My former colleague Scott Palmer tells the story about when Queen Elizabeth II came to address a joint session of Congress. She walks in the center aisle to rapturous applause — holding her purse, of course — ascends the dais, shakes hands with the various dignitaries, puts her purse down on the floor, and then puts her foot on its straps, just in case any of the rapacious commoners that surrounded her would try to take it.
That story encapsulates the good sense that comes from decades on the throne of the once mighty British empire. As an Irish-American Catholic, I little love the English monarchy, but I have always given Elizabeth grudging respect. At least she had an aura of sensibility that is sorely needed in this epoch of history.
America has a love/hate relationship with monarchy in general, and the British monarchs specifically. We were the first of the colonies to violently overthrow our overlords and chart our own republican path, with a Constitution designed to keep the elite in check. Hence the Bill of Rights.
You want to know the principle difference between the United States and Canada? The Canadians still have Queen Elizabeth as their monarch.
But America still loves royalty. We love to give a little bow to the princes and princesses who flock over the pond to write books and pontificate on all creatures big and small. It is still the quiet dream of many a young American girl, be they Grace Kelly or Meghan Markle, to marry themselves a handsome prince and live happily ever after (as if).
For the first time in several generations, America’s royal families, the Bushes and the Kennedys, have no elected representatives in any branch of government, save perhaps the media, the unofficial fourth branch of our democracy.
Joe Biden is a pretender to the throne, a joker who has aged well past his prime. Donald Trump is a libertine version of Oliver Cromwell, an iconoclast who took a hammer to America’s public rituals and political establishment.
Biden was elected to bring some calm after the Trump storm, to ease the worries of punditocracy and the elites who have a vested interest in the status quo. But Biden has proven to be even more divisive than his predecessor, attacking the half of the country who voted for Trump as “Ultra-MAGA” traitors. His address a couple weeks ago looked more like the “Game of Thrones” Red Wedding than Kumbaya.
This is not unlike what happened when the British elite brought in Charles II to restore the crown after Cromwell was deposed. Instead of seeking to heal the country, Charles II immediately executed all of those who had any hand in executing his father and even unburied Cromwell so that he could execute him again. So much for unity. He then converted to Catholicism — God knows, you can’t have a Catholic running the United Kingdom.
What we will most miss about Elizabeth II was her ability to promote calm by exuding both sense and sensibility. She was the ultimate adult in the room, and while we are currently ruled by many, many old people, none of them seem to be adults.
While I never personally met King Charles III, he seems a bit whacky on environmental issues, and what we need less of these days is more environmental wackiness. We need more common sense, such as more energy production.
Jane Austen wrote in her great novel “Sense and Sensibility” that “sense will always have attractions for me.” God knows, we need more of it. Especially in this day and age.
Feehery is a partner at EFB Advocacy and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com. He served as spokesman to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), as communications director to former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and as a speechwriter to former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.).