"Interest wavers in leadup to funeral," the Globe and Mail had reported just last week. A series of stories had highlighted bored republican reaction in British newspapers and the "sparse" crowds expected for official shows of mourning. "Not since the 1870s has there been such a whiff of republicanism in the air," Anthony Holden had written in The Observer, "and the passing of the Queen Mother will do nothing to dispel it." The scent of public indifference had even crossed the Atlantic. The Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, had briefly considered skipping the occasion altogether. The columnist Jeffrey Simpson had fumed at the coverage accorded her death here, noting that "in Britain, the monarchy is less popular than at any time since the abdication of Edward VIII" and wondering "when is Canada going to grow up?" So the army of people who besieged Westminster in defiance of their betters can only be interpreted as something of a revolution -- or rather a Restoration. And it isn't only the die-hards. The Independent newspaper reported yesterday that support for abolishing the monarchy had fallen to 12%. Monarchism was particularly strong among the young: While 54% of the population at large favoured keeping the monarchy "as it is now," 58% of those aged 15 to 24 did. Apparently they had not been reading the Globe, which quoted a leading British pollster's "feeling" that "there is a huge generational gap." The outburst of popular affection brought comparisons to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. In fact, it was quite different. The public's relationship with Diana was more in the nature of an infatuation, with all the fatuity that implies; the sudden grief at her death was out of a proportion to her actual significance in their lives. The response to the Queen Mother's passing has been more dignified, less grief than appreciation, betokening a relationship more nearly akin to real love.
Is that the right word? I think it is. Some of that might attach to mere longevity -- as the song goes, we'd grown accustomed to her face -- and some to her grace and charm. But much of the love shown to the Queen Mother, as to the Queen herself, is patriot love. It isn't so much that she inspired love in herself, though she did that, as that she provided people with an outlet for a love that was already there.
And this I think is the genius of monarchy. As the personification of the state, it incarnates in human form what would otherwise be abstract notions of justice, democracy and the other ideals by which we hope to govern ourselves. It is possible, I suppose, to "love" these, just as it is possible to love the land we inhabit or the customs by which we live. But our ability to love inclines most naturally to persons, and in the person of the Queen we can invest all those many fractured loves that make up patriotic love: love of country, love of nation, love of culture, love of land, all combined and channeled through one person, one family.
And she, in turn, directs this concentrated beam of popular affection in the exercise of her public duties. It isn't mere celebrity that causes ordinary people to quiver with delight when she pauses to shake their hand on such occasions. It is that at that moment all public honour, all of the centuries of allegiance the Crown has inspired, is flowing through them.
There is something distinctly humanizing in having at the apex of our constitutional order, not a document or an ideology, but a family -- an odd, even dysfunctional family, not terribly talented or distinguished in most respects, but a family nevertheless, going through the same challenges and life changes every family goes through: birth, childhood, marriage, old age, death. That they have been chosen more or less by lot, and forced to observe these passages in public, only heightens the sense that we are in some ancient theatre, watching our own lives played out before us.
The Queen plays many other important symbolic roles. That her role is largely symbolic, rather than substantive, is a reminder of the historic triumph of democracy and the rule of law, and of the constitutional continuity that permitted these to be won without revolution. At the same time, her supremacy over the Prime Minister in the pecking order is a standing rebuff to the pretensions of the elected: As it has been said, when the Prime Minister bows before the Queen, he bows before us.
But why take my word for it? A million people standing silently by the road tell more of the monarchy's enduring relevance than words could ever say.
