God Save The Queen?

Johann Hari

Hari pulls no punches in this damning indictment of the British royal family. By putting forward simple, often well-publicised arguments, he makes an excellent case for the abolition of what has become little more than a running joke. The dysfunctional Windsors make the Simpsons seem like paradigms of normality: child neglect and cruelty, alcoholism, financial extortion, affairs, divorce, denials of human rights, a family who make and live by their own rules...as Hari points out, if any 'normal' family exhibited multiple social shortcomings like these, you would have to stop and wonder about them, or maybe call in social services at the very least, but hey, this is, like, royalty...dig? Hari also not only convincingly debunks the myths that the monarchy is apolitical, or necessary to ensure a continuing inflow of tourist money to the nation, but also addresses the question of what-would-we-do-with-them-if-we-got-rid-of-them? Although written from a left-wing point of view, Hari is nonetheless often sympathetic to the plight of the royals, forced to live in an artificial environment with little hope of a get-out.

Although a quick and thoroughly engrossing read, this is nevertheless an important book. Never mind whether you're pro- or anti-monarchy, you'd be hard-put to come up with one reasonable counter-argument to those put forward by the author. And the ironic bottom line: William is publicly on record as stating that he will not become king when his turn comes. Looks like the monarchy could abolish itself. Another of my books of the year.