Lyons

would have as sound a divine right as any other royal house.”

Indeed, millions around the world find themselves riveted by the ongoing soap opera that is the royal family. All those castles, all the tiaras and crowns and the queen's kin are every bit as crazy as your own: complete with racist elders, cheating spouses, lecherous uncles and drama queens.

Indeed, the British royals behave just as badly as the inhabitants of any Arkansas

trailer park or New Jersey tenement. Millions derive great comfort from that.

Upon Elizabeth's accession in 1952, Winston Churchill described the monarchy as “the magic link, which unites our loosely bound but strongly interwoven Commonwealth of nations.” If anything, Queen Elizabeth presided over its steady, inevitable demise. Born to the globe-spanning British Empire, she bequeaths her son and heir, King Charles III, pretty much all that remains — the United Kingdom.

Even that may not last, leaving Charles ruler of a small island nation in the North Atlantic. Even so, Elizabeth left it better than she found it.

Had I been born to her privileges and burdens, I'd also have chosen to spend my time on a country estate surrounded by dogs and horses — to all appearances, the best of the lot.