[It is not just that inequalities are being sharpened alongside
the existence of monarchy, but rather that the inequality inherent to
systems of monarchy provide the conditions for inequality within
wider society. ]
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LET THEM EAT (JUBILEE) CAKE  
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Laura Clancy
June 2, 2022
Red Pepper
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_ It is not just that inequalities are being sharpened alongside the
existence of monarchy, but rather that the inequality inherent to
systems of monarchy provide the conditions for inequality within
wider society.  _

Pall Mall on the first day of the Jubilee weekend in June 2012, Photo
by Garry Knight

 

When Marie Antoinette discovered her subjects were facing a bread
shortage and starvation in around 1789, due to multiple poor crop
harvests and rodent infestations, she apparently exclaimed ‘let them
eat cake!’ Her hereditary privilege meant she had no grasp of the
severity of their suffering, or the fact that cake was much more
expensive than bread to produce.

Inequality during this period, immediately before the French
revolution, was very high. Historians
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estimated that around 90 per cent of working-class families lived at
or below subsistence level, meaning they could only afford bare
necessities. Marie Antoinette’s comment made her a symbol of hatred,
which fuelled the French revolution and the fall of the monarchy.

Unequal Britain

Fast forward nearly 250 years, and Britain is celebrating Queen
Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee amidst an intensifying cost of
living crisis and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The privilege of the
monarchy and the national crisis stand in sharp contrast. In
Derbyshire, many have been angered
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the council putting aside £200,000 to fund its Jubilee celebrations
while food bank use in the county increased by 11 per cent
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2020. 

The wider economic context paints an equally bleak picture. Earlier
this year, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast
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household post-tax incomes would fall 2.2 per cent this year, the
largest fall since records began. The Health Foundation found that
working age people in the poorest 10 per cent of England were four
times more likely to die from Covid-19
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those in the wealthiest areas. While the Queen gave a rare televised
speech in April 2020, invoking the ‘Blitz spirit’, it was
frontline workers who bore the brunt of the pandemic. 

Yet, today, we are encouraged to buy decorations and food for Jubilee
street parties. I’m personally getting bombarded with adverts for
‘special edition Platinum Jubilee macarons’, retailing for between
£20-30. What better symbol of inequality than an expensive,
Instagrammable patisserie with a portrait of a hereditary monarch on
it?

It is not just that these inequalities are being sharpened alongside
the existence of monarchy, but rather that the inequality inherent to
systems of monarchy
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conditions for inequality within wider society.  There can be no call
for socialist revolution and greater equality without including a call
for Republicanism.

A global Republican rise

Of course, despite this, it seems unlikely that our monarchy will meet
the same fate as Marie Antoinette. Republicanism in the UK is still
not widely spoken about. When Prince William was booed by fans at the
recent FA Cup final, Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said
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‘utterly condemn[ed]’ their behaviour: ‘In this year of all
years – the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – this is dreadful.’ Such
saccharine defence of the royals remains much more commonplace in UK
mainstream media than critical consideration of alternative
constitutional futures. When was the last time you saw a Republican
commentator on a BBC News story about the monarchy?

Elsewhere, however, anti-monarchy sentiment is on the rise. In
November 2021, Barbados became a republic after a public referendum,
meaning the Queen is no longer Head of State. The prime minister of
Barbados described
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as a ‘seminal moment’ in rejecting the country’s colonial past
as one of England’s first slave colonies, being occupied in 1627. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s recent visit to Jamaica was
designed to strengthen the monarchy’s ties to the Caribbean.
Instead, it was so widely protested
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anti-monarchy activists that it has drawn global attention to the
monarchy’s (neo)colonialism, and strengthened the campaign to make
Jamaica a republic. Images  of Prince William and Kate 
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shaking
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hands of Jamaican children through wire fencing went viral for their
colonialist overtones. 

Just weeks later, during another royal visit, Gaston Browne, the prime
minister of Antigua and Barbuda – another apparently soon-to-be
republic – asked
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Edward if he would use his diplomatic influence to achieve
‘reparatory justice’ for slavery and colonialism. Prince Edward
laughed, and made a joke about how he hadn’t taken notes during
Browne’s speech and so couldn’t respond to all the points. (Prince
Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, were
previously criticised
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presenting Saint Lucian prime minister Philip J. Pierre with a signed
photograph of themselves.) 

Over in Australia, meanwhile, things appear to be moving fast: the
Republican movement have said
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the new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will be the person to
remove the Queen as head of state.

What next?

The wider view amongst the UK general public does seem to be slowly
shifting. A 2021 YouGov poll
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that 41 per cent of 18-24 year olds think Britain should have an
elected head of state, and only 31 per cent would like to see the
monarchy continue. This is a big shift from the polls in 2019, which
found 46 per cent of 18—24 year olds were in favour of the monarchy,
and compares to 70 per cent of 50-64 year olds today who support the
monarchy.

The recent accusations of Prince Andrew’s alleged sexual abuse of
children, and Meghan Markle’s experiences of racism in the
institution, seem to have widened an existing generational gap in
support for monarchy. The debates around monarchy now mirror many of
the divisions in wider society, tapping into the #MeToo movement,
right-wing debates about ‘woke culture’, and notions of what
Britishness looks like today.

What does this mean for the future of monarchy? Could this be the last
Jubilee? It’s worth bearing in mind that the monarchy has weathered
crises before, from the 1992 ‘annus horribilis’
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the funding of monarchy was widely criticised, to backlash after
Diana’s death. 

However, it does feel like we’re at a particular crunch point now:
with the Queen aged 96, it won’t be long before we see a change of
monarch, the first in most people’s lifetimes. The Queen seems to
represent one of our last living links to a particular version of
Britishness (or more accurately, Englishness) built on World War 2
stoicism, history and heritage, which the Conservative government has
attempted to revive. Will King Charles III hold the same sway?

* Great Britain
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* British Monarchy
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* colonialism
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