The Guardian view on the platinum jubilee: an old order is passing
The platinum jubilee is showing us contrasting things about this country. More than anything else, it is embodying the respect and affection that millions feel for the matriarch monarch herself. At 96, and after a record 70 years on the throne, it could hardly be otherwise. Much of that was on display as the jubilee weekend began on Thursday, thankfully in good weather in most places, with a palace balcony appearance, a flypast, the colour trooped, street parties getting under way and celebratory beacons lit. It would be a churlish country that treated Elizabeth II’s great longevity and these anniversary events with anything other than goodwill and generosity. And goodwill is emphatically the national mood this weekend.
Yet Britain’s mood should not be misread, as some seem too ready to do. Respect for the Queen extends across Britain, but it is not unconditional or without important nuances. The Queen’s popularity can be measured in opinion poll ratings that any politician would envy. Her net positive to negative opinion rating is +69; Boris Johnson’s, by contrast, is -42. She is the best regarded of all the royals. But respect is not the same thing as enthusiastic support. Attitudes towards the monarchy are changing. Support has fallen over the last decade and is lowest among young adults. The respect that the Queen has garnered in old age may not be easily transferable to others or to the institution in the way royal optimists think.
Good feelings about the jubilee itself are beyond dispute. But they should not be exaggerated, however tempting this may be. The Britain that gathered in the Mall on Thursday, waving its flags, was large and significant, but it was not typical. Only a week ago, more people in Britain, 54%, told pollsters that they were not interested in the platinum jubilee than the 43% who said they were. The only demographics in which more than half were interested in the jubilee were Conservative voters, leave voters and the over-65s. But it is perfectly possible to enjoy a street party, a concert or a display without having strong views in favour of the monarchy or the jubilee.
Millions are doing just that this weekend.
The features of a jubilee holiday have become familiar during Elizabeth II’s long reign. This is the fourth since 1977. Yet there is no mistaking that this one is unusual and different from the others in some ways. The central difference is the relatively low profile of the monarch herself. The Queen is an elderly woman, recently widowed. Understandably, she is slowing down.
She knows, as we also know, that the old order is beginning to pass. This jubilee cannot be understood without that truth. A long, stable and feminised period in the monarchy’s history is ending. A period of uncertainty lies ahead, when a new king must try to remake the compact between the crown and the public in a Britain that has changed profoundly since 1952, when the Queen succeeded her father.
One of the hidden effects of this jubilee year is that the public is beginning, slowly, to think about the future. This process should be encouraged. But the future of the monarchy is not and must not be a question for the new king alone. It is a question for the public and for parliament. For Britain’s constitutional monarchy to move in better step with new times, if indeed it can, a public conversation is needed.
This country needs to discuss things like a modern monarchy’s proper role, its cost, its prerogatives, its accountability and the monarch’s anachronistic role as head of state of other countries. Yet Britain is extraordinarily bad at any of this. A few months ago, the Commons Speaker even reprimanded Keir Starmer for mentioning the Queen in a Commons debate. Self-censorship of that sort should end. Today the country is inevitably focused on the Queen. Tomorrow it needs to talk about the future of the monarchy.