Malcolm ,I thought you were using the Royal we, as used by people of importance.

"Maybe you've been in Ireland too long - or maybe not!"
getting a bit racist there,Malcolm.

"The Royal We"


    *
       The royal "we"
   

The majestic plural (pluralis maiestatis/majestatis in Latin) is the use of a plural pronoun to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, pope, or university rector. It is also called the royal pronoun, the royal "we" or the Victorian "we". The more general word for the use of we to refer to oneself is nosism, from the Latin nos.[1] It is most commonly used to denote the excellence, power, and dignity of the person that speaks or writes.

In pluralis maiestatis a speaker refers to herself or himself using a grammatical number other than the singular (i.e., in plural or, where attested, dual form). For example, the Basic Law of the Sultanate of Oman opens thus:

    On the Issue of the Basic Law of the State We, Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman…[2]

Other instances of use:

    * We are not amused. — Queen Victoria (in at least one account of this quotation, though, she was not speaking for herself alone, but for the ladies of the court.)[3]
    * In his abdication statement, Nicholas II of Russia uses the pluralis maiestatis liberally, as in "In agreement with the Imperial Duma, We have thought it well to renounce the Throne of the Russian Empire and to lay down the supreme power."[4]
    * In a frequently-repeated story, United States Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover told a subordinate who used the royal we: "Three groups are permitted that usage: pregnant women, royalty, and schizophrenics. Which one are you?"[5]
    * Another remark is often attributed (probably wrongly[6]) to Mark Twain: "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we.'" [1]

[edit] Nosisms
[edit] The royal "we"

A common example is the royal we (Pluralis Majestatis), which is a nosism employed by a person of high office, such as a monarch, earl or pope. It is also used in certain formal contexts by bishops and university rectors. The first recorded use of the expression was in 1169 when Henry II of England (d. 1189), hard pressed by his barons over the Investiture Controversy, assumed the common theory of "divine right of kings," that the monarch acted conjointly with the deity. Hence, he used "we" as "God and I...," or so the legend goes. (See Rolls Series, 2.12)

In the public situations in which it is used, the monarch or other dignitary is typically speaking, not in his own proper person, but as leader of a nation or institution.