Tom Tugendhat: evaluation

Transcript context

…Why has the global fascination with the British monarchy so persisted? Now, surely, some of that is the legacy of empire, but it seems to have far outlived that as the only explanation. The monarchies of the Netherlands, Norway — no one much talks about them, say, in the US. But yours, my goodness, you’re like the global reserve currency. What’s the PR genius behind that, or how did that happen? What’s special? There’s various things. King Farouk said when he was in exile, after having left Cairo for the last time, he said, “One day, there’ll only be five kings left. The king of hearts, the king of spades, the king of clubs, the king of diamonds, and the king of England.” I think he’s partly right. The reason he’s partly right is because it was the queens’ genius, actually. I think we’ve never been better governed and better ruled than when our reigning monarch is a woman. We’ve always had very, very good women monarchs: Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, and then Queen Elizabeth again. It’s been a remarkable success that she’s been able to be a guiding presence without her voice becoming in any way strident or separatist. She’s never divided, and that was a remarkable gift. Now it’s also, I think, the benefit that the English language really helps. And the fact that most people, certainly in England, Wales, and Scotland (numbers are slightly different), but most people in Northern Ireland (of course, different again), but most people in the United Kingdom take the monarchy seriously and respectfully but know that it’s not relevant in a day-to-day sense. I think divorcing the splendid from the sordid, if you like, is rather a healthy way of having a government. We don’t like our prime minister to be bathed in gold and glory. We certainly look at your presidential system sometimes with a little surprise. It does surprise my American friends when I tell them that the entire government can fly in the same plane, but the king and the Prince of Wales are never allowed to travel together. Has the extent of devolution for Scotland and Northern Ireland gone too far? Because to an outsider, it seems like they have a great deal of autonomy, but actually not quite enough responsibility for the well-being of the whole polity.…

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