Sunday 20 May 2018

God Save the Queen?

Many people say that Queen Elizabeth II has done the best she can in the face of a rapidly changing world to preserve something of the old standards. Her family is more of a problem but she has held fast to tradition and not capitulated to modernism; not, at least, any more than has been necessary. 

I'm not so sure. Certainly she herself appears to have stuck to her traditional guns in most respects and she has, no doubt, been constrained by the fact that she is not supposed to be political in any way. But, as far as I can see, she has never spoken out against anything, and she has watched in silence as Albion is bit by bit dismantled and her inheritance, for which she is responsible, basically trashed. Of course, she is powerless but she has never said anything. 

She is a sincere church-going Christian and, it appears, a genuine believer but, once again, she seems to have stood by as the Church of England becomes little more than a secular bureaucracy focused almost entirely on affairs of this world. Perhaps she has no real beliefs other than simply preserving the institution of the monarchy but, if she does, she might have expressed them and tried to stem the tide. I realise her position is almost impossible in a modern democracy and I am not actually condemning her at all since heroism, which is what the course I am regretting she has not taken would have required, is a high calling open only for the few. However, I do believe history will show that she presided over catastrophic national decline and was ineffective in doing anything to avert it. What do others think?

(Having just posted this I see it follows on in a certain way from Bruce Charlton's last post on the absence of real leadership in the modern world. This is just what the current queen has never really shown in a position that surely demands it, even in its present much reduced form.)

4 comments:

Bruce Charlton said...

@William - I agree that Queen Elizabeth II has done nothing substantive to defend the faith or resist the hollowing-out and inversion of the Church of England; of which she was appointed leader.

She has never spoken out, never provided leadership: not once.

https://charltonteaching.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/has-queen-elizabeth-ii-done-good-job.html

My conclusion was: "In a nutshell, under Queen Elizabeth's reign, the British monarchy has become indefensible. That is not a cause for celebration."

William Wildblood said...

I see that as so often you're way ahead of me, Bruce! I'm sure she personally regrets many of the changes that have taken place over her reign but the fact that she has said nothing substantive against them that might support those who see what is happening shows that she is either weak or irresponsible. She is in a unique position to provide some kind of leadership but she has done nothing. Behind the scenes she may have done but so what? That makes no difference at all.

C.W. Bradley said...

I am reminded of this quote from Towards the Mysteries: "Patience (as you conceive of it) is not today a virtue. Patience today should be valour in action." pg. 177

William Wildblood said...

Yes that quote sums it up. I'm afraid she has just watched the ship sinking and stood by. A silent example, however good it might seem, is just not enough in the circumstances.

As I say I don't condemn her but I don't think she has done her duty though I do appreciate the size of the task. But she has not even tried.