London has a long reputation for hosting governments in exile. That's okay.
Somebody's got to do it. The "sovereignty" brought to a London hotel room with
a shovel full of Yugoslav dirt is a nice pretense with which to decorate the
pretense which is a government in exile in the first place!
It reminds me of the historical marker on a vacant lot in downtown Marshall,
Texas, marking the former location of a hotel that once housed the government in
exile of the Confederate State of Missouri. Missouri never seceded from the
Union, but that didn't keep Southern-thinking Missourians from forming a rump
government and getting it admitted to the Confederacy. It had its capital first
at at Neosho, then at Cassville, until all of Missouri had fallen to the
Yankees, after which it moved to Marshall, Texas, and pretended to function
there for the duration of the War Between the States. A shovel full of dirt
would have been nice (or a Missouri rock), but I don't think anybody thought of
it.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "L. A. Nadybal" <lnadybal@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2003 6:29 PM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Yugo exclave in London used again.
> There were quite a few British "giveaways of the Realm" during the
> war. Maybe there was a parliamentary confirmation of the gift to the
> Yugoslav government. A number of countries occupied by the Germans
> formed exile governments in England - more than just embassies for the
> duration. I have a lot stamps cancelled by these exile governments,
> which used their own nation's stamps as well as some they prepared in
> exile for the use of their citizens who managed to flee, but have
> cancellation marks that indicated the mail was from exile. The
> Yugoslav grant was obviously different at least to the extent that it
> or a part of it (a hotel room) that started in the turmoil that
> followed the war and continued to exist. What the nature of its
> status in the '40s was and whether it is now any different than what
> it was initially is something maybe our UK-based members can find out.
> Maybe Claridges Hotel knows. I know it isn't a situation like that
> of the UN HQ, which expands to an exclave in San Francisco once every
> five years, it's continual even if seemingly dormant for long periods.
> I doubt if the grant was diplomatic, as though it was attached to the
> Yugoslav embassy or consular operation in the UK, because it's very
> purpose was to be a refuge for the former Yugoslav royalty who were
> stripped of their titles and citizenship by the then-nascent communist
> state under Tito, whose people in the Embassy across town would have
> been the royal's enemies. (Of course, we - the USA - did the same with
> the Baltic states' embassies in D. C. - the accredited exiles stayed
> in place even though the Russians had "cashed in" the countries they
> had once belonged to).
>
> A second UK relinquishing of realm properties also occurred during the
> war - a trade deal with the USA. The US traded warships to England in
> return for territory in the British run colonies under the Realm in
> the Carribean. We may still have a couple of those - I visited the
> base areas on Bermuda, but I know they are now gone; the US gave them
> up voluntarily. The one in Antigua may still be there. These had a
> very different status than those that the US had, for example, in
> Iceland (which we stil have at Reykjavik) and France, which we got by
> lease or treaty. Their natures are different from those that were on
> held over territory from conquests, where the US subsequently
> relinquished sovereign rights of occupiers (as in Germany, Austria and
> Italy). These Carribbean properties status more resembled the
> sovereign nature of the US former bases in the Phillippines and those
> UK bases on Cyprus which were kept after the U.S. colony was
> transmogrified into the Republic we know and love today.
>
> By the way, there are works in progress for another givaway - the UK
> is contemplating relinquishing sovereigty over parts of it's realm in
> Cyprus, to contribute to a clearing of the way for reunification of
> Cyprus so it can join the European Union. So, giveways are still the
> order of the day. There is a very interesting Army or DoD judge
> advocate general manual from the 70s or 80s that goes through the
> various "statuses" of the property and sovereign rights the US had on
> various bases at the time. I wish I had it now; I wonder where I
> might locate one.
>
> Regards
>
> LN
>
>
>
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G. McManus"
> <mcmanus71496@m...> wrote:
> > I've never heard of this "enclave," but it probably had/has
> something on the
> > order of extraterritorial status analogous to that of a diplomatic
> mission. I
> > seriously doubt that any Prime Minister, not even Churchill, could
> give away
> > part of the sovereign's realm on his own authority.
> >
> > Lowell G. McManus
> > Leesville, Louisiana, USA
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "L. A. Nadybal" <lnadybal@c...>
> > To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 7:58 PM
> > Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Yugo exclave in London used again.
> >
> >
> > > The Washington Post ran an article today about the granting and
> > > restoration of citizenship by the government of Serbia and Montenegro
> > > (rump-Yugoslavia) to the family of and to Crown Prince Alexander II.
> > > The prince was stripped of his citizenship by Tito in 1947.
> > >
> > > The ceremony was held in February 2001 in the suite in Claridge's
> > > Hotel that Churchill declared in 1947 as Yugoslav territory. The
> > > Prince and his family returned to Belgrade in July 2001 where they now
> > > live in their ancestral palace, according to the article.
> > >
> > > I think the group had a discussion about vertical sovereignty some
> > > time back, and the suite came up when someone asked whether Yugoslavia
> > > ended at the floor and ceiling.
> > >
> > > It's interesting that the exclave still fulfills a need once in
> > > awhile. When Yugoslavia isn't using it, and a "foreigner" stays there,
> > > I wonder if there are any "border" formalities at the door
> > > (immigration control at the concierge or check-in counter?). Maybe we
> > > have here also a case of Co- or joint or shared sovereignty? Sterling
> > > accepted (alongside dinars?)
> > >
> > > Regards
> > >
> > > Len Nadybal
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>
>
>
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