Pressing concerns of the aristocracy

Tweet

As the world stands on the brink of an economic disaster brought about by the deranged occupant of the White House, and we ordinary mortals contemplate even further pressure on the availability, let alone the price, of essentials such as food and fuel, spare a thought for the trials and tribulations of that far from ordinary band known as the English aristocracy, the last of the hereditary members which are now, at last, being expelled from their cosy sinecures as part of the legislature of the United Kingdom. My thoughts lie particularly with the 7th Baron Carrington who was apparently disturbed by the possibility of losing his esteemed slot as the Lord Great Chamberlain, a post whose responsibilities include such important matters as 'attending upon' the sovereign and members of his family if they are ever present on the parliamentary estate, and organising the state opening of parliament (although I have a sneaky feeling that the actual ‘organising’ might just possibly be done by minions rather than by the noble lord in person).

It is obvious to all (well, all those who count, at least, including the Prime Minister who has agreed that the role should continue to be hereditary even if it is no longer accompanied by a seat in parliament) that the best way of choosing someone to fill this role is for the incumbent to inherit it from his (I believe that it’s still always going to be a he) forebears rather than to conduct any sort of assessment of their skills and abilities. The UK is, after all, a very special sort of meritocracy, in which merit is imparted by breeding. With a huge sigh of relief, the Baron can now be certain that the position is secure for himself and his descendants for generations to come.

Well, not exactly. The role might be hereditary after a fashion, but it’s shared between three families, passing from one to another whenever the sovereign changes. And one of those families has a 50% share, meaning that they get the job with every alternate sovereign, and the other two families have 25% shares, meaning that they only get the job once in every four sovereigns. Worse (if you happen to be a Carrington) is that the Carrington share is split 11 ways between different members of the family. What that means in practice is that the current incumbent has only been in post since the death of Elizabeth, and if Charlie Windsor pops his clogs tomorrow, no Carrington will hold the post again until Charlie’s first (currently unborn) great, great grandchild ascends the throne (if the monarchy lasts that long) in a century or more’s time. Even then, it may not be a descendant of the current incumbent, since the descendants of the 11 members of the family who jointly inherit the quarter share of the job will need to agree which of them should take the job.

Still, securing that somewhat tenuous privilege is clearly more important than the sort of thing which concerns we lesser souls.

Women, catholics, and the crown

Tweet Given a choice between changing the laws of succession and abolishing the hereditary monarchy completely, I’d choose the latter, obviously.  For the time being that seems to put me in a minority; although that's not a position with which I’m entirely unfamiliar.  Change it is then at this stage – but surely we can do a better job of changing it than seems to be being proposed by Nick Clegg at present?

Abolishing the prohibition on women is one thing, but what about the prohibition on Catholics, atheists, Muslims, and lunatics?  (Actually I made part of that up: there is no ban on lunatics acceding to the throne.  They are however banned from the House of Commons as I recall – along with peers and prisoners.  Whether the ban is effectively enforced is a matter of opinion.)

The current proposals only do part of the job.  Catholics will still be banned, for instance, although I suppose that Catholic women will only be banned once under the new rules, as opposed to being doubly banned at present.  That's progress, of a sort, I suppose.

More important - and more directly relevant to we mere mortals - than the theoretical possiblity that some future Windsor will convert to Rome is the financial question. Because he’s only changing the rules for the monarchy itself, the rules for inheritance of other titles and the lands and properties that go with them will remain unchanged.   Specifically, that means that a female heir apparent will not be allowed to inherit the Duchy of Cornwall.  That will go to her oldest younger brother, – which means that he’ll cop the income and we, the taxpayers, will have to pay the heir the £18,000,000+ each year which the current incumbent of that title spends on – well whatever he manages to spend it on.

If Clegg wanted to do a proper job, he’d also have to deal with thorny questions like the relationship between church and state, and the inheritance of titles and land.  About time too, and better to do a proper job than a half baked one which will end up costing us in financial terms, just so that the current government can give an appearance of being reformers.

Failure to change the rules on religion also makes a very clear statement that discrimination against those who are in the wrong sect of the same religion - never mind those who adhere to a different religion completely or no religion at all - will continue, with the full approval of the current government.