There was one person who could have stepped in and granted the parents of the British baby Alfie Evans the chance to take their child elsewhere for experimental treatment before the child died. That person was Queen Elizabeth II. Sadly, the Queen and the rest of the Monarchy failed miserably in their duty.
Alfie Evans was a 23-month-old toddler in the United Kingdom who was battling a degenerative brain disorder. His parents did all they could to keep him alive and sought treatment outside the U.K. Pope Francis met with Alfie’s father recently in a show of support and a Vatican hospital was ready to provide treatment for the child.
Unbelievably, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the European Court of Human Rights both refused to intervene and allow the parents to make the decision for medical treatment that the parents felt was in the best interest of the child.
So, supporters of Alfie turned to the one place left to turn. Their Queen. On a petition started on Change.org supporters wrote:
"To Her Majesty in Parliament:
We the undersigned humbly petition Your Majesty for protection of life and liberty of your 23-months-old subject Alfie Evans.
The judges in Your Majesty’s Courts have given orders:
* to kill Alfie on an appointed hour at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool by withdrawing his life support;
* for the day and hour of that killing to be kept secret from the public to avoid any protest or hinderance; and
* for Alfie to be detained in Alder Hey until his death - any attempt to release him to be resisted by force, and punished by imprisonment.
These cruel orders are not authorised by any law ever passed in a democratic Parliament. Instead, the said judges pretend to exercise Your Majesty’s ancient autocratic jurisdiction over the life and death of your subjects.
As loyal subjects, we refuse to believe that Your Majesty would ever command such evil deeds to be done; and we denounce Alfie’s death sentence and imprisonment as a seditious usurpation against Your Majesty and the law of the land.
There is no time to spare anymore.
We shall patiently await Your Majesty’s royal protection and justice; and in the meantime, Alfie’s Army and the good people of Liverpool will not sit back and allow this to happen. I can not stop them from now joining up and demonstrating outside alder hey again to do their utmost to defend Alfie against all those who prepare to take his life in the next 24 hours.!"
The petition garnered over 300,000 signatures in less than a week in the hopes the Queen would respond. While waiting for the Queen, who was undoubtedly still happy over the birth of the royal baby, Alfie slowly died after his life support was taken away. Instead, the leader of what was once the world’s most powerful and benevolent empire did nothing.
Compare this with the last Queen Ruler of Britain, Queen Victoria, and her public embrace of Joseph Merrick, also known as the Elephant Man. It was the influence of Queen Victoria and the Royal Family that led to the public acceptance of Joseph Merrick after many in society shunned him. They didn’t have to do it but they did it because they knew their moral influence would set the Christian tone for the way people should be treated throughout the Empire.
While it is questionable as to whether the Queen can formally overrule the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the Queen holds the power over all passports within the United Kingdom. Further, the Queen has a great deal of moral authority as head of the Kingdom and head of the Church of England.
It is apparent that, under current leadership, the Monarchy of the United Kingdom is interested only in saving the personal pleasures of royal life and not taking even the slightest public risk on behalf of its people.
In the name of the Queen, her subjects are asked to risk life and limb and the first duty of the Queen, in this social contract, is to protect her subjects. In the case of little Alfie Evans, the Monarchy failed its people miserably.