Hardly anyone believes in the Christian God any more – though a growing number believe in Allah – so that means they also cannot believe the Monarch is divinely chosen.
We all know that the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats are crammed with republicans who are waiting for the chance to get rid of the Crown. They circle round the royal finances in the hope of working up a public demand to impoverish and humiliate the Monarch.
The Tories, who pretend to be monarchists, would cheerfully guillotine the Queen or Prince Charles if they thought it would help them stay in office. They prove each week that there is nothing they won’t swallow, with this aim in mind.
As for the Commonwealth, it is mostly made up of republics, and its remaining monarchies feel – understandably, if wrongly – that they cannot really be grown-up nations until they have their own heads of state.
All this will become much more urgent when a new reign begins. Having narrowly escaped the fury of the Diana-worshipping mob in 1997, our present Queen has won an exalted status as the nation’s favourite grandma. Yet even she has to humiliate herself from time to time to seek the favour of the masses, as she did in the Olympics opening ceremony.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member