The Queen will celebrate her platinum jubilee,70 years in office, in May. Elizabeth already is the longest-serving British queen. She will be second only to Louis XIV in Europe. Such a long tenure in office is remarkable and deserves national acclaim and joy.
The Event
This platinum jubilee commemorates her 70-year reign with all the pomp and circumstance of a four-day bank holiday. But let it be the end of the monarchy itself: it’s a good time to go out gracefully. Let it be remembered as the end of the monarchy, the peaceful conclusion of the feudal era.
Failed to Protect People
The crown and the constitution are no longer abstract topics of discussion. Boris Johnson’s entry in Downing Street has pushed traditions, laws, and civil rights to their breaking points, emphasising the necessity for an elected president. Johnson’s injustices like intentionally violating international law; ripping up the cabinet-level code; authorising police search warrants “without any cause for suspicion”; and attempting to remove British citizenship on a whim, and fighting wars, in the public sector, need to be addressed. But the monarch failed to deliver justice. They could not even address the issue because of their powerlessness.
The Constitutional Helplessness
Until recently, the monarchy has been portrayed as a respectable and helpless ornament that just never interferes with the government. The constitutional issue is not the monarchy’s authority, but the monarchy’s lack of power. Presidents all around Europe defend constitutional amendments and keep an eye on overbearing politicians who disobey the law. A president would have prevented Johnson from proroguing parliament illegally.
A riot of constitutional anarchy is adorned with the crown. Its abolition would provide access to every facet of how people want to be governed and how they want to see themselves.
In a country, without a codified constitution, where a skewed election system denies equitable representation and no functional head of state to guard against law-breaking ministers, there is no check on a prime minister. The non-democratic Queen must obey the prime minister’s orders.
The royal jubilee should be a happy ending to a situation that cannot be permitted to continue. It’s time to give the people back their sovereignty. A royal jubilee does more than offer the British people four days off. It gives an opportunity to ponder the nature of service, sacrifice, leadership, and entitlement they deserve.
