The death of Queen Elizabeth II has caused something of an internal conflict for me regarding the monarchy.
I have never thought it either democratic or right that we have an unelected body ruling over us — close allies such as America don’t have such a system and the French did away (literally) with their royal family over 200 years ago.
I also have a major problem with all the religion that is at the heart of the monarchy, especially in an era when; according to a YouGov poll, only 27 per cent of Brits believe in God.
And yet, despite not being a royalist or Christian, I have found myself glued to the telly watching every stage of events surrounding both the death of the Queen and the ascension of Charles to King.
I guess my interest could just be put down to the ‘sense of occasion’ and the fact that this is a major historical event — the biggest historical event in the lives of all of us under the age of 70 — and yet I have the feeling that it’s more than that.
Many of those who are against having a monarchy use the argument that it is abhorrent that so much money is spent on one family when there are people who are starving on the streets, but a counter argument to that is that in countries that don’t have a royal family, there are still millions of people living in adverse poverty.
If we didn’t have a monarchy, would we trust the inept politicians who run our country to spend the money wisely?
If recent evidence is anything to go by, the answer to that is an emphatic ‘No!’; although we do now have a new Prime Minister in the shape of Liz Truss, so maybe she’ll shock us all by being a revolutionary leader who brings about great change for the better…I won’t hold my breath.
There is also the argument that the royal family actually bring in millions of pounds to the economy from tourists, and as far as being the unelected head of state, they don’t really have any power in this day and age, they are just there for the pomp.
Let’s face it, if they did have any power, they’d have covered-up Prince Andrews’s misdemeanours.
So here I am, not only no longer feeling anti-monarchy, but actually feeling a little pro-monarchy, although songs such as God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols and The Queen is Dead by The Smiths will always mean far more to me than the national anthem.
I expect Charles to now play a similar role as monarch as his mother did — a dignified figure head who keeps their head down and just gets on with the job.
He needs to remember that he isn’t an elected head of state, so his opinion on political matters such as climate change need to be kept to himself.
The Queen is dead, long live the King.
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