Either/or thinking and the monarchy

By Brian Clegg

I occasionally respond to surveys from a well-known online research company, and now and then they will ask if I think we should have a monarchy or an elected head of state. I find this really difficult to answer as it feels too much like either/or thinking.

As presented, the options appear to be either we have the monarchy as it stands or an elected head of state. Personally I think Queen Elizabeth and King Charles have both done a pretty good job as heads of state, and we probably wouldn’t benefit from replacing the monarch with an elected jobsworth. However, I am not happy with the royal family. Obviously part of this is related to the Andrew formally known as Prince, but it’s a lot more than that.

Specifically two things. One is we are supposed to have a whole different level of deference to the royals than we would to an elected president. Of course we would expect people to be polite to a president, but I can’t stand the bowing and scraping bit. And the other is that I would like to dispose of all the other royal titles. We don’t need princes and princesses and dukes and such. William would simply be William Windsor, who would eventually get the job. But why all the flummery around this mostly unnecessary gang?

Although not directly related, clearly we need a better split between state and personal property and wealth – at the moment it’s all too fuzzy. While the king certainly should have his house at Highgrove, it’s arguable that all the royal palaces should have the same status as Chequers etc. – and once we’ve disposed of Dukes etc., the Duchy of Cornwall needs a significant reformat (to say the least).

I used to say I was a republican, but having seen all the failings of republics, that has been replaced by a grudging respect for our recent monarchs. But it is surely time to dispose of the attending circus.

Although I’ve made this article about a very specific application, the use of either/or thinking is a very common problem. It’s actually extremely rare that any real world choice involving people has an either/or solution – there are usually far more than two ways forward.

Image from Unsplash by Andrej Lisakov

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Now Appearing is the blog of science writer Brian Clegg (www.brianclegg.net), author of Inflight Science, Before the Big Bang and The God Effect.