12-29-2006, 12:00 PM
<center>DOMINION PARK
Portreal</center>
New Year's Message of His Excellency the Right Honourable James Marchmain, Governor General of Varennes
January 1, 2007
Christmastime on the Niagara Frontier is a season of charm and wintry spectacle...usually. Charm is always abundant here, for sure, but we've hardly seen the white carpets of winter laid by Jack Frost. Jack has been conspicuously absent from our holiday festivities this year, leaving Portreal quite literally green with envy over snow-blanketed winter wonderlands elsewhere. No great matter: the warmth of the holidays has less to do with flames dancing in the hearth than it has to do with the love we share with family, friends and, yes, strangers.
Speaking of strangers, we could certainly do with more of them in Portreal. The crew of our ship of state is quite sparse, to say the least. Our privy council hath but one counsellor, our cabinet has no ministers. There are no judges, no lawyers, no clarks. Opportunity abounds but opportunists are lacking. No holiday gift could mean more to me or to this nation than the gift of strangers.
Often addresses such as this involve reminiscences of the past year and I suppose I'm obliged to as well, though I won't be windy about it. Suffice it to say the Kingdom of Varennes was "reborn" this year. Originally a kingdom in the pattern of pre-revolutionary France, Varennes was "sacked", very nearly vanished but was, at the eleventh hour, rescued from oblivion by the King of Hanover. Through the Treaty of Portreal, Varennes became a dominion of the King of Hanover, who ascended the throne following my own abdication.
King Alexander I, by the grace of God, the second king and first constitutional monarch of Varennes, insisted upon being personally present in Portreal for the signing of the Treaty and to take possession of his new crown. With him came Her Majesty the Queen and Princess Brittany. It was my high honour and great privilege to personally crown our new king in the Champlain Audience Chamber at Government House, a little place we like to call "Dominion Park".
So 2006 was most certainly a year to be remembered for our little dominion. But let's extend that holiday warmth to a few more...alot more...strangers, and make 2007 a year we'll never forget.
For everyone at Government House and on behalf of His Majesty the King, it is my pleasure to wish you a happy and prosperous new year.
With esteem,
James Marchmain
Governor General
Portreal</center>
New Year's Message of His Excellency the Right Honourable James Marchmain, Governor General of Varennes
January 1, 2007
Christmastime on the Niagara Frontier is a season of charm and wintry spectacle...usually. Charm is always abundant here, for sure, but we've hardly seen the white carpets of winter laid by Jack Frost. Jack has been conspicuously absent from our holiday festivities this year, leaving Portreal quite literally green with envy over snow-blanketed winter wonderlands elsewhere. No great matter: the warmth of the holidays has less to do with flames dancing in the hearth than it has to do with the love we share with family, friends and, yes, strangers.
Speaking of strangers, we could certainly do with more of them in Portreal. The crew of our ship of state is quite sparse, to say the least. Our privy council hath but one counsellor, our cabinet has no ministers. There are no judges, no lawyers, no clarks. Opportunity abounds but opportunists are lacking. No holiday gift could mean more to me or to this nation than the gift of strangers.
Often addresses such as this involve reminiscences of the past year and I suppose I'm obliged to as well, though I won't be windy about it. Suffice it to say the Kingdom of Varennes was "reborn" this year. Originally a kingdom in the pattern of pre-revolutionary France, Varennes was "sacked", very nearly vanished but was, at the eleventh hour, rescued from oblivion by the King of Hanover. Through the Treaty of Portreal, Varennes became a dominion of the King of Hanover, who ascended the throne following my own abdication.
King Alexander I, by the grace of God, the second king and first constitutional monarch of Varennes, insisted upon being personally present in Portreal for the signing of the Treaty and to take possession of his new crown. With him came Her Majesty the Queen and Princess Brittany. It was my high honour and great privilege to personally crown our new king in the Champlain Audience Chamber at Government House, a little place we like to call "Dominion Park".
So 2006 was most certainly a year to be remembered for our little dominion. But let's extend that holiday warmth to a few more...alot more...strangers, and make 2007 a year we'll never forget.
For everyone at Government House and on behalf of His Majesty the King, it is my pleasure to wish you a happy and prosperous new year.
With esteem,
James Marchmain
Governor General