 The headlines have blazed with the
news that the Fabian Society is
pressing for sweeping and radical
changes to the monarchy. I find it
rather conceited of them to announce
the various ideas as their own. Many
have been discussed for some time by
the Queen's own advisers.
The Fabian Society is a left-wing
"think tank" steeped in socialist
tradition. It was founded in 1884 and
early members included George
Bernard Shaw and HG Wells. |
The
Labour party itself emerged from
a combination of the Fabian Society
and the trades unions. Most of the
present Cabinet are Fabians,
including Tony Blair and Gordon
Brown.
Now the Society has produced a
50,000-word report, The Future Of The
Monarchy, which you have to buy to
read. The cheering aspect of the
document is that it concludes that the
monarchy "provides continuity and a
sense of historical stability in times of change", that it has "widespread
support". But this, they argue, is not
enough. They urge the monarchy to
reform in order to survive.
Some of their ideas are reasonable
enough. There is no harm in girls
succeeding if they are older than their
brothers. But if you wind the clock
back to Queen Victoria, it might have
meant that her eldest daughter Vicky
would have succeeded to the throne
instead of Edward VII, and that
her eldest child – who, let it not be
forgotten, was the Kaiser – might have
been our king, too.
The proposals would also lift the
ban on non-Anglicans, or anyone who
marries a Catholic, inheriting the
throne by eradicating the Act of
Settlement 1701 and by severing the
link between church and state established by Henry VIII in 1532, which
makes the monarch the supreme
governor of the |
Church of England.
Perhaps it does not matter if the sovereign is a Catholic, but in my
opinion it would be a shame if he or
she were not a practising Christian.
The Fabians also want the Royal
Marriages Act of 1772 repealed, which
would mean that Prince Charles
would be free to marry without
needing his mother's permission first.
The Act is a horrendous beast. It was
instituted to protect the royal family
from unwelcome intruders by entrusting to the sovereign the need to
give approval to any intended union
of a descendant of George II other
than the children of princesses who
had married into foreign royal houses.
However, it has not prevented several
recent royal marriages ending in
divorce.
Other recommendations by the
Fabians are that the monarch should
be allowed to retire rather than
abdicate or continue until death, and
that the Royal Prerogative – going to
war without parliamentary approval
(unthinkable and almost impossible
in reality), dissolving parliament and
appointing a prime minister in the
event of a hung parliament – should
be scrapped. My sharpest disagreement with the Fabians is on this point.
The Queen is a vital long-stop, as
opposed to wicket keeper, of the |
