ABSTRACT
The reign of Queen Elizabeth II is a paradox: a woman presiding over a patriarchal order, organised by primogeniture, the most atavistic aristocratic mechanism to secure masculine power.1
The death of Elizabeth II and the subsequent fracture of the hereditary principle were widely seen as the end of the traditional monarchy. The process of public consultation over the succession further diluted the royal mystique. The young King and Queen had done their best, appearing on chat shows, hiring the best script-writers, and keeping their infidelities more or less private … But in general the nation had grown querulous, either dismayed by the Family’s normality, resentful of its cost, or simply tired from bestowing millenia of love.2
