Early US history goes back to the 1600’s with the Spanish settling St. Augustine. So that predates Jamestown but when I went to Nanking China it was the capital thousands of years before Christ. (I’m going by a not awake memory here these are rough estimates but feel free to correct me if you like)
It's really good to have that perspective. Compared with the Middle Kingdom, even the Vatican is a bit short-termist. And we all know the Americas had kingdoms and empires before Columbus. So the whole "historicke olde Englande" bit is played up a bit (and very enjoyable it is too), with what Bagehot called the "dignified" (
trans. "Disneyfied") side of the British establishment playing its part. The turning point for the "efficient" (executive) side was 1689, when the politicians finally won out over royalty. I don't really think their kings and queens can be personally blamed for the sins of empire after that date.
But for the past 70 years the [British] monarchy was defined by one person.
And thank goodness. The job seems to be very broadly what you choose to make of it, so with a different incumbent it could have gone down the tubes, breaking a lot of furniture on the way. With a recluse, a playboy, and a suspected fascist holding the office within living memory, a decent guy like the Queen's dad (George VI,
"The King's Speech" and all that) was just the re-set the institution needed. And then his daughter Elizabeth held together the UK's idea of itself during 70 years (hey, that's more than a quarter of the life of the United States!) when the old country changed out of all recognition. In the wider world, it became increasingly helpful as time went by for democratic leaders to hear from her, "This has happened before - and here are the private views on the situation of Eisenhower, Churchill, de Gaulle, Gandhi, Mandela, Thatcher...". This is not an act that can be repeated, and it would be really unfair for Prince Charles to be judged on those standards. Like being the successor to Lombardi or Ferguson, you can't win really.
But what I like about the British set-up is, no matter how rich the political leader, the crown is richer. No matter how many terms they try to get, the crown is around longer. And if Netflix are looking for the perfect finish, how about the Queen's final official activity - just two days(!) before she passed - when in the space of one morning she threw a scoundrel out of the prime minister's office and appointed the third female British head of the government in history.
(Nice watches too of course!)
