Since there is a royal wedding coming up, you’re probably going to see takes like this a lot, as people who’s self image demands that they appear to have put some intelligent thought into their political beliefs try to justify getting all excited about it.
So, whenever you see this historically illiterate ‘constitutional monarchy is a fail-safe mechanism against authoritarianism/fascism’ take, remember two things.
1. Original fascist Benito Mussolini co-existed with King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy just fine.
2. Hitler’s choice for head of a conquered British state was his good mate Edward VIII.
These days, the function of monarchy is to lend legitimacy to whatever political system is dominant at the time, and whenever that dominance shifts, for example from liberal democracy to fascist state, the function of the monarchy is to smooth that transition by providing continuity and conferring legitimacy. Given that the monarch has the power to dissolve parliament and is commander in chief of the British armed forces, the existence of the British monarchy is the one route by which a fascist takeover could be 100% legal and constitutional.
Also worth remembering that the current heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, is a capital T traditionalist, a follower of Rene Guenon who thinks that we’re living at the end of a historical cycle and should be preparing for the next one, where we can transcend the “chronic imbalance and disharmony” of modernity.
A radical thought: could constitutional monarchies be important aids to democracy?
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