This is 2023, not 1523. The days of the divine rights of kings are long gone. The world doesn’t need monarchs who rule with absolute powers of life and death over their subjects. The coronation yesterday of King Charles III and his consort Camilla was entirely out of place in a world of stark poverty and out of sync with the times. This is the century of freedom, liberty, and democracy. I salute President Joe Biden and Meghan Markle for snubbing that outrageous ostentation of power, wealth, and glamour in an era of great suffering.
Even Prince Harry went there with apparent discomfort and unease. He was closer to his late mom, Princess Diana, and he didn’t seem to relish looking at his father's consort Camilla sharing the royal limelight and occupying a space which should have properly belonged to his late mother. Biden will not break tradition as no American president has ever attended a royal coronation. America was founded by people who escaped from the cruelty, oppression, and exploitation of England. Thus, there’s an underlying historical antagonism between the two nations. Although the United Kingdom and the United States enjoy what Winston Churchill called a "special relationship", beneath the surface are memories of antagonism, mutual spite, and hidden anger.
Those who attended the coronation yesterday did so in obedience of traditions and to show obligatory respect to a monarch, who represents a nation that conquered and colonized over half of the entire world. King Charles III, as a person and as royalty, doesn’t enjoy the outpouring of love, affection, and high esteem that his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, enjoyed. Camilla isn’t much loved by the people as Diana, and the people of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada don’t regard the royal family with respect and esteem as they did when Queen Elizabeth was still alive. There are more and more people in the UK, and in the commonwealth countries openly denouncing the monarchy as no longer relevant, much less necessary today.
English writer Hamilton Nolan wrote a popular piece entitled "Down with the British Monarchy" whereby he depicted Britain's perpetuation of its monarchy as a wasteful anachronism today. He denounced the lavish expenditures of the commoners' tax money. The royalty might have had its place hundreds of years ago before the advent of democracy. It’s out of place and very clearly inappropriate that the prime minister, who is elected by the people and also by his peers in Parliament, must go to Buckingham Palace, bow before the king and be anointed, before he could assume office. This is also being done in Malaysia, a country that used to be colonized by Great Britain. In Kuala Lumpur, once Parliament elects a new prime minister, he or she should go to Putrajaya and bow before Sultan Yang Dipertuan Agong before he starts performing his official functions.
Most of the kingdoms today like Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain of course, have kings who occupy symbolic seats. But there are some where the king is both the head of state and the head of government. This includes Brunei, a tiny but very wealthy sultanate on the island of Borneo; Swaziland, another tiny country sandwiched by South Africa and Mozambique; Saudi Arabia, which is perhaps the world's most absolute monarchy; Bhutan; Monaco, a tiny island which is funded by gambling money of the rich and the famous billionaires of the world; Bahrain, a small Gulf country with much oil deposit; Liechtenstein, a landlocked nation governed by one of the world's richest family and, in case you do not know, the Vatican with the pope as the supreme monarch.
In the Philippines, there is also a silent and hidden monarchy called the family dynasties that control small pockets of political empires many of which are being funded by gambling and drug money, and others by anachronistic feudal haciendas, and supported by tycoons, taipans, and magnates whose business empires must be shielded from the harassments and persecutions emanating from the Palace. The fate of ABS CBN and many Lopez conglomerates are examples of how the political monarchy in this country can destroy businesses. For these and for many other undisclosed reasons, it is imperative that the Philippines should not be absent from the coronation of the king or England and UK, the monarchy that once conquered more than half of human civilization.
Our presence in the coronation yesterday was a kiss on the ring of the godfather, the weak's submission to the might of the strong and powerful. We are back to 1523.