How the British monarchy has survived and how republicans have helped.

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Product Description

The British monarchy is one of the most durable institutions in the world. For almost a thousand years (with only one brief interlude) it has served as the formal head of the British state apparatus and has occupied its subjects' imaginations to a profound extent. Frank Prochaska takes a close look at the relationship between monarchy and its enemies since 1750. He considers the challenges that monarchy has faced and the reforms and reinventions they have forced on this apparently solid and timeless feature of the British constitution.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1860765 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-27
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 292 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Despite the farce and tragedy that have enveloped the royal family in the last two decades, the British monarchy has entered the 21st century as well-supported as it ever was. This absorbing and readable book helps explain why. Frank Prochaska gives two reasons for the persistence of monarchy and the waning of the republican ideal. First, royalty has kept pace with the changing temper of the times. George III, Prince Albert, George V and the present Queen Mother in particular, took an active role in charitable and philanthropic activity. Secondly, the republican movement itself seldom wanted to get rid of the throne--invariably radicals from Wilkes to Wells simply wanted a better-behaved monarchy. As Prochaska convincingly reminds us, royalists and republicans alike have since the accession of William and Mary in 1688 believed Britain to be a "crowned republic"--a sort of democracy with icing on top. With rarely used material from the Royal Archives alongside a more familiar survey of republican sentiment, and with copious illustration, some of which will make readers blush, Prochaska has produced a sensible argument and a worthy companion to his previous book, Royal Bounty: The Making of a Welfare Monarchy. --Miles Taylor