Eldon League

Historian David Lowenthal likens the group to the Society for Creative Anachronism, a living history group in the United States, in their (possibly ironic) appreciation of a past which is now considered obsolete. Grand Imperial Prior of the group Neil Hamilton has said the group wished to "abolish the twentieth century", arguing that "the 18th century was the summit of civilisation". It was anti-feminist, anti-democratic, pro-feudalism, anti-trade, and in favour of the Gold Standard, good government, the monarchy and aristocracy. Hamilton also noted: "he opposed reform of the penal code and all other changes in 26 years as Lord High Chancellor, except trial by battle, which he abolished in 1819. The League is not in favour of any change, but then nobody's perfect." The group was represented in Hong Kong, West Germany, South Africa and the United States. The group had diplomatic links with the Republic of Minerva micronation, contacts with French and Italian monarchist groups, and ties to émigré groups behind the Iron Curtain. ==Activities==

The society was known for its eccentricity; for example, League members walked or travelled by horse-drawn carriage wherever possible and engaged in 'annual hijinks' at Ascot Racecourse and the Henley Royal Regatta. The group used to annually commemorate the visit of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II to Oxford railway station, whereupon he breakfasted at the station after arriving from the 8:45 train from Balmoral, by drinking the Tsar's preferred breakfast champagne (Louis Roederer) and food (pears in white wine). On the Fourth of July 1976, the League sent a letter to the United States Ambassador in London inviting the U.S. to rejoin the British Empire, before "ceremonially [retaking] the embassy for the Empire", according to Hamilton. Every September the group joined the Charles James Fox Society in laying a wreath on Fox's statue in Bloomsbury Square, London, an 18th-century Radical who gambled away $70 million before he was 21. ==Legacy==

In 1998, following the cash-for-questions affair, Hamilton expressed an interest in promoting the objectives of the League online. ==See also==