PERHAPS the most interesting factor in the run-up to King Charles III’s cumbersome coronation last Saturday was the number of British polls pointing to varying degrees of apathy among his subjects. There was evidence of a generational divide, with younger Britons particularly disinclined to kowtow to a demonstrably effete, unrepresentative institution.
But even among older generations there are signs of a remarkable decline in deference to the monarchy and the feudalism it represents. There were indications that the popular mood might prompt a few concessions to modernity, but tradition trumped everything. The tedious ceremony in Westminster Abbey was a thoroughly religious event, reflecting the utterly anachronistic divine right of kings and the reigning monarch’s inherited status as defender of the Protestant faith.
Europe’s most consequential components — Germany, France, Russia, Italy — dumped their monarchies in the 19th or early 20th centuries, but it still boasts more royal families than any other continent. The kings and queens of Sweden, Norway, Belgium or the Netherlands, however, have neither the wealth nor the institutional influence associated with their British counterpart.
There’s little evidence elsewhere in Europe of the forelock-tugging that helps to sustain both the monarchy and the Conservative Party. But it’s a diminishing habit. Had the vote been restricted to people under 50, Britain may well have remained in the EU, elected a Corbyn Labour government in 2017, and possibly rejected the monarchy after Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign ended. Of course, the elderly can’t be denied their democratic rights. But they are an endangered species.
The coronation was a dull distraction from Britain’s woes.
The sceptre, the orb, the crown and various other forms of bling were passed on to a 74-year-old, the oldest person ever to be crowned in that country. That’s not his fault, of course. Charles was not yet five when he became heir apparent in 1953, and it was another 16 years before he was formally anointed as the prince of Wales. One could almost feel sorry for an applicant who was told the job is his, but then had to wait more than half a century to acquire it. Kindlier inclinations towards someone who had hinted at a more modern approach to a post that shouldn’t exist dwindled during Saturday’s ceremony.
The only nod to multi-faith Britain came in a momentary encounter with representatives of other religions as the king and queen consort headed towards the Westminster Abbey exit, after the multifarious blessings of the archbishop of Canterbury and various acolytes, and vows of eternal fealty to the Anglican conception of the Lord. Among other bizarre rituals, there was the ceremony of the swords and at least a couple of costume changes, at the end of which the royal pair resembled polar bears with ill-fitting skins that required the assistance of a bunch of elves to keep them from being soiled.
Any sense of modernity was obscured by the absurdities on display both in Westminster Abbey and on the carriage journeys from and to Buckingham Palace. The route was crowded despite the drizzle and occasional downpour, yet the police deemed it prudent to pre-emptively crack down on the mere hundreds of dissidents who wore T-shirts or planned to bear placards with slogans such as ‘Not My King’ and ‘Just Stop Oil’, arresting dozens of them.
Unlike their European counterparts, the crowned heads of Britain are also technically the heads of state of more than a dozen former colonies. The Caribbean islands have begun to drift out of this ridiculous arrangement, and the others are likely to follow suit. The matter could be taken out of their hands were Britain to sensibly opt for a republican alternative in the next decade or so.
That doesn’t seem likely, despite the growing apathy towards a pointless institution that barely fulfils its function as a distraction from more pressing socioeconomic and political concerns. Britain’s maladies have been laid bare in the Brexit aftermath, with the five Tory prime ministers since the vote reflecting the disarray among the ruling class.
Last Thursday’s local elections were an embarrassment for the Conservatives, reinforcing the impression that the next parliamentary poll will usher in a different ruling party. But under Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, the public is likely to discover — much as it did in 1997 — that there’s more continuity than change when an opposition equally wedded to the ruling ideology takes over from a stale ruling party that has lost the plot.
Given the strikingly austere circumstances, the billionaire-king could at least have made the gesture of paying for his own party, instead of letting taxpayers pick up the extravagant bill. But hey, maybe some of the half-eaten coronation quiches ended up in the food banks proliferating across blighted Blighty.
Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2023
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