October 07, 2014

Colin Bateman (@ColinBateman) - The Two Williams, King Billy and a "washed-up drunk"

My cartoon scribble of Colin Bateman
Colin Bateman wrote in 2006:
"I’ve come up with a story called The Two Williams, which features King Billy (that’s King William to you) on the eve of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 accidentally changing places with his modern equivalent — a washed-up drunk whose only job in life is to lead the Orange parade every 12th of July."
Journalist Liam Clarke went on to contrast the historical William with the contemporary Orangism, in The Sunday Times of July 9 2006 here:
"While they may not be “washed-up drunks”, a contrast between King William of Orange and the modern Orange leadership would indeed provide a moral tale for our times and might even provoke a fundamental rethink of the order’s history. William’s victory at the Boyne ushered in the British enlightenment and struck a blow against absolutism throughout Europe. It was welcomed by the Pope with a te deum in Rome and set Britain and Ireland on the road to constitutional monarchy, where the power of kings would be circumscribed legally within narrowly defined limits.”


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