Type of site:
business / academic / charity / gov’t / journalistic / political / religious / campaign / blog / forum / education
Evaluation of this source:
· fact 1 opinion
· objective 1 persuasive
· level of bias
· assumptions
· up-to-date?
· reliable?
This is an opinion of the author of the article. Even so it is objective but is a bit biased. It has a little bit of assumptions and is up-to-date as it was written a year before the time of doing my project. I consider this source as a reliable as it includes facts and independent opinions.
Main points:
The author of the article tries to find an answer to the question: why does a country that has become so cynical about other institutions (Parliament, the City, the press, the police) remain so loyal to the monarchy?
According to polling data from Ipsos Mori, support for a republic was only 18% in 1969, 18% in 1993, 19% in 2002 and 18% last year and three-quarters of the population want Britain to remain a monarchy. These data show that this is "probably the most stable trend we have ever measured".
Since the current Queen assumed the throne 60 years ago the system of inherited privilege and power is still retaining its popularity.
The author of the article had recently looked at the debate of two thinkers - one republican and the other monarchist - Thomas Paine and Walter Bagehot.
“The “prejudice of Englishmen" for monarchy, arising "as much or more from national pride than reason”.” said Mrs Paine.
Bagehot on the other hand said that “Britain wanted to believe it was, intrinsically, special.”People yield a deference to what we may call the theatrical show of society," he wrote. "The climax of the play is the Queen.".”
Two sociologists tried to find out the meaning of Coronation and thus deduced this “The Coronation provided at one time and for practically the entire society such an intensive contact with the sacred that we believe we are justified in interpreting it as we have done in this essay, as a great act of national communion.”
It seems like the enthusiastic support of keeping the monarchy was run counter to new liberalism which was guiding the politics of post-war Britain. The explanation might have been that the country was anxious about how the revolution was going to affect their certainty. In that time the Monarchy represented a bulwark against rapid and scary change.
In conclusion to his article Mark Easton adds that to answer the question why does the UK love monarchy doesn’t necessarily be based on a reason. “Logic is not the most important factor. We are happy to accept eccentricity and quirkiness because they reflect an important part of our national character.” says the author. British monarchy is valued because it is the British monarchy. The British society is old and complicated society that yields a deference to the theatrical show of society.
