LinkCONSTANTIAN SOCIETY" NEWSLETTER ABOUT MONARCHY
January 9, 1991 from MORNING EDITION
BOB EDWARDS, host: For as long as he can remember, Randall Dicks has been fascinated with royalty.
RANDALL DICKS (MONARCHIST): I think I wrote my first letters to royalty when I was about eight years old.
EDWARDS: To whom?
DICKS: Queen Elizabeth. And the Austrian imperial family, soon afterward. I first met Arch Duke Otto of Austria when I was 10 years old.
EDWARDS: Randall Dicks is now 40 years old and a lawyer in Pittsburgh. He
also is governor of the Constantian Society and editor of its newsletter called the Constantian.
DICKS: Our name comes from the Latin word constantia, which means stability, which is one of the advantages which we think monarchy offers.
EDWARDS: What is the fascination with monarchy?
DICKS: Well, it's not a fascination that's exclusive to us; it's something that's very much alive in any republic. We happen to believe in monarchy as a political system, and we think that it has definite advantages to offer for many national situations.
EDWARDS: Well, for example?
DICKS: Well, for example, in the countries of Eastern Europe. We think that a return to a monarchy in some of those countries might offer a very good solution in these post-Communist times.
EDWARDS: A lot of those countries had monarchy when the Iron Curtain came down, but I don't see a rush to restore it now that they have freedom.
DICKS: Well, perhaps not a rush, but there is a very definite interest in most of those countries. Romania is certainly a good example. The king has been able to return for just a few hours, but there's also considerable interest in Bulgaria, where the former king, Simion II, has been interviewed quite widely in the press and on Bulgarian television. And there's a very real interest in him. Even in tiny Montenegro, there's interest in its one-time monarchy.
EDWARDS: But isn't monarchy passe? I mean, the monarchies have been shrinking throughout the world since--What?--1776?
DICKS: Oh, I don't know about that. I don't know that any form of government belongs to any time period or another. As Arch Duke Otto of Austria said, you have to recognize that certain forms of government have a permanent value. It may be more in the forefront at one period of time or another, but I think they're very much alive. In 10 of the countries of Europe today, there are thriving monarchies. Japan is a monarchy. There are nearly four dozen monarchies throughout the world.
EDWARDS: Four dozen in contrast to hundreds once upon a time.
DICKS: Well, of course, some of the--many of those countries have divided and become much smaller than they once were. I don't think that numbers are a good indication of which types of governments are on the upswing and which are on the decline.
EDWARDS: Now, you're in contact with quite a few of these people?
DICKS: Yes.
EDWARDS: The czar's descendants, for example.
DICKS: Yes.
EDWARDS: Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia. Dicks: Yes.
EDWARDS: The emperor of Vietnam.
DICKS: Yes.
EDWARDS: You must get invited to some swell parties.
DICKS: Well, if I were able to travel a little bit more, maybe I would. Not too much happens in Pittsburgh though.
EDWARDS: Randall Dicks is editor of the newsletter called The Constantian. It's published four to six times a year and goes out to about 500 subscribers. The current issue features a cover photo of His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
This is NPR's Morning Edition. I'm Bob Edwards.