I was talking to my friend Beverly in the USA today and for some reason began to explain British history from Alfred through to the Civil and the modern day from the point of view of British royalty. Taking in what makes kingship, what it is and the artificiality of the crown. Afterwards, and by no means accepting my interpretations were accurate, it occurred to me that every generation becomes a little more privileged than the last as we have become very good at preserving history and we can actually see trends, trains of thought, development of ideas and the creation of humanity’s society over thousands of years.
One cannot prophesy of course, but it is interesting to note that early kings with the power of life and death at their command, would never have conceived of abdication in the ‘normal course of events’, but Elizabeth has said if the people request it she would go (not that we think for a second she meant it).
There is a process, and it is not always political though it reveals itself to us through the political system, whereby intellect is slowly evolving into the way in which we run our affairs. It is the difference between allowing the strongest man to run the tribe, to giving equal voice to everyone who wishes to speak. The two things are worlds apart but are conjoined by the threads of history. It is the way in which the natural fascism of society at its beginnings becomes ameliorated by socialist principals, how diktat become discussion.
And discussion becomes teaching.