Happy Birthday to us!
Well, kind of...
Our Republic is now 95 years old.
Not that it makes us a young nation, we are a sovereign nation since 1143. Portugal is not 95 but 862 years old.
The Portuguese Republic started on the 5th of October 1910. The new King D. Manuel II was forced to abdicate on this day.
Two years after the murders of his father King D. Carlos and of his oldest son and heir to the throne Prince D. Luis Filipe.
On the 6th of October 1910,on Ericeira, D. Manuel II boarded a ship that would take him and the rest of his family to exile.
The first Republicans weren't satisfied with the Constitutional Monarchy we had (same system the UK has to this day, btw), but in spite of murdering the King and a few more of his men things weren't too messy. Ok, ok, I am skipping here a few battles and a few prior attempts of revolution, but even though it could have been a lot worst.
The fact that D. Manuel II died without any heirs caused his dads little bastards to quarrel to find out who was the least bastard (or is it the most bastard?) and thus entitled to the throne, that is why today we have a guy who claims he is the heir to the crown (a complete schmuck, if you ask me or most other people here).
The fact that a lot of people are unhappy with the lousy government we have (about as lousy as all the previous ones) makes a few Monarchy die-hards to surface every year and claim we should go back to being a Constitutional Monarchy.
Somehow I don't think this will be the year yet...
Still everybody rejoices with the Republic anniversary, after all it is a national holiday and most people don't work today.
Our Republic is now 95 years old.
Not that it makes us a young nation, we are a sovereign nation since 1143. Portugal is not 95 but 862 years old.
The Portuguese Republic started on the 5th of October 1910. The new King D. Manuel II was forced to abdicate on this day.
Two years after the murders of his father King D. Carlos and of his oldest son and heir to the throne Prince D. Luis Filipe.
On the 6th of October 1910,on Ericeira, D. Manuel II boarded a ship that would take him and the rest of his family to exile.
The first Republicans weren't satisfied with the Constitutional Monarchy we had (same system the UK has to this day, btw), but in spite of murdering the King and a few more of his men things weren't too messy. Ok, ok, I am skipping here a few battles and a few prior attempts of revolution, but even though it could have been a lot worst.
The fact that D. Manuel II died without any heirs caused his dads little bastards to quarrel to find out who was the least bastard (or is it the most bastard?) and thus entitled to the throne, that is why today we have a guy who claims he is the heir to the crown (a complete schmuck, if you ask me or most other people here).
The fact that a lot of people are unhappy with the lousy government we have (about as lousy as all the previous ones) makes a few Monarchy die-hards to surface every year and claim we should go back to being a Constitutional Monarchy.
Somehow I don't think this will be the year yet...
Still everybody rejoices with the Republic anniversary, after all it is a national holiday and most people don't work today.
posted by DCveR at 11:05 AM
9 Comments:
Happy Birthday, then! Enjoy a drink and don't let the bastards get you down!
A very happy birthday. or a Happy republic day.
And I firmly believe that the worst form of democracy is better than the best form of monarchy.
Well I am sure your government is not as bad as the Indian government. But then the Indians deserve it too. The political leaders are just an extension of us people.
Feliz Aniversário, Portugal
Thank you all!
anoop: A democracy where the government rules against the people's interest and where the rotation of parties in power is not able to change that is as bad as a dictatorship.
tall glass: Of course we have to complain. Someone must remember those guys that they were supposed to be taking care of everybody's interest and not just their own!
andrew: You speak Portuguese? Not really very weird, considering the number of Portuguese emmigrants in Glasgow. When I was there one could even buy Portuguese beer at Odd Bins.
Hey! I wondered about this, as i saw it on my calendar. I thought, I wonder if DC has the day off.
You know what is so cute. I can 'hear' your accent sometimes in your posts. I won't tell you 'where' though. :)
kris: This time I had the day off. Really off. Now you got me curious, do tell, will you?
I missed wishing you a good holiday, one day late. Hope you had a great time. What did you do? How do you all spend the day there?
GG: Slept in 'til almost noon then went to a walk by the beach, read a little bit and had some rest. I really was needing some rest.
kris: Articles. Building sentences in English with a Latin structure, using articles a native speaker wouldn't. That must be it, right?
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