in 1536, King Henry VIII formed his own Church Of England; a direct result of being excommunicated by the Church of Rome for divorcing his first wife Catherine of Aragon, because she had not produced a male heir. That was only the beginning of his marital problems, and his body is interred under the very chapel where on Saturday the red-headed stranger took for his bride an American divorcee.

You really couldn’t make this stuff up — and maniacal monarchists should stay tuned for more history being overturned. Bernie Smith

Parksville