I would suggest this is a useful role that the heads of former dynasties can play. As representatives of historic traditions they can have a non-political role which while not having constitutional validation may have the effect of making the historic institution they represent the living focus of a form of nationalism. This may inhibit politicians from using xenophobic nationalism to advance their political interests. If one looks at the reigning monarchies one can see that nationalist sentiments are likely to be directed to the crown, rather than the head of any political party.

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: Is very interesting, refocusing attention on a
: perceived lost greatness and desire to go
: back to those days, quite a canny political
: move - after all it proved successful for
: Donald Trump!
:
: I have been thinking to myself for a while
: (but have been cautious about posting
: because it is such an emotive subject) about
: the future of monarchy in 21st century
: Europe. I don’t want to get into arguments
: about the merits of left or right politics
: but about the role that monarchy could
: potentially play in the future of Europe, as
: it faces the biggest crisis since the Second
: World War.
:
: I am reminded of the famous Churchill quote,
: “If the Allies at the peace table at
: Versailles had allowed a Hohenzollern, a
: Wittelsbach and a Habsburg to return to
: their thrones, there would have been no
: Hitler.”
:
: If we stick to Hungary, could a restored
: monarchy in Hungary provide a sufficient
: focus for national identity and pride in
: one’s history to deter a further lurch to
: the far right? Could we see those on the
: left actually welcoming restorations as a
: way of stemming overtly nationalistic far
: right political movements?
:
: It doesn’t have to be a formal restoration
: of course.
:
: Anybody have any views?
:
: 20 years ago I would have said that the
: prospects of restorations in almost every
: country was zero, yet you have semi-official
: monarchies in Serbia, Romania, Albania and
: Montenegro.
:
: Now you have Hungary looking more positively
: on its monarchical past.
:
: Interesting times to be a monarchist.
: