Contrary to popular international opinion, Britain's Royal Family is not an institution which every British person is proud of nor wishes to maintain. It has been noted that the Royal Family, and in particular royal ceremony and costume, is revered far more in the United States than in the United Kingdom. Some commentators have suggested that this is a natural result of the US becoming a republic, and that people in the UK would soon find themselves similarly yearning for what they did not have if the monarchy were done away with. We are also told that their work is harder than we can comprehend and that they do a bloody good job. Anyone who suggests that a coal miner, junior doctor or McDonalds employee might expect to work harder is decried as being some sort of left wing extremist, with the substance of the issue dismissed. As for doing a good job, it might be observed that, in economic terms and in terms of popularity with tourists, Mickey Mouse has done a better job for the United States than Queen Elizabeth II has done for the UK, and a considerably lower cost.
The real significance of the monarchy in the UK becomes apparent whenever associated dramas occur. The death of Princess Diana may have inspired a considerable outpouring of public and media grief, but much of what was said in her favour was that she was unlike the other members of that family, that she was less aloof, kinder and more charitable - hardly a vote of confidence in them. The recent death of the Queen Mother has resulted in official national days of mourning, yet the press have managed to dredge up only a handful of people under the age of sixty with anything good to say about her, and most of those who have praised her have complimented her on her 'common' traits, on the ways in which she seemed less royal. The formerly intended three day media blackout to mark her death has not happened, for two reasons: firstly, the public mood would not support it, since the younger part of the population is more interested in Pop Idol and the latest Big Brother clone than in some old grandmother whom they have correctly observed that they did not know very well in the first place; secondly, because of the potential loss of advertising revenue - in that regard, capitalism has triumphed - there is no economic future in England's dreaming.
At the Queen's silver jubilee, headlines were grabbed by the Sex Pistols' vulgar protests and irreverent attitude. This time around, as the golden jubilee celebrations unfolded, it fast become apparent that nobody actually cared enough to protest, offensively or not. Volunteers were herded in to provide carefully rehearsed substitutes for 'spontaneous' public celebrations. There was nothing spontaneous about it. Personally, I felt rather sorry for a woman being requested to celebrate the anniversary of her father's death so soon after the deaths of her mother and sister, but that aside, the vast majority of people in the UK are utterly apathetic about the job she does, and accept her only because she represents the status quo.
The current Royal Family are considerably less popular in Scotland than they are in England and Wales. A considerable portion of the Scottish population never accepted the imposition of William of Orange in place of the Stuart dynasty, feeling that this, as much as James VI and I's decision to locate his court and parliament in London rather than Edinburgh, resulted in Scotland becoming a second class, marginalised 'region' rather than an equal partner in the union of the crowns.
Six years ago, the study of citizenship became a mandatory part of the UK's national curriculum for school pupils. This seems deeply ironic when, at that time, those pupils did not have the luxury of being citizens of their own countries (though they were legally citizens of Europe) - like everyone in the UK and Northern Ireland, they had the reduced status of subjects - in legal terms, they were the property of the monarch. This has finally changed, but there's still a long way to go.
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Last updated 7th December, 2005