to be consulted, to encourage, to warn

 

        When Princess Diana was still alive and I kind of followed what she was doing, I had a clear idea of her generation of the royal family, but each generation going back, my knowledge of who was who got a little foggier.

        I knew Queen Elizabeth II was Prince Charles's mother, and Diana's mother-in-law; I had only peripheral awareness of Queen Elizabeth's husband Philip; and this older lady known as the "Queen Mum" was there, but I didn't notice her very much--she was Queen Elizabeth I, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and Charles's grandmother.

        Prolific biographer Sally Bedell Smith has a new book out -- title:  George VI and Elizabeth:  The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy.

[excerpt] -------------------------

        George VI applied himself diligently to his job as a constitutional monarch.  As head of state, he represented his government at home and overseas, studied the official documents delivered daily in red leather boxes--memos from the Foreign Office, the Treasury, and other departments; secret intelligence reports; laws, regulations, and appointments requiring his signature--and received his prime minister and a stream of other functionaries in confidential audiences.

        The fundamental nature of his role had been defined by the nineteenth-century constitutional expert Walter Bagehot:  "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn."  The monarch was expected to remain apart from party politics and to serve as a unifying force.  Together, Bertie [George VI] and Elizabeth also symbolized the "domestic virtues" essential for a successful king and queen.  They exercised positive influence rather than actual power.

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        Reading this, it occurred to me that individual Americans can do what King George VI and Queen Elizabeth I did--well, some of it--I guess we can't claim "the right to be consulted," but we can encourage and warn.  

        We can write to our U.S. senators and representatives and "encourage" and "warn," regarding their proposed response to issues and ideas on policies.  And actually we can even "be consulted" in a sense because when we vote on Election Day we are letting them know--Yes, stay in there, you're doing an OK job, or No, enough--next.

Like the King and Queen, we may not have "actual power," but we can "exercise positive influence" not only by writing letters to those who represent us, but also by setting a good example on-the-daily.

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