The monarchy has just had its best week since the King came to the throne. Instead of headlines about Prince Andrew and Prince Harry, we have had real, tangible, undeniable proof that the institution has practical value to Britain.
Would President Trump have come to visit Britain this week if it had just been an invitation to see Keir Starmer? No one knows the answer, but it’s very unlikely he would have done so, or been so willing to treat Britain as a “much favoured nation”.
No one could fake the president’s warm words about the royal family or his obvious glee, bordering on humility in places, at finding himself their guest in Windsor Castle, a structure three times older than his own country. His enthusiasm extends far beyond the King and Queen to embrace the Prince and Princess of Wales. Earlier presidents have been dazzled by Hollywood: Trump is dazzled by the House of Windsor.
The president is the head of state in the US. The prime minister is merely the head of government. The monarch is Britain’s head of state, a very different notion, embodying continuity, a sense of caring for all elements in the country and not just voters, and a deep love for the physical and built fabric of the nation. Heads of state have a different attitude towards themselves. They like talking to each other as equals: you could see that in the exchanges between Trump and the King, and the different nuance their exchanges had to when he was talking to, for all his expressed fondness for, Keir Starmer.
When Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, critics of the monarchy from across the spectrum, and there are a lot of them, wondered, hoped even, that the institution would not survive beyond her death. She had reigned for 70 years and was the most recognisable female face on the planet. Surely she was the institution, many argued, and it should quietly disappear with such a splendid final innings from her, and with her succession by the quaint and otherworldly King Charles as her successor.
Republicans seized on the coronation as an egregious example of the profligate wasting of public funds that could’ve been much better spent elsewhere, especially at a time of such economic and social difficulties. They have a point. The official estimate of the cost of the coronation at £72m surely underestimates the overall cost significantly. But one must see the expenditure compared to the billions of pounds of trade that have flowed from the visit this week. Although disputed, many economists estimate that the monarchy is a significant net contributor to the country.
A key question in advance of King Charles’s reign was whether he would be able to keep his views to himself. Last week was the supreme test. It is known that he has deeply and very passionately held views about the environment, as he does about the Commonwealth, including Canada, and on standing up to bullying dictators like Putin.
We do not know what he said to Trump in private. He may have expressed concerns. But we do know that nothing he did offended. One can only imagine the restraint he showed. He played his part to perfection, showing that soft power, dignity and restraint can count for more than stridency and noisy anger.
