Parliamentary protocol is shot through with symbolism designed to remind us how power flows in Britain. None is more powerful that the state opening of Parliament and the Queen’s speech. It is a confused and confusing occasion, but the message is clear: power emanates from the Crown, not from the people.
Republic has long argued that the monarchy is essentially a brand, and just like any other brand it must continually act to protect its values and limit damage to its reputation. Successful brands work not because of any intrinsic value, but because they associate themselves with positive things. If this is done astutely enough even the most arbitary associations can become ingrained within the public imagination.
At Republic, we’ve always know that the next 5 years will be make or break for the monarchy. With an impending ’succession’ (the arrogance of that term!), a likely referendum in Australia and growing talk of constitutional reform, it was clear the issue of the monarchy would work its way up to the top of the public agenda. We didn’t bank on getting this much help from Charles, however.
In response to one of my articles on Comment is Free last week, someone asked for a fuller explanation of what I meant by ‘popular sovereignty’. So I thought I’d go over the basic points and explore a little of what I think is the fundamental principle of republicanism.
I imagined that the Clarence House PR team might have been celebrating this weekend, after a busy (and possibly successful) week engineering affection for a future King George. But it appears they had one last coup to pull off. In yesterday’s Sunday Times, Charles’ friend and confidante Jonathan Dimbleby suggests that:
Members of Prince Charles’s inner circle are preparing the ground for him to break the monarch’s traditional vow of silence when he is king.
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