Letters: British monarchy must apologise for audacious robbery from Catholic Church

Britain's King Charles leaves Westminster Abbey after the coronation. Photo: Getty — © Getty Images

Letters to the Editor

Recent criticisms of the coronation of King Charles III have included observations on the wealth of the royal family, the cost of the ceremonies, and the lack of a proper apology from the royal family for the colonisation of Ireland.

In light of this and the current zeitgeist of setting historic wrongs to right, it is also time for the British monarchy to repay the Catholic Church the millions of pounds stolen by King Henry VIII when he broke from Rome, repatriate and restore monastic lands and properties seized, issue a formal apology (which has never been forthcoming) and add several hundred years of interest, for good measure.

For those who argue “it was too long ago” and “we don’t know exactly what was taken”, they are wrong on both counts.

Firstly, the example of people toppling statues of former slavers in Liverpool as part of the Black Lives Matter movement shows the passage of time is apparently of little consequence.

Secondly, we know precisely what was taken because before his seizure of monastic lands and valuables, Henry VIII sent his agents to every monastery in the country to draw up lists of what they had so he would know what was there to grab when the time came. Many of those lists survive to this day.

And we even have a modern methodology to copy, in the repatriation of wealth looted from the Jews by the Nazis during their period in power.

There is no question that were it not for this audacious act of daylight robbery, the English monarchy would have been much poorer and perhaps even unable to expand and colonise as it did in subsequent centuries.

It’s time to say sorry and return what was wrongfully taken to the rightful owners.

Nick Folley

Carraigaline, Co Cork

Price now being paid for the destruction of our railways

FIONNÁN Sheahan illustrates clearly that government mismanagement has allowed the Dublin Port Company to gain too much power (‘Dublin city has 500 acres primed for housing – if anyone in power had the vision to see it’, Irish Independent, May 8).

This situation leaves the door open for wholesale corruption

I fail to understand why – 100 years after independence – the narrowest of thinking, permeates Irish state and semi-state bodies.

The import and export of ocean freight could be spread among a number of Irish ports, thereby benefiting the nation.

The price is being paid today for the deliberate destruction of Irish railways nationwide. Todd Andrews and his cronies called them “aul British things”.

If the same railway system was in place today as in 1921, many ports around the nation would be better used today.

Irish political parties – in particular Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – no longer seem to seek intelligent and visionary candidates, rather little puppies who will sit and beg when ordered.

Your Editorial yesterday on the famine was about Irish history.

The greatest difficulty for Ireland’s education system since 1932, has been the teaching of a biased history.

Declan Foley

Melbourne, Australia

In Belfast, all signs point toward coronation apathy

IN West Belfast on Sunday there was no semblance, let alone any paraphernalia or regalia of a coronation.

Leaving Corrigan Park after Kilkenny had beaten Antrim in the Leinster senior hurling championship, written on a gable end wall were the words: “From the bullet to the ballot box – the evolution of the united Ireland revolution”.

Before crossing an invisible border back into the Republic, a banner was draped from a flyover bridge on which was written, in bold letters, “F*** the King”.

Joseph Mackey

Glasson, Athlone

The great Trump con leaves little hope for future of the USA

HAVING read several well-researched books and articles and viewed dozens of TV and social media clips, one can only come to this conclusion: Donald J Trump was, by a distance, the most stupid, ill-informed and ignorant person ever to grace 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

And there have been quite a few over the years – even if most of them are well hidden from modern scrutiny .

How can anyone be conned into believing even one word from him?

It says much for the state of US society that more than 70 million people voted for Trump in 2020 – and are likely to show the same amount of utter stupidity in 2024.

So much for the United States.

David Ryan

Co Meath