What will Her Maj say? Queen’s English Society bids to drop royal name

THE Queen’s English could soon be a thing of the past. I hear the Queen’s English Society is considering taking the unprecedented step of dropping the royal connection from its name.

The charity, which exists to promote the correct use of English and strives ‘to halt the decline in standards in its use’, is worried that including mention of the monarchy in its title may be ‘elitist’ and ‘outmoded’.

A source tells me: ‘It’s the “Meghan effect”. The Duchess of Sussex has so annoyed some of our members, who are instinctive royalists, that it’s putting them off the monarchy altogether.’

The proposal is disclosed by Debbie le May, editor of the society’s newsletter, Quest. In her autumn editorial she notes that the society will probably need to alter its name when the Queen’s reign comes to an end.

Committee members have already been discussing changing the name to ‘The King’s English Society’, she reports, but there were ‘several suggestions’ that something more radical should be considered. ‘Perhaps,’ writes le May, the society should ‘move away from royal connotations and change the name to The Better English Society or The Good English Matters Society or The Society for Better English.

‘It is considered that all these express what the society stands for and do not link it to outmoded customs nor to an elitist and exclusive cabal.’

Members are being asked to tell le May what they think of the proposal, which may be taken further at the society’s next annual general meeting.

The move would disappoint Prince Charles, a great lover of language who has had a lifelong preference for using older spellings considered correct by the Oxford Dictionary of English.

But we will still speak the King’s English when Charles is on the throne, whatever this society chooses to call itself.