Prince Andrew sacrificed by Elizabeth to save the dynasty. The “Firm” remains a very strong brand, rooted in the English people
Of the importance of being real. That is, what does it matter to the world if Queen Elizabeth has taken away from her son Andrea, overwhelmed by the scandal of the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the title of royal height. The natural answer should be only one: who cares. What does it matter if the protégé of the sovereign, 62 next month – already embroiled in other scandals, already the husband of the exuberant redhead Sarah Ferguson, already involved in other turbulent relationships, reckless and therefore much loved by his mother – will no longer be able to look out into the world. balcony of Buckingham Palace with its beautiful uniforms and medals and all the prince’s paraphernalia. What does it matter if he will no longer be able to claim the title of Duke of York, as the representatives of the city are clamoring, outraged by the association with the name of the prince accused of sexual abuse of a minor?
Yeah, what do we care? But it is by looking at these details that we understand the true nature of the British monarchy, this anachronistic appendage of the Middle Ages that wedges itself into our contemporary lives not with edicts and notices and minstrels but through notifications on mobile phones. We are well into the third millennium and all the other members of the royal families of old Europe (does any of you know what the king of Norway looks like?) Are now indistinguishable stickers, less famous gravure characters than footballers and influencers.
While the English royals cannot be ignored. We know everything about them, much more than we really care. Court gossip, quarrels between sisters-in-law, baptisms, weddings and funerals. This of Prince Andrew is a different case, a big scandal, true. After the decision of the American justice not to dismiss the civil case brought against him for alleged sexual abuse, the duke has returned to the sovereign all his residual official posts and honorary military ranks that he held in the name of the royal house. More than 150 navy and army veterans wrote to the queen asking her to strip Andrew of all his military ranks and titles after news of a possible trial in the United States was given.
Certainly the great merit of having ferried the British monarchy through the century of democracies goes to Elizabeth, queen of hearts when Lady Diana was its princess, loved and revered beyond all rational understanding, an icon that already outlives itself. It is she who has kept the reverence alive, I think this is the right word, towards the monarchy as an institution, towards a certain ancient world that tastes like a fairy tale and dresses accordingly: horses, carriages, princes, cloaks, liveries, crowns and jewels . Everything is part of a perfectly designed scenography, which makes us skeptics and disenchanted a little laugh, but when the queen’s aubergine Rolls Royce passes slowly and majestically through the streets of London, people stop to say hello, they stop Glovo’s riders and the taxi drivers, pedestrians stop and everything seems to be cloaked in an incomprehensible, irrational magic. No one can truly believe that that person can be different and superior to others in inheritance, divine grace and the will of the nation. Yet in those moments any subject could also say that they saw Peter Pan fly over the flowerbeds in Kensington Gardens.
TO London and England (somewhat different in the other nations of the Kingdom, especially Scotland and Northern Ireland, where the royal family is not so loved), the monarchy still pervades the symbology. The concert halls and hospitals, the post office (Royal Mail) and the tax office is named after Her Majesty (HMRC, Her Majesty Revenue and Customs) are “real”. The royal family’s supplier certificate is one of the most sought-after quality guarantees: companies that can boast the royal coat of arms with the inscription “by Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen” also exhibit it on the sides of vans and on shop signs and now on websites.
To us they seem secondary details, for the English they are fundamental. And they show, in some way, that the monarchy is still alive and well, despite all the scandals and hardships. So much so that when someone goes wrong and makes it really big like Prince Andrew, they sacrifice their royal prerogatives to save The Firm, the Firm, as the queen defines the institution.And.
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