Like a lot of people, I am glued to the Netflix series “The Crown”, detailing (even by the Queen’s own admission) an accurate portrayal of events and eras which have come to both challenge and define the monarchy in the historical and modern contexts. I do have a dog in this fight, in that relatives of mine, Sir John and Lady Lavery, were artists and associates of the Royals and became personal friends of the Queen’s grandfather, King George 5th – the man who once considered dominating the House of Lords with sufficient sympathetic peers to pass the Irish Home Rule Bill.
The Queen’s Uncle, the Duke of Windsor, will always go down as the force who by his rebellious nature and courtship of Mrs Simpson, almost destroyed the monarchy. He would go on to aid the Nazis and agree a pact with them that would include him being placed back on the throne after Hitler bombed his way through to London – neither having any regard for the lives of the former King’s “subjects”. The British people, in their heroic and finest hour, put up one hell of a fight against the Nazi war machine and King George 6th and the Queen (Elizabeth) Mother won the hearts of a nation via their tours of Blitzed areas and soup kitchens for the distressed. The then Scottish Queen (Mother) Elizabeth, after a direct hit on Buckingham Palace, declared how glad she was at being “able to look the East End in the eye.”
When one looks at William and Kate they see something; something glamorous and universally appreciated – a modern “Fairytale” come to life. That is precisely why the Royals still exist; psychologically we are all still children and want to keep believing in Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses. We yearn to return to our childhood in the hope that one of us may just become a part of the pomp and pageantry – all of which makes for huge business and economic activity by the sheer avalanche of media and public fascination.
The thing I find most ironic about it all is that Princess Diana (who genuinely was a regal in her humanitarian efforts) was the biggest threat regarding the destruction of the monarchy since Oliver Cromwell (and he beheaded the King!) yet she has managed to, in her tragic and suspicious death, popularise the Royals more than ever – people will tolerate all the scandals and sleaze in order to see her son on the throne.
After every instance of exposure and poor judgement, whether it be Edward 8th or Sarah Ferguson, the monarchy as an institution has soldiered on and skilfully adapted to the ever changing mindset of the public imagination. We may even see a Queen Camilla one day, by the efforts of a conniving PR job. So many young girls are caught up in the spell of it all and yearn to be carried away by their “Prince”; with the proverbial “happy ending”. But more fool us as a society, when we should be educating and informing all girls from a young age that they have the skills, intelligence and talents to “save” and cultivate themselves via their own endeavours. It is an “idealism” confined to somewhere between a by-gone colonial era and Disney Land.
We in Ireland never for one moment believed that the then former future Queen, and her Muslim partner, were simply killed in a freak car accident. We knew the extent to which British Intelligence can operate to eradicate any perceived threat to the status quo and by God they did. The mother of the future King was, in the considered opinion of most learned or sensible people, murdered in a state sanctioned hit-job that resulted in a verdict within a “Royal Court of Justice” of Unlawful Killing. The whole inquest into her death was a parade of one Establishment stooge after another, engaging a case in a court that is ultimately empowered by the Queen. Diana having told Scotland Yard some months in advance that she was threatened by Nicholas Soames MP and that her former husband was planning her death in a car accident. As Tony Benn once said, when asked about “the Crown”, that “the Crown is really the state within a state, surrounded by barbed wire, which is always in power; regardless of who forms a government”.
Conclusively, we really ought to assume that the biggest threat to the monarchy (and also “the Crown” – including the security and civil service establishments) is not the prospect of a republican-minded government coming to office in Britain; but rather that the actions and scandals of the Royals themselves, which is what will eventually lead to their collective demise. Seemingly, the Whitehall and Palace bureaucracies appears to spend more time trying to save these people from themselves.
Comments are closed.