Book description
This is the most important, wide-ranging and critical debate so far
published on the monarchy.
It is not concerned with the trivia and tragedy of the Windsor's
personal lives. Instead, a glittering range of contributors from
across the spectrum of opinion focus on what the monarchy means for
Britain today. Do we - can we? - continue to live in what Anthony
Barnett calls in a provocative introductory essay, "an empire state?"
The essays include Charles Moore's stirring reassertion of the case
for the crown and David Hare's denunciation of the "odious
rituals of deference." Lady Longford assures us that the royal
phoenix will rise from the ashes of the Windsor fire. Christopher
Hitchens rebukes Shirely Williams and criticizes the monarchy for
invading our privacy. Marina Warner dissects our fear of
change. These and many others contribute to a debate conceived as a
watershed. A debate that will be seen as having shattered the taboo on
serious scrutiny of the monarchy.
Charter 88, whose staff and volunteers put together this book, is a
campaign for a democratic written constitution and a culture of
citizenship for Britain. It started in 1988, on the 300th anniversary of
the revolution of 1688. It now has nearly 50,000 signatories and
supporters.
