One of the funniest
institutions in the British Commonwealth is the monarchy. The British monarchy
has been around for the longest of times and its somehow survived revolutions,
greatness and the loss of greatness. Whilst monarchies in Europe fell, the
British kept theirs. The former Egyptian King Farouk is reported to have said, “The whole
world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left—the King of
England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the
King of Diamonds".
The survival of the British Monarchy is amazing. How does
an institution based on superiority by birth and ancient tradition survive in a
world where technology is changing the way we do things in a matter of decades
and meritocracy is becoming something that we understand as the natural order
of things?
Part of the answer was best said in the Crown. The role of
the monarchy is not to govern and to stay away from political squabbles. Prime
Ministers could come and go but the monarch would endure. The line Crown attributes
to the late Queen is to “Shut up and do nothing.” At her death countless Prime
Ministers recounted how their meetings with the Queen would be the one meeting
they knew would never get leaked.
The other is that the royal family understands that their
survival depends on public good will and they act to ensure they keep it. The
late Queen for example, made it down to Grenfell Tower to sympathise with the victims
whilst her Prime Minister hid in Downing Street. King Charles, back when he was
a Prince, said that he felt he needed to justify his existence. The most recent
example of how the royals rushed to save themselves was when they ditched Andrew
Mountbatten-Windsor over his role in the Epstein Scandal. Despite his pleas,
the former Prince has been arrested and is now out on bail. A man who grew up
in the very definition of privilege was seen slinking away, hopping and failing
to avoid a very public humiliation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHZZBjpoOlE
Yet, the point is two
powerful men have been publicly called to account. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
will never enjoy the life he once had a Prince Andrew. Peter Mandelson will
never get the chance to play shadow manipulator the way he did under Blair.
While the situation in
the UK is not great, it compares very well with what’s going on in the USA,
which is where most of the saga has taken place. Here, you see a case of tribal
loyalties running everything. You have the current president being close to
Epstein and being mentioned many times over in the files. You also have the
former president pictured with him and mentioned a number of times.
Both men don’t have a
history of marital fidelity. Their elections and presidencies have been plagued
with scandals off inappropriate behavior. Yet its virtually impossible to say
anything about them without their supporters jumping all over you and social
media is filled with commentators on both sides trying to out do each other in
the dirt swinging contest.
Whilst everyone makes
noise over Epstein, the ground facts remain – crimes were committed. Nobody has
been held to account. If anything, there have been public declarations that
doing something would make the system collapse.
The world’s autocrats
are loving every moment of the squabbles in America. Every time US politicians
lecture about “rule of law” and “open and honest” societies, the autocrats just
shrug and say “yeah, pot calling the kettle black,” with each passing moment of
the Epstein scandal. That would not happen if the American institutions had some
fratricidal instincts and allowed a few of the rich and powerful to be dragged
out in public.
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