Queen orders a "hard Megxit" - rightly so?
Following the announcement by Harry and Meghan that they wanted to step back as senior royals, Queen Elizabeth released a statement on the weekend. The two are to give up their titles as royal highnesses, will no longer perform tasks as members of the royal family, and will no longer receive public funds. Observers believe this "Megxit" is harder than the young couple may have intended and assess the Queen's response.
Right decision for "the Firm"
The Queen has mastered the Megxit crisis brilliantly, The Times believes:
“The timetable for these talks was set by her insistence that the issue be thrashed out in 'days, not weeks'. Decades of brushes with the British public have invested the monarch with a wisdom about what is acceptable to the people. She must have known that a halfway house for Harry and Meghan would not have been. Her legend as defender of the Firm is burnished. ... The old football cliché goes that 'no one is bigger than the club', and the same applies to the Firm. Perhaps Meghan and Harry forgot that. The point of the royal family is not for us to worship certain members for their beauty or grace or humour. The point is that we celebrate the nation through the royal family.”
The tortoise is having to pick up its pace
In The Guardian's view it was high time for the changes that the British monarchy is now going through:
“A centuries-old institution survives not only through the accumulated weight of tradition, but through the ability to make sharp adjustments to its course when it finally realises it must. The British monarchy, by temperament a tortoise, has just put on a turn of speed again. ... The royal family is losing the members most attractive and appealing to a younger generation, while the long reign of its respected head approaches its end. Yet even those who do not share The Guardian’s republican views may agree that other countries have established more credible and creditable versions of the monarchy for the modern age. Slimming down the institution may well be in its best interests, however it plays out for those exiting the stage.”
Royals must work for their keep
Jydske Vestkysten says the events in the UK should also prompt reflection in Denmark about who should be entitled to appanage:
“Especially since the royal house is currently blessed with an unusually large number of children. Some of them will not have a role within the royal household once they become adults, and therefore the reigning king at that time will have to take decisions similar to those made by Queen Elizabeth, together with the government and parliament. A royal house with inherited privileges is actually an anachronism, but as the Danish royal house is very popular among the people it is effectively a democratic institution. However, this popularity is also based on the fact that it is clear that members of the royal family only receive an appanage if they work for their money.”