INTRODUCTION

It stands in the middle of the Kenyan desert, hundreds of miles from the sea. As befits a minor Kenyan military outpost, it is a modest cement brick affair. Inside, it contains a warped pool table. Outside is a swimming pool, empty of everything except a decade's worth of accumulated sand. There is little to distinguish it from any other Kenyan outpost. Indeed, there is little else to it at all, except the plaque on the side of the building. But it is a plaque with a difference: “The Wajir Royal Yacht Club.”

It seems Prince Edward (later Edward VIII) is to blame. The building had once been a British army outpost, and the prince, in a pique of imperial zeal, had once promised to visit it. When the palace thought better of his royal enthusiasm, he prudently canceled the trip. The troops, however, missed neither the snub nor the chance for some cheap Edwardian revenge. If his majesty could not visit them, they asked, could he at least designate his scheduled stop a “royal yacht club”? The embarrassed palace only too eagerly obliged.

Some royal favors come dear, others come cheap. Some redistribute massive wealth to the favored few. In Chapter 8 we explored how the Imperial Japanese government may have transferred funds to the large banks from the small banks and the depositing public. In Chapter 9 we explored how it transferred funds to its patrons' railroads from the public treasury.