PwnallthethingsMay 6, 2023
A lot of my international friends have asked me--a Brit--if I’m excited for the #coronation this week, so I wrote this to roughly sum up my views on it https://www.pwnallthethings.com/p/long-live-the-king
Long Live the King?

What's the point of the British Monarchy anyway?

PwnAllTheThings
Show thread__red__May 7, 2023

@Pwnallthethings I wrote something similar earlier this evening (abridged here):

The British public are world-class cosplayers. Nobody, and I mean *nobody*, not even the King himself thinks that the Royals are "better" than "commoners" - they play a role, we play a role.

Why do we play that role?

We have Religion in the Royal Family and the HoL so we never see Politics and Religion mix in society.

Show thread__red__

@Pwnallthethings
cont…

We have a cosplay 'cult of personality' in the Royals so we don't end up with a cult of personality in politics.

This is the same cosplay that has been going on for over a thousand years.

We force the Prime Minister to meet with the Monarch every week so they can be reminded that they are temporary and just not that important…

The monarch has more access to Intel than the PM. The Monarch will outlive almost all of their PMs, providing a long-term apolitical view.

May 7, 2023 at 4:33amWeb
Show thread__red__May 7, 2023

@Pwnallthethings

The pomp and ceremony has to exist or the politicians win.

Were I to form a new country would I choose a hereditary constitutional monarchy? Probably not.

But an apolitical Head of State is world their weight in gold.

I'm not sure how else you could find an apolitical Head of State other than that system.

I'm not married to it, but much like Brexit - I think abolishing it would have so many unknown and damaging downstream effects.