"The royal family was always a disaster waiting to happen. Its creation as a marketable entity in the 1960s by the late Queen Elizabeth II was meant to modernise the monarchy for the 20th century. It worked, but only up to a point. Her son Prince Andrew has long been its biggest liability, this week in trouble yet again due to his alleged behaviour within that ghoulish circle, the friends of Jeffrey Epstein."
"King Charles now has a decision to make as to how far he can allow his brother's past behaviour to tarnish the family's image. That image is the essence of royalty. Monarchy has no other authentication. The constitutional position of head of state in a democracy is subject to the will of parliament, but also to the will of the people."
"When in 1969 the late queen was persuaded, reluctantly, by her husband, Philip, and her press secretary, William Heseltine, to allow a film to be made called Royal Family, it was a constitutional decision. Elizabeth was not to retreat like other postwar European monarchs at the time into an anonymous obscurity, to stick to their bicycles. She would refresh Britain's semi-divine concept of monarchy as embodied in an ordinary family. It was portrayed as the Firm, a term that originated with Elizabeth's father, George VI."
The royal family was transformed into a marketable, modern institution in the 1960s by Queen Elizabeth II to refresh monarchy's public appeal. The strategy presented the family as an ordinary, semi-divine household—the 'Firm'—and achieved wide popular admiration through initiatives like the 1969 film Royal Family. Popular acceptance remains essential to monarchical legitimacy, subject to parliament and public will, as shown by Edward VIII's 1936 abdication. That legitimacy is now under strain because Prince Andrew's alleged associations with Jeffrey Epstein carry reputational risk. King Charles faces choices about containing personal scandals to preserve the monarchy's image and constitutional standing.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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