Avowed republican Dennis Altman investigates the unexpected durability and potential benefits of constitutional monarchies, in God Save the Queen: The Strange Persistence of Monarchies.
When he was deposed in Egypt in 1952, King Farouk predicted that there would be five monarchs left at the end of the century: the kings of hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades, and of England. To date, his prediction has proved wrong, and while the twentieth century saw the collapse of monarchies across Europe, many democratic societies have remained monarchies.
God Save the Queen is the first book to look at constitutional monarchies globally, and is particularly relevant given the pro-democracy movement in Thailand and recent scandals around the British and Spanish royal families. Is monarchy merely a feudal relic that should be abolished, or does the division between ceremonial and actual power act as a brake on authoritarian politicians? And what is the role of monarchy in the independent countries of the Commonwealth that have retained the Queen as head of state?
God Save the Queen suggests that monarchy deserves neither the adulation of the right nor the dismissal of the left. In an era of autocratic populism, does constitutional monarchy provide some safeguards against the megalomania of political leaders? Is a President Boris potentially more dangerous than a Prime Minister Boris?
Join Dennis in his second visit to Muse, in conversation with popular historian and Muse favourite, Frank Bongiorno.
Tickets: $10
Dennis Altman first came to attention in 1972 with his book Homosexual: oppression & liberation. His recent books include Global Sex, Gore Vidal’s America, and Unrequited Love: diary of an accidental activist. Dennis is a Professorial Fellow at La Trobe University in Melbourne. He has been Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard, and was listed by The Bulletin as one of the 100 most influential Australians ever.
Photo by Rodney Cavalier
Frank Bongiorno teaches history at the Australian National University where he recently completed a three-year term as Head of the School of History. His books include The Sex Lives of Australians: A History and The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia.