Ever wondered how the monarchy survives?

An insightful piece has some answers

Photo by Tomas Martinez on Unsplash

As Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations kick off in Britain, it is worthwhile to consider various aspects of the institution of monarchy. What makes it top dog in a world that has become flatter and more egalitarian in so many respects? How on earth does it survive?

Adam Ramsay’s brilliant openDemocracy piece makes several key points that help explain why the royal family still sits atop the heap in Britain, despite massive societal change in the country.

For centuries, the Tories have been the political wing of the hereditary ruling class, while the monarchy is its propaganda wing, endlessly telling us that some people are born to rule, others are not, and that’s the natural order of things. — Adam Ramsay in oD

He notes that the British monarch’s ‘political neutrality’ is said to enable him or her to ‘interpret the country to itself’. But in fact, he says, “the idea that the mirror in which we see ourselves is inherited is profoundly poli…