Previous Message

"Nobody is rejoicing." I'm sorry, John, but they are, including in posts on this site. I'm not making any judgement about that fact but, clearly, people are rejoicing.

I have not suggested that the Duke of York's misfortunes and those of his wife are not of their own making. Those factors are simply not relevant to the points that I wished to make. But I don't think that retreating into cliches such as "Enough is enough" is particularly illuminating. One of the points that I was trying to make and, clearly, I failed, was that royal status necessarily is linked to hereditary rights, not just to service and, in the king's case, certainly not to moral virtue. And I say that as someone who admires the King, the Queen and the Princess Royal.

I also agree that monarchies need to continue to update, but I'm not sure that that should include discarding the very principle on which monarchy (with the exception of the Papacy and Malaysia, should people believe that they are monarchies - I don't) actually rests, like discarding the hereditary principle.