The abdication of King Michael of Rumania and the death in exile of ex-King Victor Emmanuel of Italy have caused the Press to quote Kipling’s words” ... and the kings depart.” To the student of prophecy, however, these events bring to mind the vision of Daniel, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down” (7: 9).

In an article in the Evening News (31.12.47) on “The Twilight of Europe’s Kings,” Harold Walton writes:

“With the abdication of King Michael not a single throne remains in Eastern Europe. In fact, except on the northern and western fringes and in stricken Greece, not a monarch reigns on the Continent. Yet, at the turn of this century, France alone had adopted the republican form of government, and even in 1939 the kings and queens still on their thrones made a brave and impressive show”.

“To-day a glory has passed from Europe. Whether Europe is the better for it is another matter. Certainly those departed kings, whatever their faults, at least maintained the outward forms of a stability now so sadly lacking”.

“The rot set in in 1910 when the ancient kingdom of Portugal sent Manoel packing. He was the first of the exiled monarchs who, in a few short years, were to fill the luxury hotels of London and Lausanne. Yet in August, 1914, the kings still seemed firmly in their saddles. Kaiser Wilhelm the Second ruled in almost absolute power from Potsdam, and even the Tsar Nicholas, father of all the Russias, seemed safe in his palace at St. Petersburg. But the onslaught of war toppled them from their seats. First to go was the Tsar himself, murdered with the Tsarina and their family by the Bolsheviks after the revolution of 1917. He was followed a year later by the Kaiser, who fled in terror from the vengeance of his defeated subjects, to spend the rest of his days in lonely exile at Doorn, in Holland.

“The defeat of Germany and her allies saw the end of many other monarchies. The empire of Austria Hungary was split, Austria becoming a republic and Hungary only nominally a regency. The petty kings and princelings of the German empire vanished as effective forces. The kingdom of Serbia merged itself into the new throne of Yugoslavia. By now the twilight of the kings was visibly deepening. The Sultan of Turkey was exiled by the ‘Young Turks’ in 1922 and two Greek rulers abdicated within two years – Constantine in 1922 and George II in 1924. Of them all, however, the Greek throne was the only one destined to be restored. The greatest shock came in 1931 when Alfonso fled from Spain: no monarch has reigned there since. But here the door to restoration is not irrevocably closed.” [since restored]

Many readers will remember the inimitable manner in which the late Dr. Wm. Pascoe Goard used to name, one by one, the European monarchs who had lost their thrones, and, pointing to others who would, ere long, be in the same position, went on to explain to his listeners that they were witnessing the fulfilment of the prophecies regarding the casting down of the thrones in the final phase of the Gentile Empires depicted in the “great image” of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Dan. 2) and in the vision of the “great beasts” (Dan. 7). Since the death of Dr. Goard in 1937 the veracity of his interpretation has been vindicated – as the Evening News demonstrates, the thrones have continued to fall:

“It was plain in September, 1939, that the institution of monarchy in Eastern Europe could not stand many more shocks. The second world war proved the final blow. When the dust of battle had finally cleared away all the kings but one were going or had gone – Victor Emmanuel and Umberto, his son, from Italy; Simeon, who had succeeded the hapless Boris, from Bulgaria; Peter of Yugoslavia, who could not compromise with the new ‘popular’ forces under Marshal Tito; and Zog, ousted from Albania. This left only Michael, a lonely and rather pathetic figure in his palace at Sinaia, surrounded by openly acclaimed Communists and revolutionaries. Now he, too, joins the great company in exile.

“Yet, by a paradox, the stresses of war which engulfed the thrones of Eastern and Central Europe strengthened the constitutional monarchies in the west. In Great Britain the institution of kingship was never stronger or more popular than it is to-day; with the political genius of their race, the Anglo-Saxon peoples have seen in the king a rallying point of unity and a safeguard against tyranny either from the right or from the left.”

The exceptional qualities of these peoples and their monarchies is commented upon in a leading article in the Daily Telegraph (22.4.47) at the time of the death of King Christian X of Denmark:

“There is something in the national character of the maritime peoples of North-West Europe to which the institution of constitutional monarchy makes a deep appeal. There is something also in the character of the men and women who have sustained the Royal office in these countries which has enabled them to make the Crown a popular institution. They have that common touch which is the gift only of uncommon personalities.”

Whilst all that is undoubtedly true there is a more profound reason for the stability of the thrones of the countries on the north-western shores of Europe, the throne of Britain in particular. The only satisfying answer to the problem is to be found in the fact that the Anglo-Saxon and kindred people are none other than lost Israel, and the Royal House of Britain – with which are so closely connected the Royal Houses of “the maritime peoples of North-West Europe “– is descended from David, King of Israel, to whom was promised: “Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever” (2 Sam. 7 : 16).

This is confirmed again and again elsewhere in the Scriptures, as, for example:

“For thus saith the Lord ; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel” (Jer. 33: 17). “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips. Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before Me” (Psa. 89 : 34-36).

Nevertheless it must not be supposed that occupancy of the throne of David by an earthly line of kings is to be perpetual. The human kings and queens only sit upon the throne of Israel which is the throne of the Lord – as regents (1 Chron. 28: 5; 29 : 23); and at the annunciation the angel Gabriel proclaimed the certainty of Christ’s coming again to take over that throne: “The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1 : 32, 33).

The prostration of the thrones of the European monarchies is yet another of the many signs, now so much in evidence, of the near approach of the end of the age and the glorious consummation when Christ will return to take the throne of David; for, after recording, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit . . . the judgment was set, and the books were opened,” the prophet Daniel continues: “ I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (7: 13, 14).

Here the prophet is given a vision of Christ coming to reign over His Kingdom, a Kingdom which is to be everlasting and ultimately universal, and to which Revelation 11 : 15 also looks forward: “ The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.”
It should be noted that Daniel also writes “The saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever” (7: 18).

“Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (7: 22).

Who are the saints of the most High? The Bible definition is given in Psalm 148, verse 14: “He also exalteth the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him,” or, in other words, “ saint” means Israel obedient to God.

The Anglo-Saxon or Israel people are not now, in the full meaning of the word, His saints, for, still stubborn and rebellious, they are not a people “near unto Him.” They have yet fully to be prepared and equipped for their Divinely appointed task as the nucleus of the kingdom of God on earth; they have yet to heed the call which Christ proclaimed at the beginning of His ministry, “The kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the good news”; they have yet to respond to the manifesto of His kingdom which He set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. The Anglo-Saxon nations must turn to the messages of the prophets, to the Law of the Lord, to the gospels which record Christ’s teaching, and to the Epistles which are illuminated by the spirit of His truth.