Independent Royalist Party of Estonia
The Independent Royalist Party of Estonia was a frivolous political party in early post-Soviet Estonia.
The party, widely considered a humorous expression of protest, was surprisingly successful in the first post-Soviet elections of Riigikogu, gaining 8 seats after spending a grand total of 1 kroon. Its most prominent members were known humorists Priit Aimla, Kirill Teiter and Ralf Parve, and the party was led by Kalle Kulbok. Later, Vilja Laanaru and Aadu Must joined Keskerakond, Priit Aimla Reformierakond, and several others withdrew from regular party politics.
The party's official programme called for establishing Estonia as a monarchy, as modeled by Sweden and Norway.
In practice, the party's main achievement was consistent ridicule of laws its members found ridiculous, most notably getting rid of the proposed mandatory hour of prayer by using it to perform a Neopagan rite, complete with tambourine. The party is also remembered for their eating strike, as opposed to the hunger strike of Lebedev and Petinov, and the order to hold a parade in Tallinn in celebration of Gustav Adolf Day—which instantly ended any lingering plans of holding a parade in celebration of the October Revolution in Tallinn.
The party was also instrumental in plotting the exact route of Baltic Way and in making the determination to barricade the Riigikogu building on Toompea during the August coup.
