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Friday, July 30, 2004
 
The consequences of the crown

Sean Gabb's lecture this Monday on the monarchy to foreign students from various countries - an exposition and defence of the Queen's role - really is a must for all constitutional, legal and history buffs. He speaks for forty or so minutes, and then answers questions for twenty-five.

The British monarchy is perhaps the ultimate demonstration of the superiority of the traditional and experience over the reasoned and the planned. As Gabb himself says, no one could have set out and designed the monarchy as it now exists, yet in its various unplanned and evolving forms, it has secured stability and liberty longer than any of the republics that were produced by the blueprints of history's many revolutionaries and philosopher-kings. It is a sign of the monarchy's strength that the man in the street takes it for granted that this country has a Queen, and we should not idly wish away this advantage. But certainly it is wise for intellectuals and politicos who are wary of staking the fate of the country on the insight and good sense of men like themselves to step back occasionally and reflect, as Sean Gabb does, on just how lucky we are to have the system we do.

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