Colin Sheridan: Heavy the head that wears the crown

Monarchs, even disinterested ones, are prone to being told exactly what they want to hear

King Charles III probably would have been better suited to an ordinary life, like the rest of us. File picture: Toby Melville/PA Wire — King Charles III probably would have been better suited to an ordinary life, like the rest of us.
File picture: Toby Melville/PA Wire

Sat, 26 Oct, 2024 - 01:00

Colin Sheridan is a writer and columnist. A former officer in the Irish Defence Forces he has extensive deployment experience as a peacekeeper with the United Nations, having lived and worked in the former Yugoslavia, West Africa, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine.

What is monarchy? From whence does it derive its sanction? What has been its gift to humanity? Monarchy is a survival of the tyranny imposed by the hand of greed and treachery upon the human race in the darkest and most ignorant days of our history. It derives its only sanction from the sword of the marauder, and the helplessness of the producer, and its gifts to humanity are unknown, save as they can be measured in the pernicious examples of triumphant and shameless iniquities.

James Connolly