GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
Finding a Moment of Royal Reassurance in a Messy World
Apr 10, 2019 | 05:00 GMT
(Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Highlights
- The modern British monarchy is often viewed as a form of soft power — an attractive national image to the world. A recent brush with British royalty suggests the monarchy can also offer a steadying hand at a time of instability for democratic institutions.
- The job of a British monarch isn't what it once was, of course. Thousands of years ago, royal authority likely grew out of a feedback loop between military success and religion, and throughout history monarchs have claimed to stand closer to the gods than their subjects.
- Despite the regular embarrassments that individual royals cause, the institution itself links the United Kingdom in the age of Brexit to a 5,000-year-old tradition. With Parliament offering anything but calm and reassurance, the "dignified" branch of the British constitution has a lot of work to do to preserve the constitution's legitimacy.
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