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By any standard of rational judgment, the monarchy, of course, is no longer necessary. However, there is a difference between a nation's rational and emotional needs. Britain's monarchy provides a link to the country's past and a unifying national symbol in the present. Modern monarchists cite the romantic—and atavistic—notion that the sovereign is a vital link between Britain and the Commonwealth at a time when other ties among the nations are falling away. Today, Britain is a small nation condemned to dwell amid the physical and remembered monuments of a much greater past. The monarchy makes that disparity less painful and more palatable. Film
Star Rita Tushingham puts it this way: "There's this feeling that the Queen is yours, when the anthem's played and everybody stands up together." Without the monarchy, Britain would be simply another minipower. Charles may or may not resent having been born to be a king. But for years to come, little old British mums will continue to dote on royalty while angry young critics will condemn it. It is at once the pride and the burden of the monarchy that both will be right.
There are indications that Charles has ideas of his own about the duties of kingship, though they may still be developing. As he told an interviewer recently: "I think one has to be much more 'with it' than of old, and much better informed." He hopes to act as a sort of international emissary without portfolio: "I like to think I could be an ambassador not only for Wales but also for the United Kingdom as a whole, and from one Commonwealth country to another." He would almost certainly agree with Philip's assertion that he "didn't want to finish up like a Brontosaurus, stuffed in a museum."
Ceremony at Caernarvon
All of Britain's tangled views of the monarchy will come into focus next week within the ancient limestone walls of Caernarvon Castle. On Tuesday afternoon, the royal carriage procession will jog through the town to the castle's Water Gate. When Charles arrives, the state trumpeters of the Household Cavalry will sound a fanfare. His personal banner, carrying the arms of Llywelyn the Great with the coronet of the Prince of Wales in the center, will be broken out over the castle's Eagle Tower. Then Charles will be conducted by Lord Snowdon, the Constable of the Castle, to the Chamberlain Tower, while the assemblage sings God Bless the Prince of Wales.
Once the Queen arrives, she will direct that the Prince be summoned. He will approach, wearing a mantle of velvet trimmed with ermine over his blue uniform as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regiment of Wales. As Charles kneels before Elizabeth, the Letters Patent of investiture will be read, first in English and then in Welsh. The Welsh rendition is an innovation aimed at placating Wales' tribal sensibilities. While the Welsh is being intoned, the Queen will present Charles with a sword, place a coronet on his head, slip a gold ring on his finger and hand him a gold rod of government. The coronet is a modern design of Charles' own commissioning, part of his personal program to revive British gold-and silverwork. Thus accoutered, Charles will kneel before the Queen, place his hands between hers and repeat the ancient oath of his unique profession: