With Queen Elizabeth’s death, I finally get it: Britain needs its royal family

The royal family is neither the product of an incomplete class revolution nor the source of class anxiety – its special relationship with the people is hardly understood by outsiders
Instead, it is the glue that holds British society together, a uniting force that has made British democracy stronger and more durable

Yue Parkinson

Published: 3:30am, 19 Sep 2022

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A woman who worked for 70 years until her last breath. Her nation, recognising and respecting her selfless dedication and great sense of duty. She was honoured with 10 days of national mourning and a state funeral to be attended by world leaders and celebrities. Who else in the world could have had such a universal impact?

Growing up on communist teachings, I came into a British society with a 1,000-year tradition of royalty and thought it had nothing to do with me. Then, I saw British Prime Minister Liz Truss and a senior group of members of parliament, including former prime minister Theresa May, swear their loyalty to King Charles in a deeply symbolic gesture. That deep-rooted loyalty is hardly different from the patriotism ingrained in Chinese people – both qualities that remain stubbornly with people their whole lives.

Eighteen years after immigrating to the United Kingdom, my understanding of the British royal family has gone through three phases.

In the beginning, I viewed it through the lens of a “class struggle”. I looked up to the British royal family but also felt it was the product of an incomplete revolution – a compromise to democratic republicanism, the highest level of democracy.

03:15

King Charles celebrates Queen Elizabeth’s ‘selfless service’ in first address to UK Parliament

This was because I used to see the Russian and French Revolutions as the only role models for social development, even though such black-and-white approaches to eradicating royals were too bloody, violent and radical.

In the second phase, I started to see the royal family through a sense of existential crisis. Coming to England to study, and later marrying and settling down, I still carried a strong “class mindset” and had many unanswered questions about British society. The existence of the royal family and aristocracy made me feel anxious about being just an ordinary middle-class person.

Commonwealth, global grief testament to Queen Elizabeth’s enduring legacy

I later realised that my anxiety resonated more with the emotions of England’s emerging middle class in the 18th and 19th centuries, when people were trying to climb the social ladder.

By 2014, through interviews with British aristocrats in their castles, I began to see that the concepts of working class, middle class and upper class were long gone. “Upper class”, in particular, is basically old hat. The working class essentially disappeared because Britain abandoned its industries 40 or 50 years ago and factories have moved to Asia (especially China). All that is left are the middle class – and the rich.

A new elite – whether singers, film stars, chefs, models, sports or television celebrities – has risen from the masses of the ordinary. And both the elite and ordinary are equally honoured and proud when they accept the titles of the Order of the British Empire.

Actress Keira Knightley shows her OBE after an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London, on December 13, 2018. Photo: AP

It was not until Queen Elizabeth died and many people interviewed expressed pride at having served her that I realised the royal receptions and investitures were an honour beyond politics – and that this special relationship between the royal family and the people is hardly understood by those outside the United Kingdom.

Whereas a multiparty democracy divides society, the monarch unites it. The royal presence has great significance for Britain. The monarch and the royal family are the most powerful symbol of British history and culture, one that no amount of money can replicate. Consequently, they are the strongest glue that holds Britain together.

And that’s how my understanding of the royal family moved into the third and current stage – that Britain needs the royal family.

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Mourners may face 8km queue, 20-hour wait to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth in London

After Queen Elizabeth’s death, all of British society went into mourning, and even the political circles of Scotland and Northern Ireland set aside their conflicts as leaders recognised the bereaved King Charles as the new monarch. Foreign dignitaries expressed feelings of heartbreak; French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “To you, she was your Queen. To us, she was The Queen.”

I’ve seen articles in the Chinese media about the so-called existential crisis of the royal family as a result of Queen Elizabeth’s death. These writers do not have any real sense of what has happened in the UK over the past week. For many reasons, I believe the royal family has made British democracy stronger and more durable.

More than a figurehead, Queen Elizabeth made constitutional monarchy work

First, since 1066, when the roots of the British royal family were established by William the Conqueror, royalty has coexisted with the nobility, the middle class and the commoners in a relationship that involved compromise on all sides. This is the most distinctive and unique aspect of British society, and a major reason that the nation evolved to become the mother of parliaments. There is every reason to expect that the royal family will continue to work out compromises with society to continue its existence.

Second, while Queen Elizabeth’s death has certainly diminished the royal charisma, her son King Charles, who had perhaps been underappreciated as the monarch-in-waiting, has so far performed impressively, and has been proving physically fit and capable of holding the office of British monarch.

Over the past 10 days of mourning, the British royal family’s diplomatic and public relations have successfully masked social tensions, but they have also been quietly reconciling them. It is clear to me that the British monarch is able to unite a society divided by democratic politics.

Yue Parkinson is a freelancer writer and bilingual author of China and the West: Unravelling 100 Years of Misunderstanding, and China’s Ukraine Dilemma: The Shaping of a New World Order