THE MODERN BRITISH MONARCHY

By Edwin Cooney

British history begins for me in 1066, almost 1200 years ago this coming October, when William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings over King Harold. This is referred to as the Norman Conquest. King William I was crowned King of England on Christmas Day 1066. There had been English kings before but they are exceedingly hard to easily follow since they lack continuity.

While visiting the US during our Bicentennial in 1976, Prince Charles asserted during an interview on National Public Television that going back before the Norman Conquest there had been only a total of 63 British Monarchies up until his mother's accession to the throne in 1953. Back in 1976, Americans were contemplating the election of merely our 39th president which turned out to be former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter. I remember trying to imagine how many presidents we might have if we lasted over 1100 years!

Only the year before that, in 1975, I had completed my history degree majoring in Modern American, Modern European and Medieval European histories. (Medieval history marks the time between the fall of the Roman Empire in about 500 AD to the time of the Renaissance around 1500. It was the time during which modern government and modern religious institutions struggled often against one another for the control of nations.)  While  studying British royal family history, one can see how monarchs slowly but invariably advanced from merely being the most powerful warriors in the land and gradually became royal politicians. Henry Tudor (Henry VII, 1485 - 1509) was the first royal administrative politician monarch. Henry VIII (Tudor's son) was not merely a politician but, following his clash with Pope Clement VII over his divorce from Queen Catherine, he came to regard himself as head of the newly established Church of England. His second eldest daughter, Elizabeth I who ruled from 1558 to 1603, was ultimately the first truly great head of state, head of church, and top administrator — and one hell of a politician!

Elizabeth II, whom we mourn today, will ultimately be celebrated for her temperament which was both stoic and tolerant. All fifteen Prime Ministers who served during her 70 year reign appear to have found her both cordial and cooperative whatever their political and policy differences were. In that way, Queen Elizabeth II was similar to Oliver Wendell Holmes' description of FDR as possessing a second class intellect but a first class temperament.

It's natural and reasonable to question both the value and necessity of all royalty today. It must be observed, however, that the British have a special ability of using modern expectations and traditional customs, both Medieval and Victorian imagery, to justify and ultimately dignify King Charles III’s reign which began in the afternoon Greenwich Mean Time last Thursday, September 8th, 2022.

I can't resist comparing the last two occasions or conditions of the birth of the past two reigns.

On the evening of February 6th and 7th, 1952, Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth were sleeping in a Kenyan jungle treehouse as King George VI slipped away at Buckingham Palace in London. Thus, it can be observed that Princess Elizabeth transitioned from the jungle to the palace. (Note: That jungle treehouse was burned down the following year during a political struggle within Kenya.) Last Thursday afternoon just as Queen Elizabeth passed from life into eternity, a double rainbow appeared over Balmoral Castle. Thus it could be said that the promise of "God's rainbow" augurs well for the future and fortune of King Charles III!

Here's an irony for you! If you only go back to William the Conqueror in 1066, King Charles is exactly the 40th monarch. That means that since then, the British have had only 40 monarchs while we now have had 46 presidents! How about that?!

Whatever you and I think of both royalty and religion, they are real and must be examined if we are to have an accurate consensus of human progress.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY