UK Facts and Information pages from Ruddick Tours

1. "When will your Queen retire / stand-down / make way for Prince Charles / Prince William?" The simple answer is this: The Queen made various undertakings in the form of solemn vows at her 1953 Coronation. One of these was to serve her people with her life, for life. This means for her entire life, until death, however and whenever it comes. To "stand down"/"retire"/ or "abdicate" - the 'dirty "A" word amongst the Royal family - just doesn't reckon in the scheme of things; it would go against tradition and the correct role and responsibility of a Sovereign. Occasionally, I am asked a supplementary question, "Yes, but suppose she became senile in old age, shouldn't she then abdicate?" Again, the answer is "No." We had an occasion when King George III suffered final, permanent insanity in 1809. Parliament immediately passed the Regency Act (an 'Act of Parliament' in this country is the name given to a Bill which after readings/majority votes becomes law). This Act handed the King's reponsibilities to his eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, who became the Prince Regent (hence the term, 'Regency Period'), until his father died in 1820. At the moment of his father's last breath, his reign as King George IV began.

2. "Who will succeed the Queen?" As to who succeeds her - equally simple - the next male heir of lineal descent (presently, but possibly to change to 'next heir of lineal descent', regardless of sex, in planned legislation). Therefore, if he is still alive on the death of his mother, Prince Charles will become King. He would normally succeed as King Charles III, but may decide to use another of his forenames, instead; perhaps Louis after Lord Louis Mountbatten his much-loved great uncle on his father's side. It is being rumoured in court circles that he intends on his accession to ask the Prime Minister to put a Bill through Parliament changing the Royal surname from Windsor to Mountbatten-Windsor, from respect for his father and great uncle's family. (Prince Charles' grandfather took the title King George VI on his accession to the throne in 1936, although his first name was actually Albert). It's also possible that he could follow his grandfather's example and become King George VII. However, if Prince Charles should die before the Queen, Charles' eldest son, Prince William will succeed, as King William V.

3."Will your Queen decide that William succeeds her and not Charles?" The Queen does not have the power to change the succession, that would take an Act of Parliament, which would obviously re-open the whole 'Monarchy debate'. This is highly unlikely, except in the event of another abdication.

4. "Why in this modern age do the Brits choose to retain a monarchy at all, don't you resent them?" Well, there are quite a few Brits who would like to abolish the institution, so this can become a highly-charged dinner-party discussion subject! In this context, it has to be said that the world's media often incorrectly depict the monarchy's role and activities, even in these so-called enlightened times, which certainly doesn't help.

It seems that we live in an age of superficial media 'sound-bites'. The media people seem to want to simplify everything they report so that we don't get bored too quickly - I believe that this is a major failing on their part; as a result, ignorance is allowed to produce prejudiced public opinion. The result is that many British people don't know too much about the real history of their own country and why and how its' institutions, including the Monarchy, developed. On the other hand the Royals have, with some much-needed good PR advice, re-invented their role in some ways, or certainly endevoured to gain a more accurate appraisal of their place in our society. I am thinking particularly of the Government/Royal web-sites and the publicity given to the success of the various charities which they promote and support, not just at home but around the world, too. (The Prince's Trust; The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme; Save the Children; and The World Wildlife Fund are good examples from many).

From time to time British TV viewers witness a TV debate, with voting phone lines on questions like, "Should we abolish the Monarchy?", "Should the Prince succeed to the throne, or ''Should The Queen pass him over (sic.) and leave the throne to William?". Those I have watched invariably produce a very heated debate, but come the final voting, a substantial majority always seem to prefer the status quo. For the present, at least, it appears that 75% or more of the British people feel that they are better off with an accountable, slimmed-down, hard-working Royal family than without.

5. "But don't you British people resent the cost of keeping them ..?" Yes, this is something that's also often heard in the pub or the street. The 'Great British Media', again, occasionally play up the apparently high cost of subsidising the institution, and this provokes a response from the man in the street that 'they need to be slimmed down a bit'. However, this is another example of sensationalism conflicting with accuracy. The Crown Estate 'owns' lots of land; farms, estates, residential properties, industrial and commercial properties, etc., mostly acquired before the 20th century. Nevertheless, it's a fact that many British people, not just the overseas commentators, are simply unaware that this income actually goes to the Government - or should I say, more correctly, 'the public finances'. (Under the Royal Properties Act of 1761 all income from Royal properties was surrendered to the State in return for an annual budgetary payment meant to meet the cost of running the Sovereign's office and household costs). (One reason perhaps, in my submission, why we British did not follow the French down the road to Revolution). Last year's (2002) Crown Estates revenue amounted to around £195 million, collected from rents, leases, etc., of Crown property. This income is offset against the overall cost of all the Government Departments as well as individual Royal Family member's 'Households' or staff departments which only exist because we still retain a working Royal Family.

6. What's the actual cost to the average British citizen of maintaining the Royals? The most recent estimates arrived at a figure of just over 60p, or around $1 US per person per year as the cost to UK-based tax-payers funding the annual budget or Civil List, as it is called. Of course, even $1 a year is too much for the anti-monarchists amongst us, and then there are others (especially those of us making our livings in the tourism business!) who think it's a veritable bargain.

Of course, in these modern times of so much 'Public Accountability', every Government department, including those who handle the business of running our Royalty, are trying to impress us with their efficiency and economy, and the day is not far off when we shall hear the announcement at a Press conference that the British Royal Family, Inc. made a profit that financial year and therefore didn't cost the tax-payer a bean! (You heard it here, first, folks). Incidentally, the working Royal residences (Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, all in the London area, Sandringham House in Norfolk, and Holyrood Palace, in Edinburgh, Scotland) admit the public at various times of the year on payment. This revenue also goes to the Government.

See our links page and the Government web-sites to learn lots more about these subjects. The historic Royal Palaces (Tower of London, Edinburgh Castle, Hampton Court Palace) are part of a non-profit making charitable institution called Historic Royal Palaces. Their revenue is used to maintain and improve the properties and to further enhance the educational and visitor enjoyment factors. They also employ many more staff than they would have done as private Royal Residences but most now make an annual 'profit' and certainly enhance this country's historic attractions for visitor and resident alike.

7. "What do the British people think of the war in Iraq?" A poll in Autumn 2004 concluded that 61% of Brits are against the war. The present figure is unclear, it seems that we are more evenly divided now.

8. "What do the British People think of Tony Blair? The PM's continuing to enjoy mixed fortunes. His May 2005 General Election victory returned his Labour Government to power but presumably thanks to the politically damaging decision to go to war in Iraq, his party came in with a drastically reduced majority. Nevertheless he still has sixty seats more than the combined opposition of (mainly) Conservative and Lib-Dem members, and that's a majority that Maggie Thatcher would probably have killed for! The Westminster grapevine is hinting at a resignation by Blair in 18 months or so followed by his endorsement of Gordon Brown as his successor as Labour party leader. If Brown then received the approval of a majority of Labour MP's (Members of Parliament) he would be driven up to Buckingham Palace to inform the Queen that he wished to become her new First Lord of The Treasury - the official title of a Prime Minister. In this way, you can see that it is possible for our Prime Minister to be unelected; until the next General Election, that is. Anyway, we shall see ... Incidentally, No 10 Downing Street has a good site.

9. "When do you re-elect your Governments? Is it a fixed term, and is there a limit to how many terms your Prime Minister can serve?" No, it's a flexible term within a maximum 5-year period. How it work is this: at any time during an elected Government's term the Prime Minister (having consulted in Cabinet) can call a General Election. (He first goes to the Queen, and she in her official capacity as Head of State issues a special notice that the Parliament is Dissolved. A date for a General Election is set. The Prime Minister's decision to go to the country can be based on a number of factors:

a) How is his party doing in the opinion polls? Three and a half years into a term and riding high, but with the Treasury forecasting an economic downturn, and (cynically?) he'd almost certainly be advised to go the country and get his government re-elected whilst the going is good. However, if he misjudges, and his party lose their majority in the House of Commons, thereby becoming the Official Opposition, not only he, but his Cabinet and many of his colleagues will lose their jobs! He'll then probably resign the leadership of his party (if he/she's of the 'Old School'), or be pushed, and regret that election timing decision for the remainder of his political life. I'm minded of Edward Heath's decision in 1973 (?) to ask the people for support when he met a challenge from the miners unions. However, he lost that election, so you could say the miners won. He also lost his job as Prime Minister and party leader, being replaced by a relatively unknown junior colleague - one Hilda Margaret Thatcher. The remainder of his career is rather unkindly referred to by some as 'The Great Sulk'.

b) Perhaps a Government have a small majority in the Commons and are having difficulty getting their legislative programme through the Commons despite the pollsters saying the people hold them in fairly high esteem. By calling a surprise General Election, thereby hopefully increasing the Government's working parliamentary majority and gaining a nice fresh 5 year term - IF the polls were accurate - the PM would enhance his popularity and secure his postion within the party. Everyone loves a winner ....

c) Occasionally we see a General Election being called where the Government of the day have a small majority, are struggling to impress the people or Parliament and finally face and actually lose a 'No Confidence' vote in the House of Commons. In that eventuality, the PM would have no choice but to make that lonely trip to Buckingham Palace, ask the people and hope still to be running the country when all the votes are in and counted. In theory, an individual Prime Minister can be re-elected many times. Lady (Maggie) Thatcher holds both the record for being our only female PM so far, and also for being the longest-serving PM (13 years - four terms) of the 20th Century.

10. "What is the UK's main industry, today?" I love this one! Tourism, my friends! Closely followed by: machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food processing, textiles, clothing, and other consumer goods, defensive (sic) weapons manufactures, aerospace. farming; I.T.; fishing; specialist car manufacturing; gas and oil production - mainly offshore. The UK GDP (2005) is $1.782 trillion.

11. ''How do the people remember all that history and keep all those Kings and Queens in their heads?

The honest answer is that most don't! History teaching seems to be becoming less and less important in the National School's Curriculum in this country.

Prejudiced types like me think this is a bit sad. This basic history which follows and certainly, the King & Queens poem were taught widely 50 years ago, but I don't know of any schools which teach elementary history to this level now ..

13. ''You told us about a movie called 'Goodnight Mr. Tom' when we toured the Chiltern villages in the Thames Valley area. More information please?''

The made-for-TV film Good Night Mr Tom is based on the book Goodnight Mr Tom, written by Michelle Magorian. It was shot in the Chiltern villages around Turville, Buckinghamshire. (As also were part of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the popular recent BBC tv series, Vicar of Dibley, starring Dawn French).

Good Night Mr Tom starred John Thaw, one of my favourite actors who sadly died a few years ago. His wife, Sheila Hancock has written a lovely biography titled The Two Of Us.

This is a really tough one! Sometimes people from hotter parts of the world tell me they love ''your soft, gentle rain'' (!) as presumably they don't get to experience it very often. On the other hand I'm often asked, ''doesn't it normally rain all the time in England/London?'' Or, ''Is this exceptionally dry weather (or, ''warm weather'') we're experiencing?''. I'll try to answer those kinds of question below, and it's your choice which type of weather you'd like determines when you plan to come. But, be warned, this is an Island!! We can, and sometimes do, experience what seems like all four seasons in a single day! So as the saying goes, 'you pays your money and you takes your chances ...'.

As a general statement it's fair to say that as the climate continues to slowly change* the winters seem to be becoming milder and wetter and the summers drier and hotter,

However, I would say that thanks to the Gulf Stream the winter climate can be very mild, especially in Ireland. It also happens to be wetter there though - hence, 'The Emerald Isle'! Generally, the West of the British Isles tends to enjoy most rainfall, the South and East being the driest.

Average annual rainfall ranges from just 611 mm (24'') in London to a wetter 1081 mm (42") in Cork southwest Ireland.

Paris: 2089 mm (82''); Madrid: 438 mm (17''); New York: 1240 mm (49''); Rome: 793 mm (31''). (Source:World Climate)

The average number of hours of sunshine is greatest in the south and southeast of England and least in the north and west. Western Scotland, Wales, and Ireland have a little less sunshine than most of England. In Britain daily sunshine hours range from between one and two in midwinter to between five and a very respectable seven in midsummer.

Daylight hours also vary greatly, as this region is quite far north. (50 in the extreme south to 60 degrees latitude in the most northerly Scottish Islands). Therefore, June brings daylight hours from 3.30 am to 10.30 pm in the south, with even more daylight further north. Conversely, December days are very short, just 9 hours or so daylight; so it wouldn't be a good idea to make a very long tour day-tour (like The Big One!) in winter. (Perfect in May, June, or July, of course).

Summer school holidays in Europe tend to be shorter than in North America. Usually from late July to early September, so if you visit London then, be prepared for bigger crowds and longer lines/queues. Of course, another good thing about taking private tours at the busy periods is that your guide knows when is the best time to visit certain sites, and often has a special facility to 'jump lines' when buying entry tickets, etc. It makes a big difference, and you'll see much more.

Jan: 7 °C (45 °F); Feb: 7 °C (45 °F); March: 11°C (52 °F); April: 13°C (55 °F); May; 17 °C (63 °F); June: 20°C (68 °F); July: 22°C (72 °F); August: 22°C (72 °F); September: 19°C (66 °F); October: 14°C (57 °F); November: 11°C (52 °F); December: 8°C (46 °F).

Want to convert Fahrenheit to Centigrade? Subtract 32 from Fahrenheit and multiply by 5, then divide by 9. Or to convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit: Multiply Centigrade by 9 and divide by 5, then add 32.

* According to the Govt. website for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ''For the whole of the UK, 2006 was the warmest year on record with a mean temperature of 9.7 °C (49.5 °F), 1.1 °C above the long-term average.'' (Our weather records go back nearly 350 years, by the way).

On July 10th 1998, the Anglican Archbishop George Carey of Canterbury welcomed the Queen and her husband Prince Philip, along with dozens of other state and church representatives to the 900-year-old Abbey.

The view of the West Front of Westminster Abbey is one of the best known in the world. The gothic lower part was completed in the fifteenth century; the two towers were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in a more classical style and were added at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The towers had niches which were presumably intended for statues but were never used. The Abbey exterior has recently undergone a major restoration programme, lasting 25 years and completed in 1995. It was decided by the Dean and Chapter of the Abbey that this was an ideal opportunity to complete Hawksmoor's original design brief, whilst also demonstrating the modern Anglian church's ecumenical approach. (Ecumenism is the religious initiative towards world-wide unity).

In 1992 the six niches high up on the towers were filled with conventional figures of saints and in 1995 four allegorical figures were placed in the niches on either side of the Great West Door: Mercy, Truth, Righteousness and Peace, the traditional Christian virtues from Psalm 85 verse 10, here to represent the values for which countless innocent men and women of all religious persuasions have been prepared to give their lives throughout human history.

The figures from left to right are:

1st from Left:

Maximilian Kolbe who died at Auschwitz in 1941. Here's his story, abbreviated from The Second Exodus website:

Raymond Kolbe was born in Poland on January 8, 1894. In 1910, he entered the Conventual Franciscan Order. In 1912 Kolbe went to Rome, where he studied theology and philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1917 he founded the sodality (devotional association) of the Militia of Mary Immaculate, and was ordained a priest in 1918, taking the name Maximilian.

During the 1920’s Father Kolbe built a friary just west of Warsaw, the City of Mary Immaculate (Niepokalanów), which eventually housed 762 Franciscans. It became Poland’s chief Catholic publishing complex, printing eleven periodicals including a daily newspaper, The Little Daily, with a circulation of 230,000 and a monthly journal, The Knight of Mary Immaculate (Rycerz Niepokalanej), with a circulation of over one million. To better “win the world for the Immaculata,” the friars utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques. This enabled them to publish countless catechetical and devotional tracts. Father Kolbe served both as superior of the City of Mary Immaculate and director of the publishing complex. Father Kolbe soon added a radio station and planned to build a movie studio. After travel to Asia, where he founded similar friaries in Nagasaki and India, and envisioned similar missionary centers worldwide, Father Kolbe was recalled in 1936 to supervise the original friary near Warsaw.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, he knew that his monastery would be seized, and sent most of the friars home. The Gestapo ransacked the City of Mary Immaculate and arrested Father Kolbe with about 40 other friars. They were sent to a holding camp in Germany, then to one in Poland. On December 8, 1939, the Gestapo released Father Kolbe. He returned to the City of Mary Immaculate, where he and the other friars began to organize a shelter for three thousand Polish refugees, including two thousand Jews. The friars shared everything they had with the refugees. They housed, fed and clothed them, and brought all their machinery into use in their service. Father Kolbe’s sheltering of these two thousand Jews aroused the Nazis to full fury. To incriminate him, the Gestapo permitted one final printing of the “Knight of Mary Immaculate” in December of 1940. It was in this issue that Father Maximilian wrote: “The real conflict is inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the catacombs of concentration camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are victories on the battle-field if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?”

On February 17, 1941, Father Maximilian was again arrested, this time on charges of aiding Jews and the Polish underground. Gestapo officers who were shown around the whole monastery were astonished at the small amount of food prepared for the brothers. Father Maximilian was sent to the infamous Pawiak prison in German Occupied Warsaw, and was singled out for special ill-treatment. On May 28, 1941 the Nazis closed the the City of Mary Immaculate and took Father Kolbe, with four of his companions, to Auschwitz, where he died. At Auschwitz, after a prisoner escaped, the Nazis chose ten men to be killed. When Franciszek Gajowniczek, protested that he had a wife and children, Father Kolbe stepped forward and offered to replace Gajowniczek among those killed. Father Kolbe was thrown into a starvation bunker, where he taught the Catholic faith to the others in the bunker and prayed with them as they died one by one. After two weeks, Father Kolbe remained alive. Finally, on August 14, 1941 the Nazis injected phenol into his veins, killing him at last. Franciszek Gajowniczek survived and told the story of Father Kolbe’s heroic sacrifice to everyone he could until his death in 1997. More about him ..

2nd from Left:

Manche Masemola, a 16-year-old Anglican convert in South Africa who was killed by her animist parents in 1928; Here's what the Abbey website says about her:

MANCHE MASEMOLA, a young woman of the Pedi tribe, passed her short life in Sekhukhuneland, in the Transvaal. Her people were confined to reserved lands that were barren, and they worked hard to eke out a living there. For some decades German and then English missionaries had settled in the Transvaal, and in the early twentieth century there existed a Pedi Christian minority, widely viewed with anxiety and suspicion by others of the tribe who remained true to the faith of their predecessors. It is believed that Manche Masemola was born around 1913, in Marishane. She grew up with her parents, two older brothers, a younger sister, Mabule, and a cousin, Lucia. She did not go to school, but worked with her family on the land and at home.

In 1919 Fr Augustine Moeka of the Anglican Community of the Resurrection had established a mission at Marishane, where the chief was content to see missionaries of all churches live and work. It was with her cousin Lucia that Manche Masemola first heard Moeka preach. She wished to hear more, and began to attend classes twice a week. Fearful that she would leave them, or refuse to marry, her parents sought to discourage her. But she defied them. When their prohibitions failed she was beaten. On a number of occasions Manche Masemola remarked to Lucia and Moeka that she would die at their hands. Then, on or near 4 February 1928, her mother and father took her away to a lonely place and killed her. she was buried by a granite rock on a remote hillside. A few days later her younger sister, Mabule, became ill and then died at the nearby mission hospital, the Jane Furse. Mabula was buried beside her sister. In remembrance, their father planted euphorbia trees beside their graves. In 1935 a little group of Christians made a pilgrimage to the grave. Another followed in 1941; a third in 1949. In 1969 her mother was baptized into the church. In 1975 the name of Manche Masemola was added to the calendar of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa. Now, hundreds visit the site every August.

3rd from Left:

Janani Luwum, a Ugandan Anglican archbishop assassinated during the rule of Idi Amin in 1977. Here's what the Abbey website says about him:

ON 6 JANUARY 1948 a young school teacher, Janani Luwum, was converted to the charismatic Christianity of the East African Revival, in his own village in Acoli, Uganda. At once he turned evangelist, warning against the dangers of drink and tobacco, and, in the eyes of local authorities, disturbing the peace. But Luwum was undeterred by official censure. He was determined to confront all who needed, in his eyes, to change their ways before God.

In January 1949 Luwum went to a theological college at Buwalasi, in eastern Uganda. A year later he came back a catechist. In 1953 he returned to train for ordination. He was ordained deacon on St Thomas’s Day, 21 December 1955, and priest a year later. His progress was impressive: after two periods of study in England, he became principal of Buwalasi. Then, in September 1966, he was appointed Provincial Secretary of the Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire. It was a difficult position to occupy, and these were anxious days. But Luwum won a reputation for creative and active leadership, promoting a new vision with energy and commitment. Only three years later he was consecrated bishop of Northern Uganda, on 25 January 1969. The congregation at the open-air Services included the prime minister of Uganda, Milton Obote, and the Chief of Staff of the army, Idi Amin.

Amin sought power for himself. Two years later he deposed Obote in a coup. In government he ruled by intimidation, violence and corruption. Atrocities, against the Acoli and Langi people in particular, were perpetrated time and again. The Asian population was expelled in 1972. It was in the midst of such a society, in 1974, that Luwum was elected Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire. He pressed ahead with the reform of his church in time to mark the centenary of the creation of the Anglican province.But he also warned that the Church should not conform to ‘the powers of darkness’. Amin cultivated a relationship with the archbishop, arguably to acquire credibility. For his part, Luwum sought to mitigate the effects of his rule, and to plead for its victims.

The Anglican and Roman Catholic churches increasingly worked together to frame a response to the political questions of the day. Soon they joined with the Muslims of Uganda. On 12 February 1976 Luwum delivered a protest to Amin against all acts of violence that were allegedly the work of the security Services. Church leaders were summoned to Kampala and then ordered to leave, one by one. Luwum turned to Bishop Festo Kivengere and said, ‘They are going to kill me. I am not afraid’. Finally alone, he was taken away and murdered. Later his body was buried near St Paul's Church, Mucwini. Amin’s state was destroyed by invading Tanzanian forces in 1979. Amin himself fled abroad and escaped justice.

4th from Left:

Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia - a member of the Russian Orthodox Church who was murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and also a great-aunt of Prince Philip, the Queen's husband. Here's what the Abbey website says about her:

ELIZABETH of Hesse-Darmstadt was born on 1 November 1864. She was named after Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-31), a Catholic saint of her own family. Her mother died when she was a child, and she came to England to live under the protection of her grandmother, Queen Victoria. If her childhood was Lutheran, the religious culture of her adolescence was distinctively Anglican. In 1884 Elizabeth married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Elizabeth found Orthodoxy increasingly absorbing, and in 1891 she adopted the faith. Although her life had assurance and all the comforts of eminence, it rested on fragile foundations. The Tsarist state maintained its grip over a changing society by repression. Talk of revolution persisted, and grew louder. Acts of terrorism mounted. On 18 February 1905, the Grand Duke Sergei was assassinated.

This marked a turning point in Elizabeth’s life. Now she gave away her jewellery and sold her most luxurious possessions, and with the proceeds she opened the Martha and Mary home in Moscow, to foster the prayer and charity of devout women. Here there arose a new vision of a diaconate for women, one that combined intercession and action in the heart of a disordered world. In April 1909 Elizabeth and seventeen women were dedicated as Sisters of Love and Mercy. Their work flourished: soon they opened a hospital and a variety of other philanthropic ventures arose.

In March 1917 the Tsarist state, fatally damaged by the war with Germany, collapsed. In October, a revolutionary party, the Bolsheviks, seized power. Civil war followed. The Bolshevik party was avowedly atheistic, and it saw in the Orthodox Church a pillar of the old regime. In power, it persecuted the Church with terrible force. In time, hundreds of priests and nuns were imprisoned, taken away to distant labour camps, and killed. Churches were closed or destroyed. On 7 May 1918 Elizabeth was arrested with two sisters from her convent, and transported across country to Perm, then to Ekatarinburg, and finally to Alapaevsk. On 17 July the Tsar and his family were shot dead. During the following night Elizabeth, a sister from SS Mary and Martha named Varvara, and members of the royal family were murdered in a mineshaft.

In the Soviet Union Christianity survived in the face of periodic persecution and sustained oppression. But Elizabeth was remembered. In 1984 she was recognized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and then by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1992. More about her

5th from Left:

Dr. Martin Luther King, an American civil rights leaders who was killed in 1968. Here's what the Wikipedia website says about him:

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929–April 4, 1968) was a Baptist minister and American political activist who was the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement. King won the Nobel Peace Prize before being assassinated in 1968. In 1977, King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by Jimmy Carter. For his promotion of non-violence and racial equality, King is considered a peacemaker and martyr by many people around the world. Martin Luther King Day was established in his honor.

Here's more from the Nobel Prize Organisation site:

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had been graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955 In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King accepted the pastorale of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.

In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

6th from Left:

Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador who was assassinated in 1980.

"The church would betray its own love for God and its fidelity to the gospel if it stopped being . . . a defender of the rights of the poor . . . a humanizer of every legitimate struggle to achieve a more just society . . . that prepares the way for the true reign of God in history."

"A church that suffers no persecution but enjoys the privileges and support of the things of the earth - beware! - is not the true church of Jesus Christ. A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good, so that they are secured in their sinful state, betrays the gospel's call." "When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises." More about him..

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, who was killed in 1945 by the Nazis; Here's what the Bonhoeffer Organisation website says about him: Dietrich Bonhoeffer - along with his twin sister, Sabine -- was born on February 4, 1906, in Breslau, Germany. Later a student in Tubingen, Berlin, and at Union Theological Seminary in New York -- as well as a participant in the European ecumenical movement -- Bonhoeffer became known as one of the few figures of the 1930s with a comprehensive grasp of both German- and English-language theology. His works resonate with a prescience, subtlety and maturity that continually belies the youth of their author. He wrote his dissertation, Sanctorum Communio, at the end of three years at the University of Berlin (1924-1927) and was awarded his doctorate with honors. Act and Being, his Habilitationsschrift, or qualifying thesis, allowing him to teach at the University of Berlin, was accepted in July 1930.

The following year, 1930-1931, Bonhoeffer spent a postgraduate year at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He assumed his post as a lecturer in theology at the University of Berlin in August 1931. In the winter semester 1931-1932 Bonhoeffer presented the lectures that were published as Creation and Fall. His final lecture courses at Berlin -- published as Christ the Center -- along with a seminar on the philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, were taught in the summer of 1933. His authorization to teach on the faculty of the University of Berlin was finally withdrawn on August 5, 1936. Bonhoeffer served as a curate for a German congregation in Barcelona during 1929-1930. Following his ordination at St. Matthias Church, Berlin, in November 1931, he was to help organize the Pastors' Emergency League in September 1933, prior to asssuming the pastorate of the German Evangelical Church, Sydenham, and the Reformed Church of St. Paul in London.

During his sojourn in England, Bonhoeffer became a close friend and confidant of the influential Anglican Bishop, George Bell. After the Confessing Church was organized in May 1934 at Barmen, Germany, Bonhoeffer returned from England in the spring of 1935 to assume leadership of the Confessing Church's seminary at Zingst by the Baltic Sea--a school relocated later that year to Finkenwalde in Pomerania. Out of the experiences at Finkenwalde emerged his two well-known books, The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together, as well as his lesser known writings on pastoral ministry such as Spiritual Care. His work to prepare pastors in the Confessing Church continued all the way to 1939. Bonhoeffer's early travel to Rome, his curacy in Barcelona and his post-doctoral year in New York (including regular work at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, as well as travel to Cuba and Mexico), opened Bonhoeffer to the ecumenical church. In 1931 he as appointed youth secretary of the World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches, and in 1934 he became a member of the Universal Christian Council for Life and Work. At conferences throughout Europe he vigorously represented the cause of the Confessing Church and challenged the ecumenical movement about its theological foundations and its responsibility for peace. Bonhoeffer's theologically rooted opposition to National Socialism first made him a leader, along with Martin Niemueller and Karl Barth, in the Confessing Church (bekennende Kirche), and an advocate on behalf of the Jews. Indeed, his efforts to help a group of Jews escape to Switzerland were what first led to his arrest and imprisonment in the spring 1943.

His leadership in the anti-Nazi Confessing Church and his participation in the Abwehr resistance circle (beginning in February 1938) make his works a unique source for understanding the interaction of religion, politics, and culture among those few Christians who actively opposed National Socialism, as is particularly evident in his drafts for a posthumously published Ethics. His thought provides not only an example of intellectual preparation for the reconstruction of German society after the war but also a rare insight into the vanishing social and academic world that had preceded it. Bonhoeffer was also a spiritual writer, a musician and an author of fiction and poetry. The integrity of his Christian faith and life, and the international appeal of his writings, have led to a broad consensus that he is the one theologian of his time to lead future generations of Christians into the new millenium.

He was hanged in the concentration camp at Flossenbürg on April 9, 1945, one of four members of his immediate family to die at the hands of the Nazi regime for their participation in the small Protestant resistance movement. The letters he wrote during these final two years of his life were posthumously published by his student and friend, Eberhard Bethge, as Letters and Papers from Prison. His correspondence with his fiance, Maria von Wedermeyer, has been published as Love Letters from Cell 92.

Esther John, a Presbyterian evangelist in Pakistan, who was killed in 1960. Here's what the Abbey website says about her:

ESTHER JOHN was born Qamar Zia, on 14 October 1929, one of seven children. As a child she attended a government school and, after the age of seventeen, a Christian school. There she was profoundly moved by the transparent faith of one of her teachers, and she began to read the Bible earnestly. It was when reading the 53rd chapter of Isaiah that she was suddenly overtaken by a sense of conversion to this new religion. When India was partitioned Qamar Zia moved with her family into the new state of Pakistan. Here she made contact with a missionary, Marian Laugesen in Karachi. Laugesen, at her request, passed on to her a New Testament. Her Christian faith grew privately, even secretly. Then, seven years later, she ran away from home, fearful of the prospect of marriage to a Muslim husband. She found her way back to Laugesen in Karachi.For a while Qamar Zia worked in an orphanage there, and it was at this time that she took the name Esther John. Her family still pressed her to return and to marry, but on 30 June 1955 she took a train north to Sahiwal, in the Punjab. Here she lived and worked in a mission hospital, stayed with the first Anglican bishop of Karachi, Chandu Ray, and celebrated her first Christmas.

Finding a vocation to teach, she entered the United Bible Training Centre in Gujranwala in September 1956. In April 1959 she completed her studies there and moved to Chichawatni, some thirty miles from Sahiwal, living with American Presbyterian missionaries. She evangelized in the villages, travelling from one to the other by bicycle, teaching women to read and working with them in the cotton fields. At times her relationship with her distant and perplexed family appeared calm; at others anxiety and tension brewed.

Her death was sudden and mysterious. On 2 February 1960 Esther John was found dead in her bed at the house where she lived at Chichawatni. She had been brutally murdered. Her body was taken to the Christian cemetery at Sahiwal and buried. Later, a memorial chapel was built in front of the nurses’ home in the grounds of the hospital there. Today, Esther John is remembered with devotion by the Christian community with whom she lived and worked.

Lucian Tapiedi, killed in 1942 during the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea. Here's what the Abbey website says about him:

AT SANGARA mission station in Papua New Guinea there stands a row of graves: two of Australian women, Mavis Parkinson and May Hayman, and a third of Lucian Tapiedi. Tapiedi was born in 1921/2, in the village of Taupota, on the north coast of Papua. His father was a sorcerer, who died when his sons were still young. He was taught at mission schools and then, in 1939, he entered St Aidan’s teacher training college. Here Tapiedi became known as a diligent and cheerful presence, fond of physical recreation but also musical. In 1941 he became part of the staff at Sangara as a teacher and evangelist.

In December 1941 Japanese forces attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbour. In the same month they invaded Malaya. British forces capitulated in Singapore in February 1942. The missionaries who lived in New Guinea watched events anxiously, and feared the worst. In January 1942 the Anglican bishop, Philip Strong, had broadcast an appeal to them to stay at their work, come what may. Many of the missionaries themselves wished this, and had already resisted calls to turn to safety.On 21 July 1942 the Japanese invaded the island near the mission station at Gona. Three of the residents, Parkinson, Hayman and James Benson, fled inland and there encountered other Australians in hiding. But they were soon caught. The soldiers murdered Hayman and Parkinson at Popondetta.

In Northern Papua, meanwhile, a second group of missionaries struggled to evade capture. Among them was Lucian Tapiedi, who was determined not to abandon the missionaries with whom he worked. In a few days this group swelled to ten people. They came to a village inhabited by the Orokaiva people, and found themselves escorted away by men of that tribe. One of the Orokaiva, a man named Hivijapa, killed Tapiedi near a stream by Kurumbo village. The remainder of the group perished soon after; six of them beheaded by the Japanese on Buna beach.

333 Christians lost their lives in New Guinea during the invasion and occupation of the island by the Japanese forces. The greatest number of those who died - 198 - were Roman Catholics. But there were also Methodists, Salvationists, Lutherans, Anglicans, members of the Evangelical Church of Manus, and Seventh Day Adventists among the dead.

Now a shrine marks the place where Lucian Tapiedi died. His killer later converted to Christianity. He took the name Hivijapa Lucian, and built a church dedicated to the memory of his victim at Embi.

Wang Zhiming, a Chinese pastor and evangelist, who was killed in 1972 during the Cultural Revolution; Here's what the Abbey website says about him:

IN 1981 A MEMORIAL was erected in Wuding County, in the Yunnan region of China. It is the only monument known to commemorate a Christian killed in the Cultural Revolution. At its foot may be found the words, ‘As the Scripture says of the Saints, "They will rest from their labours for their deeds follow them." ‘Christian missionaries first settled in Yunnan towards the end of the nineteenth century, and came to Wuding County in 1906. After the Communist revolution the missionaries were expelled: Christianity was identified with imperialism. But the religion endured, despite the pressures of political campaigns and public discouragements. Christians who sought to reconcile the demands of their faith with the political requirements of their new state ould find the experience harsh and taxing.

Between 1966 and 1976 the Cultural Revolution brought an onslaught against all that was ancient or venerated in Chinese life. The young Red Guards who led the campaign sought to break free of the past and to create a revolutionary society that was utterly new. Religion must be destroyed. Churches were closed and Christians were forced to meet secretly.In the mid 1960s there were 2,795 Christians in Wuding county. Wang Zhiming lived among them as a pastor. Little is known of him. As a child he was educated in mission schools, and then he taught as a member of staff in one of them for ten years. In 1944 he was elected chairman of the Sapushan Church Council in Wuding. In 1951 he was ordained. Wang showed his loyalty to the state. But he also refused to participate in denunciation meetings held to humiliate landlords or foment hatred against foreign powers. Between 1969 and 1973 at least twenty-one Christian leaders in Wuding were interned. Some were intellectuals, other workers. Some were senior party officials. Many were sent to camps, were denounced or beaten. Muslims in the county were also persecuted.

Wang Zhiming was known to be a critic of the atheistic campaigns of local Red Guards. In May 1969 he and other members of his family were arrested. Four years later he was condemned to death. He was by then an old man of sixty-six. Wang Zhiming was executed on 29 December 1973 at a mass rally of more than 10,000 people. Immediately afterwards the crowd broke into confusion and the prosecuting official was assaulted by furious Christians there. The tumult is still widely remembered. Wang’s wife was imprisoned for three years; two of his sons for nine years; a third reportedly took his own life while under detention. The policy to destroy religion was seen to fail, and was abandoned. In October 1980 Wang Zhiming was ‘rehabilitated’ by party officials, and his family offered compensation. Today Wang is remembered reverently in the churches of Wuding, where there are around 30,000 Christians, and more than 100 places of worship.

FACTS & INFORMATION PAGES - updated 2007