.IChotiner speaks with the historian Simon Schama about Queen Elizabeth II’s life, whether the monarchy really is apolitical, as its proponents often claim, and how the British people are likely to view their new head of state.
was doing. So you are right to be skeptical about the possibility of the monarchy ever being a completely apolitical institution. But it’s a political institution that seeks to do the least harm. In that respect, it’s been improbably successful.What is the fairy dust? Who the hell knows? On the surface, it’s so paradoxical.
I agree with you about the quasi-religious angle. I guess we should also say that there’s an established church in the United Kingdom, and she’s the official head of it, too. Her family doesn’t seem the happiest, let’s say. How about that? We don’t exactly know how happy she was. It’s very Shakespearean of you to see it that way, but that doesn’t necessarily make it wrong. Yeah, I think so. Clearly, her uncle was deeply unhappy, and gave up the crown in order to be personally happy, and then was a different kind of unhappy for the rest of his life.I think Elizabeth had a genuinely happy childhood, but then so did her sister, and her sister came very badly unstuck.
Earlier, you suggested that the monarchy provides this way of thinking apart from the day-to-day struggles of politics, which we’re all sick and tired of and grossed out by. At the same time, it doesn’t seem like Britain has particularly avoided this kind of grotesque politics. Maybe more than the United States has, but—
I don’t disagree with that. Britain is a divided place, as well. For a start, it’s divided between Scotland and England, so there are all kinds of divisions that are very ferocious. That’s quite true. It’s a very American thing you’re saying to me, that it’s going to be much better if you acknowledge the reality of the bitter divisions, that the monarchy and its charm and its lure are all a fantasy—to which a huge majority of Brits will say, “We love the fantasy sometimes.
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