VSharles is a first name that the kings of England have been reluctant to wear since the 17th century.e century. So let’s start with the first name. A century and a half before 1789, the English experienced a civil war and then a bourgeois revolution. They beheaded King Charles Ier January 30, 1649, abolished the House of Lords and established a republican regime: the “Commonwealth” which united England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales did not last long but left its mark. The restoration of 1660, with the ascent to the throne of Charles II, was the fruit of a compromise: there was no question of resuscitating absolutism.
On September 9, Charles III acceded to the throne after his mother’s long reign. He was looking forward to this moment. His reign will not last forever, but the current state of Britain and the monarchy raises questions, starting with this: will the monarchy survive if the United Kingdom breaks up and that Scotland decides to leave it and join the European Union? According to a recent poll, no less than 49% of Scots are now in favor of independence. The English would then have no choice but to revise their Constitution by reforming or abolishing the House of Lords and the monarchy, and by restructuring Parliament, the judiciary and the armed forces, which are organically linked to the Crown. .
Why has the country that started the tradition of successful revolutions clung to the monarchy for so long? Because he adapted it so that it could still meet the same basic needs: to provide stability for the ruling class and to have an umbrella body for all its institutions, including the Labor Party and the trade unions. Proof of this is that the leaders of the railway and postal workers’ unions, usually unsuspected of complacency, suspended their strike movements last week out of respect for the late queen.
Indispensable pendulum
Scottish historian Tom Nairn has argued for nearly half a century that the monarchy played a vital balancing act in the country to rein in a burgeoning working class, while striving to secure a place for it in the institutions. On this point, we can say that it has succeeded. Abroad, the British Empire needed a monarch to strengthen its hold on colonies where kings were the norm. In Asia as in Africa, the monarchy was used to pacify the local populations. Crown Princess Elizabeth visited Kenya in 1952 as the British crushed the Mau-Mau insurgents by subjecting them to torture and locking them up in concentration camps. It was during this stay that she was informed of the death of her father and that she became queen.
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