Prince Charles’
visit to New Zealand is bringing out the usual calls for an end to our collective obeisance to
the monarchy. Yet nobody mentions monarchy's
real value, which is quite independent of the Queen and her family.
The significance
of monarchy is that it is effectively an apolitical, unifying, eternal and
extrinsic narrative, in a way that a president, indeed any supra-governance
option, cannot be. In these secular times monarchy is the only
transcendent entity a nation such as ours has. In rejecting its
players as they strut and fret their hour upon the stage, we will lose a
lot more than a source of mass entertainment.
I care not about
the actors, but a lot about the play.
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