…and in The Philippines, a new quasi-royal tradition

What next for Imelda’s shoe collection? A special-issue stamp? The Special Battalion Museum at Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines, contains a signed pair of shoes once owned by Imelda Marcos. Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

In the Philippines, some 10,000 kilometres away from Britain, a new political royalty is inventing the traditions that it hopes will guarantee its majesty.

President Bongbong Marcos, son of the deposed dictator Ferdinand, declared his father’s birthday — September 12 — a national holiday.

In the family stronghold of Ilocos Norte, to use the Philippines Inquirer’s headline, the president marked his “pa’s 105th birthday”.

With a quite remarkable gift.

Having won a landslide election victory in May, Mr Marcos Jr was sworn in as the Philippines’ 17th president in June.

It was a remarkable reversal of the disgrace that had dogged the family’s name.

But then the Marcos family were no…