Prince Charles meets his public
For many it is a cheering sight to see the future king of England engaging with his subjects in the streets of London, no doubt offering his unique insights into why he feels entitled to his unearned wealth and privilege whilst students are deprived of the opportunities of higher education.
Doubtless he can refer to his long line of royal ancestors, which rather stumbles at the illegitimacy of William the Conqueror, and to the international alliances of wealthy families whose privilege and fortunes have been preserved through devolving the management of capitalism to parliament.
But he might also have contemplated how unnecessary he was to a society which has moved on from feudalism to a state in which aristocracy and hereditary privilege is as anachronistic as wode and tithes.
He might have recalled from family stories around the fireplace, that on this weekend in 1688, the 10th and 11th December, King James II was busy dressing as a commoner trying to flee the country in response to the increasing power of parliament. In fact the Glorious Revolution was what enabled the rise of parliamentary democracy and cabinet government in Britain.
James though, threw the royal seal into the Thames thinking that no government could function without him. It was recovered by fishermen in their nets, and he himself was arrested by common fishermen as he tried to escape. He ended up being exiled to France.
Of course, Charles is already irrelevant in many respects, just a rich man with some rather bizarre opinions, but at a time of financial austerity, many will wonder whether anachronistic vestiges of a defunct class should still be funded from the public purse.
At sixty-two years old, he will be a pensioner in four years, since the retirement age was upped. He's clearly unemployable though it would be fun to see him trying to work his way through a back-to-work programme. "If you won't work, you won't get any benefit, Charles. Now come on, try to think of something you can actually do!"
