Analysis: What’s the secret of modern monarchy’s survival?

Professor Robert Hazell and Dr Bob Morris (UCL Constitution Unit) write an op-ed on the findings from their new book, The Role of Monarchy in Modern Democracy: European Monarchies Compared, which discusses the royal family in modern society. The monarchy is dismissed by many on the left as a feudal relic, but some of the most advanced democracies in the world are also monarchies. It remains a strong tradition around the western rim of Europe and in a new book we have reflected on what accounts for their success. Our study looks at the Scandinavian monarchies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden; Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg; Spain and the UK. Most of the other European monarchies disappeared at the end of the First or Second World Wars. The remaining monarchies have survived by allowing their political power to shrink to zero and by being keenly responsive to public opinion. What are the secrets of their survival? One: remain scrupulously neutral.