![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/09\/Union-Jack-over-Edinburgh-Castle-2016.jpg\")
<\/a>The American fascination with British royalty<\/h2>\n
I\u2019ve always had a fascination with monarchy and royalty. I\u2019m a history nerd, and so much of history is the history of kings, queens, and lines of succession. Part of that is because historians tend to write about kings, queens, and lines of succession and not about ordinary people, but that\u2019s another rant for another day.<\/p>\n
But as an American, my fascination is a safe and sterile one. My taxes go to pay government officials a good salary (and they should), but they don\u2019t go to support one particular family in unimaginable luxury and privilege. I think that\u2019s one of the reasons so many Americans are fascinated with the British royalty. Yes, it\u2019s part of our heritage \u2013 albeit a heritage we voluntarily diverged from \u2013 but we can watch all the pomp and circumstance knowing it doesn\u2019t cost us a dime.<\/p>\n
However, those of us on this side of the Atlantic should avoid the temptation to feel morally superior. I sometimes write about the \u201cAnglo-American Empire\u201d \u2013 it really is one thing. The nexus simply shifted from London to Washington and New York in the middle of the 20th<\/sup> century. Capital is no respecter of borders, and an empire needs no monarch to be oppressive and exploitative. The United States has a military presence in 80 countries<\/a> and an economic presence virtually everywhere.<\/p>\n The liberal distaste for kings aside, is a republic really a better form of government than a constitutional monarchy? Is France a better place to live than Britain? Is Germany better than Sweden? Is the United States better than Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed<\/a> the country\u2019s loyalty to King Charles III?<\/p>\n Perhaps what\u2019s most important is not the form of government, but rather the virtue of the people in the government, and their responsiveness to the needs of their people and the needs of the wider world.<\/p>\n Should Britain do away with their royalty? Does the pageantry of the monarchy (and the tourist dollars and euros and pounds it brings in) help unite Great Britain? Royalists say yes, republicans (a word that means something very different on the other side of the Atlantic) say no. As an American I have no say in the matter, nor do I have the perspective to form a strong opinion. But watching the reports from Britain and seeing the outpouring of grief for Queen Elizabeth and the well wishes for King Charles, it\u2019s obvious that whatever else it may be, the monarchy is deeply meaningful to many people.<\/p>\n I am fascinated by the monarchy and royalty and all the ceremony involved in this transition.<\/p>\n And yet\u2026<\/p>\n I watched the Accession ceremony and noted the prescribed roles of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York. For all that Britain has become a largely-irreligious country, the Church of England is still the official church and the monarch is required to be a member in good communion of that Church. Charles is known to be religiously curious \u2013 he\u2019s said he wants to be known as \u201cdefender of faith\u201d instead of \u201cdefender of the<\/em> faith.\u201d We will have to wait for his coronation to see if that change is made.<\/p>\n Religious diversity in American government is more theoretical than practical: 44 of 46 U.S. Presidents have been Protestant Christians; the other two were\/are Catholic Christians. But there is no official religious test in the United States, something that matters deeply to me as a Pagan.<\/p>\n It is ironic \u2013 though perhaps not \u2013 that a country that forbids the establishment of religion has a much stronger religiosity and practice than a country with an established church and an official religion. As someone who is deeply religious and wants to see religion in general thriving (though there are types of religion<\/a> I would very much like to see disappear) I\u2019m glad there is no established religion in this country, and I will continue to work to prevent that from happening.<\/p>\n Charles\u2019 time as Prince of Wales is being called \u201cthe world\u2019s longest apprenticeship.\u201d There\u2019s something to be said for a fixed line of succession, especially after our own Game of Thrones moment in late 2020 and early 2021. Sometimes \u2013 as with Elizabeth \u2013 that means a short apprenticeship. Wikipedia tells me that \u00c6thelred the Unready<\/a> wasn\u2019t really unready, but Edward VIII<\/a> certainly was.<\/p>\n But is Charles the best person for the job? We can safely say he\u2019s better than Andrew, but is he better than Anne or Edward (who, I\u2019ll point out, is the only one of the Queen\u2019s four children still married to their first spouse)? Would it be better to skip this generation and move directly to William? Or perhaps there\u2019s someone we\u2019ve never heard of who\u2019d make a better monarch. We\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n What must it be like to grow up knowing your life is already planned for you? Does Charles even want to be King? I\u2019m not suggesting we should feel sorry for him. Ultimately, it\u2019s his choice to accept this role or not. His great uncle Edward VIII chose otherwise. His son Harry appears to be choosing otherwise, though that remains to be seen.<\/p>\n Despite elections that are open and free (mostly) the United States is led by people Charles\u2019 age and older. Are they the best people for their jobs or are they simply clinging to power? I\u2019m happy with the job Joe Biden is doing (especially over the last six months or so) but I would have preferred a younger person in office.<\/p>\n There is no perfect way of selecting leaders, and this section ignores the fact the that UK elects their leaders who have real power (though their Prime Minister is elected even more indirectly than our President). But I prefer open competition to fixed lines of succession.<\/p>\n The founders of this country got a lot of things wrong, most notably the perpetuation of slavery. They were not Gods and should not be remembered as such. But they got some things right, especially forbidding an established religion and religious tests, and forbidding titles of nobility.<\/p>\n There is no perfect form of government (and \u201cno government\u201d is worse). I prefer the American way of doing things, but looking at examples from around the world, I can\u2019t say that a republic is demonstratively better than a constitutional monarchy.<\/p>\n I can say that empires are bad, and also, that all empires eventually crumble. It would help if we would dismantle what\u2019s left of the Anglo-American empire instead of waiting for it to fade into insignificance \u2013 or to be supplanted by a different empire.<\/p>\n People feel what they feel, whether that\u2019s grief, pride, anger, or hatred.<\/p>\n My hope is that after our initial emotions fade \u2013 whatever they may be \u2013 we will all pick up the work of building a better world, one that is compassionate, fair, and just.<\/p>\n Changing our form of government \u2013 whether we are Americans, Britons, or otherwise \u2013 is a long and complicated process.<\/p>\n Electing better people to run the governments we have is something we can do much faster and more easily.<\/p>\n In this country, that means voting wisely \u2013 in every race \u2013 on November 8.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Queen is dead \u2013 now what? Whether we are Americans, Britons, or otherwise, electing better people to run the governments we have is far simpler and more likely than changing our form of government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":26599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4201,4195,4,5,152,4198],"class_list":["post-26593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-king-charles-iii","tag-monarchy","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-politics","tag-queen-elizabeth-ii"],"yoast_head":"\nIs a republic really better than a constitutional monarchy?<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/09\/Skara-Brae-2016-03.jpg\")
<\/a>Religion: established or not?<\/h2>\n
Fixed lines of succession<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/09\/Built_in_1016_52174876745_cropped-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>There is no perfect form of government<\/h2>\n
The Queen is dead \u2013 now what?<\/h2>\n