Our attitude to royalty is almost the same as our attitude to celebrities, the only difference being that we are perhaps more fickle in our loyalty to the latter. It is grounded in the knowledge that we will almost certainly never see the Queen of England or George Clooney in the flesh, and we will certainly never have the opportunity of speaking to them. Indeed, if there were any serious likelihood of that happening they would no longer be royalty or celebrities. If the Queen, for example, were a regular visitor to the bookswap here in Saint-Jean-de-Losne, we would soon lose the lockjaw and glazed smiles that assail us when we see her on our TV screens. She might need some help in getting up the stairs, though.
Familiarity breeds contempt or a kindred emotion and no monarchy can long survive in such an atmosphere. What do we want?
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