THERE’S a whole mythology created around the royal family. Blue blood, God’s anointed, the elaborate pomp and ceremony in which you see senior royals dressed in the uniform of some senior military rank, dripping with medals and insignia. This baroque theatricality is designed to make the royal family seem all-powerful and worthy of veneration by the common people.
Ardent monarchists like Andrew Marr only add to and perpetuate this mythology. Marr’s remarks about the widowed Queen on his Sunday show of April 18 prompted 234 complaints. The extensive BBC coverage of Prince Philip’s death drew 110,000 complaints, the highest ever recorded in the UK regarding television programme scheduling.
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Marr needs to acknowledge that – to use his own words – “There’s a lot to reflect on and a lot to learn.” Increasingly, the Queen’s subjects are losing their feelings of deference towards an increasingly anachronistic royal family. With the estrangement of Prince Harry and Meghan and the public disgrace of Prince Andrew, these are troubling times for the royal family.
Sandy Gordon
Edinburgh
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