Especially because the nation was in the middle of a constitutional crisis. Just after he became king, when the Liberal Party was in power, he told the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, “I don’t know how you can go on serving that damned fellow Lloyd George.” These ministers weren’t exactly thrilled to be working with a rude, reactionary king who they thought was “a dunderhead”. (“Of course you said it, George,” his wife, Queen Mary, admonishes him at one point, “we all heard you.”) Neutrality did not come naturally. George was notorious for blurting out his country-squire opinions. For one thing, he needs to keep his voice down. And if he is obliged to be a more political monarch than his mother - long may she live - Charles ought to read Ridley’s account of his great-grandfather’s life, which provides a blueprint for how a monarch might effectively and acceptably involve himself in politics.īut it could also help Charles learn from his great-grandfather’s mistakes. It’s not unreasonable to imagine that, in the coming years, it will become so dysfunctional that a monarch must stick his nose in. The political system has matured and stabilised since then.
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Perhaps Dimbleby is right to say, “a quiet constitutional revolution is afoot.”
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It is impossible to imagine the Queen sending 27 notes to ministers in just over a year asking for, among other things, specific items of defence expenditure. The Black Spider Memos were the most worrying of his interventions to date they revealed him successfully pestering ministers for changes in policy and spending. I could not live with myself,” he told his biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby. “I simply can’t see what I see and do nothing about it. Our future king threatens to be a politically active monarch. The Queen has done this exceptionally well, adapting to changing public attitudes without ever giving away her opinions.Īnd that’s why people worry about Prince Charles. Encourage a little, warn a little, but always, always remain neutral. To survive, the crown must accept this loss of power and put on a smile at parties. Gone are the days when British monarchs could call elections, veto legislation, and choose prime ministers.
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Kings and queens have to stay out of politics.