Whatever your attitude toward the royal family (and it probably isn't worth the time to even have an attitude), or toward Christopher Hitchens, this piece is brilliantly written. I especially like "the morose, balding, New Age crank and licensed busybody that we flinch from today." There is nothing like a little bile to elevate the old word count.
I thought the whole point of the g.d. revolution was to free ourselves from these people. Why all the interest in watching them mate?
4 comments:
My favorite line is "This love [of the monarchy] takes the macabre form of demanding a regular human sacrifice whereby unexceptional people are condemned to lead wholly artificial and strained existences, and then punished or humiliated when they crack up."
I think these two actually like each other and want to be married; too bad about his family, future job, etc.
It does seem like a nice match, but nice matches happen all the time. The job itself consists largely of waiting around for your parents to die.
And making a LOT of personal appearances to cut ribbons, dedicate wings of hospitals, open new roads, etc. There are limits to how long he'll be allowed to fly the rescue helicopter, after all.
I'm not sure Hitchens has it right. Constitutionally the hereditary monarchy of the UK may be an absurdity, but if you think of it as a state-owned enterprise, it starts to make sense. Never mind what the product is exactly--nostalgia, fairy tales, etc.--the firm is doing very well. Seen in that light, Kate is marrying the president-in-waiting. And she doesn't really have to have kids, as the firm has heirs lined up around the block ordered according to its ancient by-laws. The job is really to be attractive and correct, which she seems to be pulling off quite well so far. Her financial future is certainly more secure than mine.
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