Sark commemorates 450th year of loyalty to the Crown
SARK sparked into celebration yesterday as hundreds retold, celebrated, and united to commemorate the island's birth as a crown Fief 450 years ago.
Seigneur Michael Beaumont yesterday addressed hundreds of islanders, dignitaries, visitors and descendants of the de Carteret family, as Sark marked the 450th anniversary of the granting of the Royal Charter by Elizabeth I to Helier de Carteret.
The charter was signed on 6 August 1565 and Mr Beaumont said the feudal system that came with it served the island well for many years.
'The feudal system of the day was ideal for a small island that did not require the sophistication or bureaucracy of a larger state and served us well with minor alterations for many years,' he said. 'Until 2009, to be precise.
'Many nowadays equate feudalism with oppression but that was not necessarily so.
'Nothing could have been more democratic as Helier de Carteret's requirement that the head of each family should have a vote.
'Unfortunately, nowadays modern law does not allow for such individualism.'
In the grounds of Le Manoir, Mr Beaumont renewed his and Sark's loyalty to the Crown.
