If any institution has had its day, it is that of the British monarchy.
What could be more ridiculous than the magnificent parades and celebrations organized to mark the 70th anniversary of his reign.
As if it were any satisfaction for a free man to claim to be subject to a monarch.
Being subject to a king or queen in 2022 is demeaning.
A humiliation that Canadians and Quebecers have grown accustomed to disregarding, so present is it, from stamps and banknotes to the Canadian Army’s official name, Her Majesty’s Canadian Armed Forces.
The person of the Queen, who tries to make Buckingham Palace propaganda sympathetic through all sorts of films or TV series, is the only thing that allows her to maintain some popular support, even if that support is minimal in Quebec.
Royal propaganda shows her beaming with her great-grandchildren on the balcony of her palace. Isn’t that a touching sight?
Maybe.
contradiction
But it lets us forget the heart of the problem: the idea of monarchy is in complete contradiction to that of democracy.
It is humiliating for the Prime Minister of England, an elected official, to consult the sovereign every week.
More broadly, it is humiliating for people in a democracy that laws must be signed by the Queen or her representative in order to be applied.
The constitutional monarchy symbolizes the distrust of certain privileged elites towards the rest of the people.
History shows, however, that people’s choices are wise when they are not violated by prearranged elections, as the Trumpists, for example, are trying to do.
Equally, elected officials must be genuinely capable of governing, not just have diluted powers.
Get fortunes and privileges
Support for the monarchy is always justified in the same way: the Queen can make up for any excesses by Parliament. To the most naive of believers, the Queen exercises some sort of divine will on earth.
In truth, the royal family works first for themselves, i.e. for the preservation of their fortune and their exorbitant privileges. For example, the queen only pays the taxes she wants to pay. How many ? The height is secret!
Incidentally, the royal family is not immune to serious political misjudgements. Before World War II, the royal family had strong Nazi sympathies. In 2005, Prince Harry had the brilliant idea of dressing up as a Nazi officer at a party…
It was Winston Churchill who turned Britain against Nazi Germany. If the royal family and some of the English elite had had their way, Britain would have supported Hitler.
Prince Charles, who is soon to succeed the Queen, is unpopular in both Canada and Great Britain.
This could be a good opportunity to get rid of the monarchy.
