Paul Johnson‘s latest Forbes column focuses on British Queen Elizabeth’s record-setting reign.
Queen Elizabeth II has reigned since the early 1950s, and during those decades Britain has successfully turned its empire into a democratic commonwealth of self-governing nations. The queen has always kept her dignity and humanity, has survived a dozen prime ministers and has never been accused of making a constitutional blunder.
The British always warm to a public figure who goes on doing exactly the same thing for a long time, a pattern Elizabeth fits perfectly. She never changes; she merely ages imperceptibly. She treats all parties and all politicians impartially and is the epitome of discretion. She likes to be called “Madam”–pronounced “Ma’am”–and prefers to guide the conversation by choosing the topics, but this is to avoid rows. …
… Most British people–whose respect for her continues to increase, especially in recent years–consider the queen an excellent advertisement for monarchy as a constitutional system of government. Not that it’s for export. In recent times only Spain has successfully reintroduced monarchy–and even that has experienced some tricky moments. Queen Elizabeth privately takes the view that monarchy isn’t for all nations or peoples. But there’s no doubt that it suits the British, probably more than ever before.
Indeed, the new leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, who is a Republican, feels himself a lonely outsider in British society. There are many little instances where being antimonarchy wrong-foots him, though there’s no particular animosity toward him. However, there’s no doubt in the minds of the vast majority that Corbyn will never be elected prime minister. He doesn’t fit in.
