Does Britain still need a monarchy?

I don't know what was more worrying over the deployment of Prince Harry in Afghanistan last year - the fact he made the whole Royal Family a target, and so people watching on at the parades or the royal visits, or the fact we never heard anything of that deployment for ten weeks in this all seeing, youtube loving, media age. How on earth did they stop the Afghanistan people getting a pic of him in the ubiquitous picture phone or digital camera? Either there's a complete media blackout in general in that country so only the good news gets out that suits the west or Harry wasn't exactly visible ... more

Am I cheating? The question is: "does Britain still need a monarchy?" - to which the answer is of course not, any more than France needs a President or Germany a Chancellor. Well, cheating or not, I'm going to pretend I read, "does Britain benefit from its monarchy?" My answer is yes, on three distinct counts. And I am also concerned that the last and most important is being eroded... My first reason you either sympathise with or you don't: tradition. Our monarchy and constitution are thoroughly intertwined, and the institution of monarchy provides a wonderful single focal point for many ... more

Does Britain Still Need a Monarchy? I don’t think there’s a clear answer to this question, but I will discuss the issues I think are important to consider. Unfortunately as this is a personal viewpoint some bias may be apparent … and it is likely to be clear that I’m just a little confused on this matter and am writing to make my own mind up more than anything else. Hence, I have been unable to do this in a standard cut and dry ‘for’ and ‘against’ type fashion. 1. **** THE QUEEN TAKES HER JOB VERY SERIOUSLY, as for the rest of them... I have nothing against Queen Liz. She takes her role very ... more

A few years ago I was queuing to see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. I think at the time myself and a friend were shooting looks of disapproval at some tourists who had the audacity to queue jump – I then realised that whether we like it or not respect for queuing is perhaps unique to the British! Behind us a film of the Queen’s coronation (which I am no where near old enough to remember) was playing. I didn’t pay a great deal of attention until the enormous crown was placed on her head and the crowds outside surged forward cheering wildly. This was the first time I’d ever seen the ... more

The question of whether the monarchy should be abolished is surely a hypothetical one seeing as anarchism is widely unloved and not adopted by the majority of people in British society and as can be seen from the student protests attacks on the monarchy are not at all popular. There was unanimous condemnation of the infamous poke on Camilla in the mainstream British media. The British media reflects popular opinion generally which goes some way to proving once again that the majority of people do not want to see the monarchy abolished. The monarchy on the other hand is widely adored worldwide ... more