As an American who became a British citizen, I can see the monarchy is an anachronism, but without it I would be living in an unrecognisable place
There was a decent crowd in Lower Regent Street heading for the Mall last Thursday for trooping the colour, platinum jubilee edition. But it wasn’t so difficult to weave through on my way to the Athenaeum club in St James’s. I had been invited to a jubilee lunch that was interrupted briefly to step into the club’s private garden and watch the jubilee fly-past.
I’m not a member of the Athenaeum, not to the manner born – I have a generous friend who takes me to lunch there occasionally. Most of the talk was about the war in Ukraine. There was not so much conversation about the big event taking place 100 yards away. And yet, the 70-year reign of Elizabeth II has underlined that this country is defined at home and abroad, for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, by the monarchy.
