Time to discuss the monarchy
The following is an excerpt from an editorial this week in the Guardian: There has never been, and there may never be again, a British monarch quite like Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated her 90th birthday on Thursday. She owes most of her uniqueness to a single cause: her longevity on the throne. This queen has now ruled for longer than any of her predecessors. This queen is now older than any previous monarch. This queen has been married longer. What is more, as she reaches her tenth decade, this queen also looks good for several more milestones yet.
When earlier milestones of her life and reign had been reached, there was an understandable reluctance to spoil the national party. It has seemed churlish to ask too loudly the question that Jeremy Bentham posed about any law, custom or institution: “What is the use of it?”
These earlier anniversaries have been occasions to acknowledge the unspectacular woman on the throne, the respect she enjoys and the pleasure she brings, rather than to reflect on the institution she em- bodies or to ask where the monarchy might be heading. Very large numbers will again prefer it that way as the Queen reaches 90.
Yet Britain should not forever defer the need to think about the future of the monarchy. We live in volatile times. We struggle with what it means to be British.The longer the Elizabethan monarchy continues, the closer Britain comes to the point at which an institution that does so much to define it will also have to change.
This needs to be considered and debated. It cannot be assumed that the placid concordat between the public and the Crown over which the present queen has presided will survive under a different monarch.
It is too easily forgotten that, ever since 1688, the monarchy has evolved less to reflect the personality and whims of the monarch than to reflect the values, institutions and needs of the nation within which the monarch reigns. If such a system is to continue, or if it is to be replaced, modern Britain should now begin a modern conversation about how these inescapable changes should happen.