The Perseverance of the Monarchy

Will Truman

Will Truman is the Editor-in-Chief of Ordinary Times. He is also on Twitter.

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20 Responses

  1. Kolohe says:

    I think it also helps that Elizabeth has lasted as long as she has, and has been able to rehabilitate her image and her family’s over the past 15 years. If Charles had been in charge for most of the period after the annus horriblus & Diana’s death, I dare say things would be different.

    (I also think Tony Blair deserves some credit for being a centre-left pro-monarchist 3rd way fusionist at the exact time the monarchy needed that the most).Report

  2. North says:

    Yeah no small credit should go to HRM the Queen herself.Report

  3. The article, or at least the quoted portion, seems to conflate the presidential and quasi-presidential systems of the US and France with what I imagine was proposed in Australia: a mostly-ceremonial “head of state” president. If all that’s asked for is a ceremonial head of state, then why not stick with what you already have? And as others have pointed out, Elizabeth 2.0 has rehabilitated the institution as well.

    That said, if what was proposed for Australia was more than just a ceremonial head of state, then the calculations are definitely different.Report

    • IIRC, one of the reasons the Republic vote in Australia failed is because there wasn’t a consensus on some of the specific mechanics o the republic. There was a disagreement between whether the President should be elected or appointed by Parliament (those of you who know a little about the drafting of the Constitution might find this dispute familiar).

      You have the essential dilemma down – if the President is appointed by Parliament then they’re really no different than the Governor General. But there’s also a lot of people in this part of the world who don’t want to copy the US or France, and in my opinion there are good reasons not to.Report

      • But there’s also a lot of people in this part of the world who don’t want to copy the US or France, and in my opinion there are good reasons not to.

        Yeah, I’m moving toward the side of supporting reforms to the US constitution that would make its government more parliamentary-ish. Not that those reforms would get much traction here.

        ETA: Thanks, by the way, for informing me on some of what was being debated in Australia.Report

  4. Richard Hershberger says:

    The thing about the millennial generation saving the royal family is that they will age out of their adorableness. Feelings about Prince Charles were much the same, until one day he woke up as a middle aged privileged white guy. Now he isn’t even that. He is a old privileged white guy with a history of shouting at clouds. Prince Harry is the youngest of the next generation, and he is 34. His clock is ticking loudly. Getting a hot wife will give him a few extra years, and apparently she is preparing to start popping out babies. Everyone loves babies. So that will help. Also, he has good hair. That puts him up over his older brother, who I suspect benefits from Harry drawing most of the attention nowadays.Report

    • It wasn’t age that did Charles in, though. It was divorce. In some sense – that he has stuck with his second wife and that she will not become queen – he is actually in better shape than he used to be as far as that goes. Despite the yelling at clouds bit.Report

    • Maribou in reply to Richard Hershberger says:

      @richard-hershberger William and Pippa also have a herd of cute babies / young kids. (3 I think with another on the way?)

      The babies will keep the Millennials on board for a while…Report

      • Marchmaine in reply to Maribou says:

        Especially when William’s wife finds out about the babies with her sister… Millennials love drama.Report

      • Michael Cain in reply to Maribou says:

        So, Meghan will be popular if she keeps poppin’ them out?Report

        • Maribou in reply to Michael Cain says:

          @michael-cain Honestly she might be popular regardless. An American Princess has been a reliable heart grabber since Grace Kelly days…Report

        • North in reply to Michael Cain says:

          QEII really has basically figured it out for the current era and it looks very much like her grandchildren have learned the lesson pretty well:
          Be charitable, friendly, photogenic and a-political, avoid tawdry scandals and have a happy family life that allows but doesn’t pursue constant media scrutiny.
          Basically get those items down pat and the public will view your institution as superior to some political appointee office when it comes to personifying the body politic and serving as a repository for symbolic and practical powers that shouldn’t be available to career politicians grubby mitts.Report

          • LeeEsq in reply to North says:

            The success secret of the British royal family since the Hanoverian Dynasty was that the most popular monarchs manage to combine the image of a loving middle class family with royal mystique. George III, Victoria, George V and VI, and Elizabeth II got this figured out. George IV, William IV, Edward VII, and Edward VIII did not.Report

    • Jesse in reply to Richard Hershberger says:

      It’s true that Charles actually was fairly popular before the whole affair thing became widely known, (so much so that an expy of him that was a barely disguised version of him was Francis Urquhart’s main opposition in the 2nd season of the UK version of House of Cards).

      Plus, as other people have pointed out, even as the current generation ages out of attractiveness (but considering Tom Cruise looks like he does at nearly 60, let’s not assume that totally), there’ll be a new generation of conventionally attractive folks to get the limelight.Report