Thoughts concerning the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II
In an entirely out-of-character move for me, the death of Her Late Majesty has provoked me to put thoughts down in public using social media. As both a monarchist and – as I often like to say – a “card-carrying Conservative”; it was hardly surprising to me that I would find a lot of the reaction to the tragic but ultimately not unforeseen news distasteful, even as I knew the basic lines of disagreement that would likely arise between myself and less anachronistically-minded friends. I realise that a lecture-slash-rant on constitutional monarchy is unlikely to be popular or particularly well-viewed. I also realise that, as I have been told and have myself said a number of times today, I am unlikely to change your mind; or vice versa; if you have already decided in principle that monarchism and the whole royal kitchen sink is a regressive and on-the-whole negative institution. I hope only to give an honest and reasonable account of what I find important and effective about monarchy, as