It was on May Day 1988 that a courier arrived at my lodgings on Stour Street in Canterbury and handed me a package containing two parchments under the seal of William of Salisbury. The first parchment was a letter addressed to King Charles III of England and the second was headed Programme of Governance. The identity of William of Salisbury was unknown so I placed the parchments in a bottom drawer intending to make a few discrete inquiries.

All this happened more than sixteen years ago. I have taken out the two parchments from time to time and perused them with the firm intention of making a decision about what was to be done with them. But William of Salisbury had given me nothing by way of a hint to assist me. So after their perusal the two documents were returned to the bottom drawer. From here they have followed me around between England and Sweden and back…and on one occasion even went with me to Bretagne for the opinion of my good friend Anton in Mael-Pestivien…although in the event the subject was not broached.

Earlier this week both of my computers broke down leaving me twiddling my thumbs wondering what to do with myself. It was pouring with rain and the boat was leaking so I got to moving around some files and papers and chanced across the two parchments once again. This time I determined that something must be done with them. They will finally see the light of day. So here is the text of the letter William of Salisbury had addressed to King Charles III of England on May Day 1988. Dear Charles...

In the first years of your reign, perhaps earlier, perhaps coincident with your coronation, the financial edifice upon which the prosperity of your realm now resides, will collapse thrusting your country and your subjects into chaos.

From this chaos will arise either a greater chaos allied with catastrophe, famine, plague and war or a revolution, from which some tyrant or a military junta will emerge. I wish you to have available a fourth option in addition to Chaos, Tyranny or Military Rule. The Royalist Party represents this fourth way; the truly radical way for a free people...the way of Aristocratic Populism.

Your first task will be to dissolve parliament and call a general election. The royalists will have ready a candidate to declare for you in each constituency. It is my hope that lords, bishops, mayors and those most respected in their local communities will join the royalist cause and volunteer for their country. This will not be the time for politics as usual. Exceptional wisdom will be called for.

Upon the election of a majority of royalist candidates to your lower house, you will make two announcements. First you will call upon a first lord of the treasury and a foreign secretary to serve with you in a cabinet.

Secondly you will announce the date of a second election to parliament and the manifesto of the royalists at that election. This will consist of just five words: 'We propose to abolish parliament'. The Royalist Manifesto for the first election is designed for a 5-year parliamentary term of transition. The programme could be carried out over a shorter period were you to deem this expedient.

The task of your Home Minister will be to implement the Royalist Manifesto and establish a culture of political independence throughout your realm ready to take upon itself the power returned to it from central government.

The task of your Foreign Minister will be to dispatch the wisest elders from your realm as ambassadors to foreign capitals to explain the Royalist Intentions and to appoint delegates to the various Hanseatic Royalist Confederations…for part of your royalist programme will be to establish our elected supporters among Europen Parliaments. That Power of Action and Being which is devolved must needs be balanced by other Power of Mind and Becoming that is dispersed about a wider perimeter.

Your task will be to carry out your Constitutional Duties; to support your Home & Foreign Ministers; to secure the loyalty of your men of arms; to exhort the highest virtues in your lords temporal in their administration of the king's justice; to direct your lords spiritual to works of charity and to the affairs of the human spirit; and to make ready your Privy Council for government upon the abolition of parliament.

You will carry upon your shoulders the heavy burden for engendering a sense of continuity and a mood of optimism among your subjects and an aura of competence and invincibility among those outside of your realm who might seek to exploit the turbulence of these troubled times.

Finally I would suggest that it is not necessary to await financial collapse or administrative chaos before implementing these proposals. Timing is of the essence. This only you should decide. We stand ready to do our duty and your bidding. Your loyal and obedient subject. William of Salisbury.