Following my NRO column today on the Queen’s decision to shake hands with Martin McGuinness, I received the following note from an old friend.
I vaguely recall a Transylvanian prince who chopped off his right hand after using it to make the sign of peace and forgiveness over a rebel lord who had killed the prince’s own son, saying that peace was required by the national interest, forgiveness by Christ the Redeemer, and the rest by family honour. Even if I were a hidebound Tory, I wouldn’t expect the Queen to go that far, but it would certainly be a gesture, especially if she used the same hand to knight Ceausescu.
If anything more needed to be said, that says it.