Still think the Royals have no power? Think again: Prince Charles orders BBC to cut Royal Wedding broadcast to ABC network in order to prevent jokes about Prince Philip being a notorious racist and Nazi sympathizer
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Friday, April 29, 2011
Still think the British Royal Family has no power and fulfills merely a ceremonial purpose? Think again. In order to prevent an Australian comedy show from making jokes about Prince Philip being a Nazi during the Royal Wedding, the Royals ordered broadcasters in Britain to enforce a media embargo that would have completely severed live coverage to Australia’s biggest broadcaster if they refused to cancel the satirical show.
After Prince Charles’ Clarence House found out that Australian broadcaster ABC planned to run a satirical commentary of the Royal Wedding alongside the regular feed, Charles demanded ABC cancel the show, and then ordered broadcast suppliers BBC, Associated Press, Sky and ITN to cut off the feed to Australia, a command which they instantly obeyed.
That’s right – the Royals have the power to enforce media embargoes between Britain and other major countries of the world. If this doesn’t indicate how much influence and power they still retain then nothing does.
The Royal Family threatened to deny Australia’s national broadcaster access to the Royal Wedding after they announced plans to run a satirical show called Chaser, which would have featured comedians providing light-hearted commentary over live pictures of the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Clarence House, the almost 200-year-old London royal residence which doubles as an office for the Prince of Wales and his son, Prince William, demanded the ABC cancel plans to use the controversial comedy group, the Chaser, as royal wedding commentators,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
They then contacted broadcast suppliers, including the host BBC, Associated Press Television News (APTN), Sky and ITN, to ensure the ABC would have no access to footage if it ignored the request.
Faced with the prospect of airing static for almost four hours tomorrow night, the ABC had no choice but to capitulate.
The Royals were apparently concerned about the fact that Chaser’s comedians would poke fun at Prince Philip for being a notorious racist and Nazi sympathizer during the big day. “We were only planning to use jokes that Prince Phillip has previously made in public, or at least the ones that don’t violate racial vilification laws,” wrote members of Chaser in a letter to the Queen.
ABC had negotiated access to run two feeds of the wedding, one featuring audio directly from the BBC, and another clean feed of just the video that would have allowed Chaser comedians to provide satirical commentary.
When the Royals found out about ABC’s plan, they stipulated that the footage could not be used ”in any drama, comedy, satirical or similar entertainment program or content”. The the Prince of Wales’s press secretary, Patrick Harrison, then put pressure on broadcasters to refuse ABC access to the stream, reminding them of the “conditions” that accompanied their license to broadcast.
Associated Press television subsequently confirmed that, “the restrictions had been ”agreed between Clarence House, the private office of the Prince of Wales and [host broadcaster] the BBC.” In other words, the Royal Family ordered the BBC to cut off the live feed to ABC if they refused to cancel the show, and the BBC clicked their heels and obediently complied.
”In Australia we’re not used to these sorts of conditions being placed on the media and you can’t help but observe these restrictions are being placed on the media on behalf of a future head of state of Australia,” the ABC’s director of television, Kim Dalton, told the SMH.
The Chaser’s Julian Morrow said that the show was eventually cancelled because of “pressures….brought to bear from relatively high places.”
“We also know that the BBC and Clarence House … has been spooking other broadcasters in the background and making it very clear that they shouldn’t provide alternative footage,” added Morrow.
Even Australia’s Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd Kevin Rudd stepped in to comment that the BBC should “lighten up” and discover a sense of humor.
Every time we write an article about the Royal Family, a hardcore of deluded naysayers parrot the claim that the Royals have no power whatsoever and are merely ceremonial. I think we can firmly put that one to bed now that this episode illustrates how the Royal Family enjoys complete control over the broadcast policies of Britain’s publicly funded broadcaster, the BBC.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.
