HM Queen Elizabeth II – Republicans look away now.

Throughout my life and when you think about it the majority of the population of this country, the Queen has been around as a sort of mother of the country, never giving interviews so we don’t really know her but in some way we feel we do.


There has been much talk over the years of whether we need a monarchy, the iniquity of hereditary succession in a democracy, waste of money etc etc. Throughout it all the Queen has continued carrying out her duty as she said she would.

In my view the reason the republicans make so little headway is that the Queen is so much better at what she does than the alternative which would be some kind of elected presidential head of state. Our politicians are so badly thought of, even the decent Prime Ministers come unstuck eventually, some of them spectacularly but Her Maj just carries on. It’s tempting to say never putting a foot wrong but of course there have been times when she has not been so sure footed but this is usually corrected and most of the people of this nation are content in the knowledge that we are all human.

That last point brings me to past monarchs, many of them, particularly Charles I who lost his head for his trouble, believed that they were chosen by God and had absolute power as a result. Our present Queen may believe that but, for all their old fashioned anachronism the Royal Family are a modern dynasty, maybe it’s self preservation, they’re good at that too but the point is in their funny old way they do move with the times, just not on our level.

So, to the point, at last I hear you say. When I think of the Prime Ministers of this country and the various messes they and their administrations have got us into I think the Queen and I suppose I should mention the Duke of Edinburgh have and still are doing a pretty good job. It is an unfair comparison of course as they have no real power but I find myself wondering what sort of country we would be if they did.

Getting to the Queens age is, putting it bluntly no huge achievement given the advantages but I know I wouldn’t like to be working as hard as she and her husband still do at their ages and still keeping to the promise she gave at the start of her reign. Long may that continue.