Queen is dead Long live the King

"The queen is dead, long live the King", Queen Elizabeth II has finally got her date with her Maker, after having had the longest reign by any British Monarch. Monarchy is probably as old as human civilisation is or  may be as old as the recorded history is.  The immortal quote from George Orwell's Animal Farm "All men are equal, some are more equal than others", though describes the totalitarian societies such as communist regimes. But it is equally apt for any feudal society, although Britain is officially a democracy.  

A monarchy in any form, even a so called parliamentary one, like the British, is inherently a feudal society. But Britain is not alone, as even in this twenty first century there are  42 other monarchies,  spread all over the world cutting across continents, such as Japan, Thailand, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lesotho and many more. Though most of them are constitutional ones now with the King or Queen being only a titular head of the state, but still the people are so enamoured by the institution that they would rather continue with the system, despite the extravagant costs to the exchequer. Isn't this a little surprising? After all, Britain claims to be the originator of the current democratic systems in vogue in the post Westphalian nation states. Is this attraction purely for sentimental reasons or is it because a Head of the State is sort of mandatory even in parliamentary democracies, it is just that he or she is elected as against being born into royalty. While there may be merits in both the systems. Even an elected Head of the State leads a Royal life thereafter, with the exchequer bearing the costs. A born Royal against an elected one is hardly a choice, except that we get one from different regions and have new ones every five years. 

Queen Elizabeth II to her credit, maintained the decorum of her throne and despite major hiccups such as the failed marriage of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and  Lady Diana or Prince Harry-Megan severing their ties with the monarchy. The approval ratings of the Queen remained high, through these turbulent times. Guess what, if King Edward VII had not abdicated the throne, history would have taken a different turn altogether.(Incidentally, we have a connect with King Edward as he was the one who inaugurated my Alma Mater Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College,RIMC as the then Prince of Wales in circa 1922 and to this day the emblem of our Old Boys Association has the badge of three Ostrich feathers with the motto of 'Ich Dien' meaning 'I Serve'.) Elizabeth being the daughter of King George VI, who ascended the throne, when King Edward chose love over the throne. By the same standards, King Charles III would have found himself in a similar position as his Queen consort was also a divorcee. Monarchy and conspiracies, scandals, palace intrigues are all inter-woven. Nepal suffered one of the worst such tragedies when in Jun 2001 the Prince himself killed (the subsequent investigations blamed it on Prince Birendra) nine members of Royal family of King Birendra Bikram Shah. 

Closer home, every  Royal succession was accompanied by a bloody power struggle, where sons turned against their fathers, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb who even killed his rival Dara Shikoh. There are many such incidents, to that extent these decked up Monarchies are relatively free from any blood bath at least. In ancient India the Royals were reported to be direct descendants of Gods themselves with some tracing their ancestry to Sun, Sooryvanshi while the others were Chandravanshi or Lunar ones.  The colourful lives of some of these Maharajahs have been documented in a book by the same name by Diwan Jarmani Dass, it makes interesting reading. Today we have political or business dynasties as Royalty has formally been given a burial after the abolition of privy purses. Dynasties incidentally have percolated in even other walks of life with fourth or fifth generation men/women in uniform or Legal Eagles, even Medicine as a profession. Then there are some of us who have decided to chart their own course....... and yes this piece has been written in the Queen's English!