The Queen’s a marvel. So forgive my tiny shudder over what comes next
Celebrations have begun for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, but does this pivotal moment also signify the end of the golden age of monarchy? Perhaps the beginning of the end, at least.
For 70 years, Her Majesty has done a marvellous job. Her long reign over us has indeed been happy and glorious — and unimpeachable, too.
she has reached the last lap with integrity intacto, her devotion to duty undimmed. For seven decades, in times of both triumph and tragedy, she has not put a foot wrong in one of her little buckled shoes.
she has done us proud, our caps are doffed — but forgive my tiny shudder about what and who come next.
King Charles? How the heart sinks. and the news this week about the future Queen Consort Camilla does not help.
there is no question that the Duchess of Cornwall has put in the hard yards to establish her duchess-dom; she has done good works, tackled difficult causes, earned praise from everyone including me, on these very pages.
However, weren’t we promised that she would never be Queen Camilla? that she didn’t ever want to be Queen Camilla? Wasn’t that the deal?
now we are informed that not only is she going to be Queen Camilla, she might even walk around wearing a giant crown with a diamond the size of a dodo egg right in the middle of the darned thing.
Despite Camilla’s undoubted goodness, this is not what the british public signed up for. Yes, a lot of people welcome her ascension to queenly rank but, to be perfectly frank, a lot of people don’t.
some of them have religious beliefs that cause them to disapprove, some of the Diana die-hards just won’t cut her any slack, while some of us just think that if Prince Philip never became King Philip — not even after 74 years of tireless support to queen, crown and country — why should she be instantly elevated?
No, i don’t want to drag poor Diana back into the situation. the passions of the past, the moral complexities of the time — they should all be left behind, for who could bear to rake over the calamities of that blamesodden love triangle again?
one suspects that this Queen Camilla cavalcade is what Charles wants, which is rather kingly and demanding of him already, and surely does not bode well for the future.
Has he entirely thought this through? Catapulting his wife into this huge new role means that not only will she be colloquially known as Queen Camilla, she will also be replacing — in people’s minds at least — the Queen herself. big (actually tiny) shoes to fill.
Whereas, modestly clinging to the second tier sidelines as a Princess Consort — still an upgrade! — Fred and Gladys could continue to enjoy their nice life and she would continue to be quietly respected.
in addition, i fear all this tumult will make us reassess how we regard the royal Family and look again at the odd, fragile symbiotic relationship between Palace and public and the values in which it was once rooted.
When the future Queen was 21, she declared ‘that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service’. When she ascended to the throne six years later, she pledged further layers of devotion and duty: ‘throughout all my life and with all my heart i shall strive to be worthy of your trust.’
a young wife with a cloistered life, she was a blank page, without a hinterland. in contrast, as Charles approaches the throne, there is little we don’t know about him.
Crucially, we do know that when he faced a fork in the road during his marriage to Princess Diana, when required to take a decision that would have morally dubious consequences, when he had to choose between duty and himself, the Prince of Wales chose himself. We all know this — and he knows that we know — and that changes everything.
However, it is not solely because of him that the bloom is off the royal rose. over the past two decades or so, the family dysfunctionality of the House of Windsor has become exuberantly manifest, impossible to ignore, like a nest of hornets thwacked with a sceptre.
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge seem authentic and credible, ditto aunt Princess anne, but as for the rest! they’re either boring, bonkers or borderline larcenous — or perhaps a mixture of all three.
PrinCiPal players include the Duke and Duchess of sussex — out in California, unanchored, wayward and spiteful — determined to damage a monarchy they feel maligned by, while leveraging their quasiroyal status for every cent they can get their mitts on.
even worse, there is the nincompoop Duke of York, self-styled ‘epstein Consort’ on a never-ending international trade mission to Chump town. He will shortly face charges of sexual abuse in a civil case in america which, win or lose, does little to burnish the reputation of the Windsors abroad or at home.
Meanwhile, junior family members exploit their royal connections by advertising milk in the Far east, writing novels and promoting highperformance vehicles.
Where is the magic, the imperial gloss, the remote but alluring silk-gloved glamour of it all?
the problem today is that as the scales fall from our eyes, the whole circus increasingly seems like a conceit, an erminelined confection.
the thing is, for us to believe in the royal Family, we have to believe they are somehow special and exemplary; people worthy of our respect, admiration and devotion. but so few of them, other than the Queen, fit that bill. the rest of the royal gang are messy, selfish, flawed human beings, just like us. but for the moment, the show must go on.
so we will have the Platinum Jubilee and it will be wonderful. then we will have King Charles and Queen Camilla and everything will look just fine.
However, the glide into decline is always imperceptible at first, then unstoppable until nothing is left but an empire of dust.
and this week the rot set in.
She might even walk around wearing a giant crown