Winston Churchill never admitted defeat beforehand.
He did, however, contemplate it.
"We shall go on to the end," said Churchill to Parliament on June 4, 1940, as the last of the British Expeditionary Force retreated back to England from Dunkirk. "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender . . ."
But . . .
"[I]f," he warned, "this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
Churchill did not have to suffer the subjugation.
The Japanese and Germans helped him out. The former attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; the latter declared war on the United States four days later.
And the New World sallied forth "to the rescue and liberation of the old."
Something of the opposite, less martial but perhaps no less significant given the sorry state of the present day American polity, may have happened a little west of London today . . .
Where the Old World was rescuing the new.
Americans and the British have many things in common. The structure of their respective heads of state, however, is not one of them.
Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the Queen. She is apolitical but not by any means uninformed or uninterested. For sixty-six years, she has represented the United Kingdom and the British commonwealth of nations. If she faltered, she never did so meanly or rudely, nor was she ever vulgar or dishonest. And when she faltered, perhaps most notably in her initial reactions to the death of her former daughter in law, the late Princess of Whales, she recovered with grace and even an uncommon-in-royals touch of humility. She never chose to be Queen. She did, however, choose the dignified manner in which she has exercised her royal warrant.
The United States is a constitutional republic. The head of state is the President, who is also the executive officer in the government. We have had forty-four of them and are now on our forty-fifth. Unlike the Queen, he is not apolitical, and while that may explain in his mind the rest of his character, it by no means justifies it.
For he is mean, vulgar, graceless, dishonest, undignified and uninformed . . .
More or less on a daily basis and as a matter of committed habit.
Some subset of American public opinion has applauded this exercise in boorishness. They view it as authentic.
Meghan Markle is not one of them. She is a mixed race American actress, was born in Los Angeles, was baptized Catholic and is divorced. She graduated from Northwestern University with a double major in theatre and international studies. She is a feminist.
Today she married His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales.
The Prince -- Harry to the world -- is Diana's second son. Though sixth in line to the British throne, he is grounded. He served with the British military in Afghanistan and founded the Invictus Games for wounded, sick or injured armed services personnel when he returned. He is also quite obviously crazy about his wife.
The wedding was broadcast to the world. The couple held hands throughout. The Kingdom Gospel Choir sang "Stand By Me". Later, nineteen year old cellist and wunderkind Sheku Kanneh-Mason played "Ave Maria" while the newlyweds signed their registry.
The Most Rev. Michael Curry, Chicago's Episcopalian bishop, preached. His thunderous sermon on the "fire of love" quoted Dr. King and the French Jesuit priest and paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin. In it, the black preacher unveiled the power of agape to conquer the world's most pressing crises, and brought wry smiles to a host of sitting royals unaccustomed to exuberance in, of all places, a church. "When love is the way," he said, "poverty will become history [and] the earth will become sanctuary."
Shortly after the ceremony, the American Jesuit James Martin remarked that, when an "African-American bishop quotes a French Jesuit priest at a British royal wedding, who says the world cannot change."
Quite so.
But this time, the change was the Old rescuing the New.
The message of love that Bishop Curry preached, and that Meghan and Harry unabashedly exhibited for all the world to see, came from the staid precincts of Windsor Castle's St. Georges Chapel. The Old World of Europe gave us respite from the new world of Trump. For a day, we were without tweets and insults. No one bragged about their wealth or gilded real estate. There were no faux castles, only a real one, and not much new money but plenty of old. Thanks to Harry and Meghan, what could have been a mere fairy tale became a message.
Or, as the Bishop put it, quoting the French Jesuit, "If humanity ever captures the energy of love, it will be the second time in history that we will have discovered fire."
During the 2016 Presidential campaign, Meghan Markle, now Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex, called America's current head of state "divisive" and a "misogynist". Correct on both counts. Prior to his election, she half-jokingly threatened to move to Canada -- where her TV show was filmed -- if he won.
She now gets to move much farther away.
And can call Britain's head of state . . .
Mom.
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