British identity doesn't need monarchy
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Everyone loves a party. Millions of people – royalists and even some republicans – are enjoying the pageantry and spectacle of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. I’m glad for them and, as a democrat, I respect their right to laud the Queen.
It is, nevertheless, sad that so many people still seek to express their British identity through the adulation of one very rich, privileged, aristocratic family – the Windsors. Apart from the morally objectionable deference and fawning, the idea that the royal family personifies Britishness is bizarre.
The Queen is descended from German, not British, royalty. In the early twentieth century, they changed their name to Windsor to cover up their Germanic ancestry. Not that I object to German descendants on the British throne. I care not a jot. All immigrants, including royal ones, are welcome. Besides, they’ve been here for several generations. I accept them as being as British as anyone else.
My sole objection is the con that the royal family’s ...
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