God Save the Queen: why do monarchies persist?

Despite growing cynicism about hereditary privilege, around the world monarchies in various forms are thriving. A new book explores why.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge with his wife Kate and their son Prince George. Picture: Getty

In the 21st century monarchy is quite a quaint idea. Democracy, with all its flaws and compromised as it is in many places, has entrenched itself as the ideal in terms of governance, and hereditary privilege is generally seen as an unfortunate by-product of history rather than a rightful blessing from the divine upon the chosen few.

In a nutshell, we like to flatter ourselves that we no longer believe that some people deserve power and fortune purely by virtue of what family they were born into. As such you’d have assumed that the institution of monarchy was, if not extinct, at least in its death throes by this time. And yet around the world monarchies in various forms persist and thrive, from Norway to Japan to Saudi Arabia to Thailand. Why should this be so? This is the question Dennis Altman seeks to answer in God Save the Queen, an intriguing and lively exploration of the phenomenon of modern monarchy, what purpose it serves and why it continues to survive so late in history.

 As an avowed republican with a well-earned reputation for leftie rabble-rousing, one might have expected Altman, when tackling the subject of monarchy, to embark on a furious polemic against the class disparity that reaches its zenith in the concept of monarchy. But this is a far more thoughtful and interesting book than that one might be – and a far more educational one. There’s plenty of knowledge to be soaked up by the average reader here: from a well-articulated explanation of exactly what a constitutional monarchy is and how it works, to surprising facts such as the major boost in GDP that nations get as a result of retaining a monarchy.

 At 153 pages God Save the Queen is a quick read, and Altman packs a lot into it, whizzing through the histories and current political climates of an array of countries to gain better understanding of the way monarchies have sustained themselves and evolved. It may be that this comes at the expense of a deep dive into any particular nation or historical tradition. Anyone wanting a comprehensive view of, say, the Spanish royal family, could see this more as a jumping-off point than a destination. But Altman’s purpose here is not to provide a detailed portrait of any single monarchy, but rather to tease out the commonalities and differences between various monarchical traditions to unearth some kind of explanation for one of the more counterintuitive phenomena of modern geopolitics. This slim volume probably isn’t enough to fully develop a theory of 21st-century monarchy, but it’s an excellent primer for anyone who wants to better understand it, and it’s written so accessibly that there should be no intimidation for those who might normally shy away from books on political theory.

 Altman naturally goes into the celebrity side of modern monarchy, as epitomised by the tabloid-friendly exploits of the British royal family. The dubious behaviour of the royals is often seen as a threat to the institution, but the soapy fascination with their exploits is one of the things that keeps them in the public consciousness, and thus helps maintain their status. Not to mention the financial benefits: the British royal family is, the book reveals, the third biggest brand in the world, generating billions for the national economy.

Dennis Altman’s God Save the Queen.

Perhaps most interesting is the fact that anti-royal, or republican sentiment, in Britain was much more prevalent a century ago than it is now: one of the salient points observed by Altman is the fact that reverence for the monarchy has increased as respect for the political class has declined; the view of royals as “above” politics helps solidify their place in public life.

 But the greatest strength of the book is its variety: Altman doesn’t focus overly on the British monarchy, casting his net wide to capture the variety of modern monarchy as well as its resilience. He observes that frequently monarchies seem to act as a bulwark against totalitarianism: nations under the thumb of “strongman” dictators, he notes, tend not to be constitutional monarchies. In Spain, for example, King Juan Carlos II proved to be a major driver of a return to democracy after the Franco regime. However, Altman is at pains to point out this is not a strict rule: there are plenty of monarchies that provide cover and justification for repressive governments; he cites the monarchies of Thailand and Cambodia, where laws against “insulting the king” are used to the benefit of political autocrats. It’s the ability, in such a relatively brief space of words, to capture the breadth of diversity and nuances of modern monarchy, that makes Altman’s exploration of the phenomenon truly fascinating.

Ben Pobjie is a Sydney writer currently working on a book of Australian ghost stories.

God Save the Queen

By Dennis Altman

Scribe Publications
153pp, $27.99