Order of the Golden Fleece of Spain

[TonyGosling]

Here's a pretty exclusive club
And they're having lunch at Windsor castle on Friday
All we need now is a snitch

The King of Spain (1941) - Sovereign of the Order since 1977
The Duke of Calabria (1964)
The King of the Hellenes (1964)
The Prince of Asturias (1981)
The King of Sweden (1983)
Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1983)
The Emperor of Japan (1985)
The Queen of the Netherlands (1985)
The Queen of Denmark (1985)
The Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms (1988)
The King of the Belgians (1994)
The King of Norway (1995)
The Tsar of the Bulgarians (2004)
The King of Thailand (2006)
The Grand Duke of Luxembourg (2007)
The Duke of Suárez (2007)
The King of Saudi Arabia (2007)
Javier Solana (2010)
Víctor García de la Concha (2010)
Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic and Co-Prince of Andorra (2011)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Golden_Fleece#Living_members _of_the_order

[TonyGosling]

The occult side - you heard it here first!

Banquet prompts protests on rights
(UKPA) – 1 day ago
Protests have already begun ahead of a Diamond Jubilee banquet that is expected to include some controversial monarchs from around the world.
The lunch for sovereign monarchs at Windsor Castle, hosted by the Queen, will also be attended by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke of York and princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
But guests are expected to include Swaziland's King Mswati III, who is accused of leading a lavish lifestyle while his people starve. Another controversial figure expected to attend is Bahrain's King Hamad Al-Khalifa, whose country is in a state of civil unrest.
A group of Swazis living in the UK protested outside London's Savoy Hotel, where King Mswati III is said to be staying with an entourage of more than 30 people ahead of Friday's lunch at Windsor Castle.
Swaziland Vigil, which organised the protest, stages regular demonstrations outside the Swaziland High Commission in London.
Co-ordinator Thobile Gwebu said people in the country had been reduced to eating cow dung to make sure they filled their stomachs as required for Aids medicines provided by non government organisations (NGOs).
Ms Gwebu said she understood the king was travelling with the entourage of 30, staying at the Savoy where room prices start at £400 a night.
She said Swazis in the UK did not want to spoil the Queen's Jubilee celebrations and had written to her, asking her to influence the king.
The Swaziland Vigil is also planning to picket the Swaziland High Commission on Saturday when King Mswati is due to hold a dinner, she said.


Guess who's coming to dinner? Anger over Queen's jubilee bash guest list

Protesters say invitation list includes monarchs of several countries accused of human rights abuses
Caroline Davies - guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 May 2012 18.33 BST

The trickiest part of hosting any big anniversary bash is always the guest list – as the Queen is discovering before an unprecedented lunch for the world's crowned heads on Friday.

Does one invite the ruler accused of turning a "blind eye" to human rights abuses? Or the one with the "glad eye" and, at the last count, 13 wives? Then there is the cousin who snubs you over a little local difficulty.

By Thursday evening, neither Buckingham Palace nor the Foreign Office had released any details of who would be attending the glittering diamond jubilee gathering at Windsor Castle.

But the invitation list included the King of Bahrain, Hamad al-Khalifa, whose regime brutally suppressed pro-democracy protests last year. And Swaziland's polygamous King Mswati III seems set to take a seat amid the heraldic splendour of St George's Hall.

One definite no-show will be Queen Sofía of Spain, ordered by her government to turn down the invitation in response to a planned trip next month by the Earl of Wessex to Gibraltar, the UK overseas territory Spain wants returned to its sovereignty. Her husband, King Juan Carlos, is presently incapacitated due to a fall while shooting elephants in Botswana as his country teeters on the economic brink.

The former Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane accused the FCO on Thursday of placing the Queen in an impossible position. The Labour MP said: "Many in Britain will regret that the foreign secretary, who approves all invitations sent in the Queen's name as head of state, has decided to include a representative of the Bahraini regime which has done such terrible things to its own people since the Arab awakening a year ago."

The Foreign Office said it had advised on "logistics", adding that the invitations would have been issued by the Queen in a private capacity.

Advisers to the Queen would argue it is not for her to unilaterally snub rulers with whom the British government still does business. And to avoid potential offence, the luxuriously thick gilt-edged invitations – known as "stiffies" in the royal trade – have been dispatched to all crowned heads with the full knowledge of the FCO. Not all will be attending.

Her Majesty is rolling out the full red-carpet treatment, inviting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as well as Prince Harry and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to the lunch. Prince Charles is hosting his own glittering dinner for the foreign royals at Buckingham Palace on Friday night.

Protesters are keen to make their point. The Swazi exiles group Swazi Vigil picketed the Savoy hotel, where Mswati, who collects wives from the country's annual reed dance, was said to be installed on Wednesday with a 30-strong entourage.

Highlighting the impoverished kingdom's high HIV/Aids infection rates, they waved placards reading: "Let them eat cow dung", a reference to Swazi citizens being reduced to eating dung to fill their stomachs in order to take the HIV medication provided by non-governmental organisations.

The protest co-ordinator, Thobile Gwebu, said they had chosen the Savoy rather than Windsor for their protest because they did not want to spoil the Queen's jubilee celebrations.

But, she added, they had written to Her Majesty politely asking if she could perhaps "have a word" with the Sherborne-educated absolute monarch.

The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell accused eight countries whose leaders may be on the guest list of human rights abuses.

He said: "It is outrageous that the Queen has invited royal tyrants to celebrate her diamond jubilee.

"She should not host the monarchs of countries such as Brunei, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and United Arab Emirates."

He added: "All eight royal families preside over a variety of human rights abuses, such as detention without trial, torture, the denial of free speech, restrictions on press freedom, discrimination against women, oppression of minority faiths, homophobic persecution, ill-treatment of guest workers and the violent suppression of peaceful protests."

The Foreign Office said that "all World Sovereigns" were invited to the event which was " organised by the Royal Household, with assistance and co-ordination by the FCO". The UK was a " a long standing friend and ally" of Bahrain. And the "strong relationship" allowed "full and frank discussion" on issues of concern, including human rights. [all very Bilderberg n'est pas?]

The UK government supported reforms already underway and want to help promote that reform, including moves to bring to account individuals responsible for human rights abuse.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/17/dinner-anger-queen-jubilee-ba sh